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Sotah 15a

סוטה ט״ו ע״א

Learn Sotah 15a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

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Topic

The procedure for the מנחה and its leftovers, why the סוטה's מנחה is unique, and רבי שמעון's rule that a sinner's offering is kept plain.

Overview

The גמרא finishes going through a ברייתא about how a מנחה is offered. It explains that the קומץ is carried up to the מזבח in a כלי שרת, salted, and burned, and then the כהנים may eat the leftovers (the שיריים). רבי חנינא and רבי יוחנן disagree about the exact moment the קומץ makes the leftovers permitted. The כהנים may eat the leftovers like kings, with wine, oil and honey, but they may not let them become חמץ. Next the גמרא returns to the משנה and asks how it can say all מנחות need oil and frankincense when the מנחת חוטא has neither. The answer is that the סוטה's מנחה is the only one that differs in both ways: it has no oil or frankincense, and it is barley flour. רבי שמעון explains that a sinner's offering is kept plain, while offerings not brought for a sin, like the מצורע's, get נסכים. The amud ends as רבן גמליאל asks the חכמים for permission to explain the סוטה's barley offering as a symbolic lesson.

Opening lines

וּמַקְטִירוֹ בִּכְלִי שָׁרֵת.

And he burns it in a service vessel.

בִּכְלִי שָׁרֵת מַקְטֵיר לֵיהּ?

In a service vessel he burns it?

אֶלָּא אֵימָא:

Rather, say:

מַעֲלֵהוּ בִּכְלִי שָׁרֵת לְהַקְטִירוֹ.

He brings it up in a service vessel in order to burn it.

The steps (27)

  1. StatementThe ברייתא: he burns the קומץ in a service vessel
  2. ChallengeIs it really burned inside a vessel?
  3. ResolutionRead it as: he carries it up in a vessel to burn it
  4. StatementThe ברייתא: he salts it and puts it on the fire
  5. ProofThe source for salting: every מנחה gets salt
  6. StatementThe ברייתא: once the קומץ is offered, the rest is eaten
  7. QuestionWhere do we learn this?
  8. ResponseFirst the memorial part is burned, then the rest goes to the כהנים
  9. Statement'Once the קומץ is offered' fits both opinions
  10. QuestionWhen does the קומץ permit the leftovers?
  11. Responseרבי חנינא: when the fire catches; רבי יוחנן: when most is burned
  12. StatementThe כהנים may season the leftovers
  13. QuestionWhy may they add these things?
  14. ResponseEaten like kings eat
  15. StatementThe one limit: it may not become חמץ
  16. ProofEven their portion may not be חמץ
  17. ChallengeBut the sinner's מנחה has no oil or frankincense
  18. ResolutionThe סוטה's מנחה is different in both ways
  19. StatementA sinner's flour offering should have had oil and frankincense
  20. StatementThe same reasoning for a חטאת brought for eating חלב
  21. StatementThe מצורע's offerings do get נסכים
  22. ChallengeBut צרעת comes because of sins
  23. ResolutionThe צרעת itself already atoned
  24. ChallengeThen the נזיר's חטאת should get נסכים
  25. ResolutionA נזיר is also considered a sinner
  26. StatementQuoting רבן גמליאל's teaching from the משנה
  27. Statementרבן גמליאל asks to explain the teaching as a symbolic lesson