Menachos 54a

מנחות נ״ד ע״א

Menachot 54a

Learn Menachos 54a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Menachos 54a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Apple-juice leavening, the dry מנחת חוטא, and measuring food by its current or original size

Overview

The amud opens at the end of a ברייתא about leavening the מנחות that are brought as חמץ. The רבנן say apple juice cannot be used, while רבי חנינא בן גמליאל (or רבי חנינא בן תרדיון, according to רב כהנא) says it can. The גמרא shows that a משנה forbidding dough leavened by a mashed apple fits even the רבנן, because the dough still becomes נוקשה, partial leaven. Next, רבי אילא says the dry מנחת חוטא is the hardest מנחה for קמיצה. רב יצחק בר אבדימי says it may be kneaded with water. The גמרא first suggests they argue about measuring a מנחה as it is now or as it was before. It concludes instead that they argue about whether חריבה means dry of oil or dry of everything. The same measuring question then comes up with meat that swelled or shrank in cooking, where two groups of אמוראים disagree. Two ברייתות are brought to challenge the view that the original size counts. The amud ends with רבה's rule: meat that shrinks below the minimum size no longer counts, while meat that grows into it counts only מדרבנן.

Opening lines

The steps (18)

1. Statementרבי חנינא בן גמליאל says apple juice can leaven
2. Statementרב כהנא gives a different name for the dissenting opinion
3. QuestionWhose view matches the משנה about a mashed apple in dough?
4. ChallengeSuggestion: the משנה follows only רבי חנינא בן גמליאל
5. ResolutionEven the רבנן agree: it becomes partial leaven
6. Statementרבי אילא: the מנחת חוטא is the hardest to take a handful from
7. Statementרב יצחק בר אבדימי: knead it with water
8. QuestionMaybe the dispute is about measuring the flour now or as it was before
9. RejectionNo: everyone measures as it is now; they argue about what "dry" means
10. StatementA משנה about meat that swelled or shrank in cooking
11. Statementאמוראים disagree: measure the meat as it is now, or as it was
12. ChallengeA teaching about swollen calf meat challenges the original-size view
13. ResolutionThe impurity of the swollen meat is only rabbinic
14. ChallengeThe end of the teaching mentions פיגול and נותר, which are תורה laws
15. ResolutionThe teaching means the rabbinic impurity of פיגול and נותר
16. ResolutionWhy the ברייתא needed to mention פיגול and נותר
17. ChallengeA ברייתא about old meat that shrank
18. Resolutionרבה's rule for shrinking and growing