Menachos 53a

מנחות נ״ג ע״א

Menachot 53a

Learn Menachos 53a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

The source that a מנחה must be מצה and guarded from חמץ, followed by the story of רבי פרידא and רבי עזרא

Overview

רבי אמי quotes פסוקים showing that a מנחה should be made as מצה. רבי פרידא says he wants proof that this is לעכב, meaning the מנחה is invalid without it. רבי אמי answers from 'לא תאפה חמץ'. Then רב חסדא (שיאור), רב נחמן בר יצחק (boiled dough) and רבינא (maybe it is only a לאו) each show that the פסוק could mean something else. So the גמרא brings a ברייתא instead: the word 'תהיה' in 'מצה תהיה' makes מצה a firm requirement. רבי פרידא then asks for the source that מנחה dough must be guarded from becoming חמץ. רבי אמי reads the same word 'תהיה' as 'החייה', and the גמרא explains that the extra wording teaches both lessons. A story follows: רבי פרידא says Torah, not lineage, makes a guest worthy, and he lets in רבי עזרא. The two then trade דרשות on the words אדיר and ידיד, and the ידיד דרשה continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

The steps (25)

1. ResponseThe verses showing a מנחה is eaten as מצה
2. Questionרבי פרידא sharpens his question: is it indispensable?
3. ResponseProof that it is indispensable: 'It shall not be baked as חמץ'
4. Challengeרב חסדא: maybe only full חמץ is excluded, not שיאור
5. RejectionNo middle category: שיאור is either מצה or חמץ
6. ChallengeChecking each תנא's own שיאור: רבי מאיר's is solved, רבי יהודה's is not
7. ChallengeMaybe boiled dough is allowed
8. RejectionBoiled dough is poaching, which the Torah mentions only where it wants it
9. ChallengeMaybe poaching is required in one place and optional elsewhere
10. ChallengeMaybe the פסוק is only a לאו, not a reason to make the מנחה פסול
11. QuestionSo where do we learn that a מנחה must be מצה?
12. ResponseA ברייתא learns it from the word 'תהיה'
13. Questionרבי פרידא asks about kneading and guarding the dough
14. Responseרבי אמי: the מנחה's own פסוק teaches guarding
15. ChallengeBut 'תהיה' was already used for something else
16. Resolution'תהיה' is extra, so it teaches two things
17. StatementThe רבנן announce that רבי עזרא is waiting at the door
18. Questionרבי פרידא asks why lineage matters and says Torah is what counts
19. ResponseHe is a Torah scholar, so let him come in
20. Statementרבי פרידא opens a דרשה: Israel asks ה׳ for credit
21. Responseה׳ answers that the credit belongs to the אבות
22. Statementרבי עזרא opens a word-play on 'אדיר'
23. StatementExplaining each 'אדיר' with a פסוק
24. StatementA second word-play on 'ידיד'
25. StatementThe first 'ידיד' is שלמה המלך