Menachos 89
Summary
- A teaching of Rav Sheshet holds that the lamps of the Menorah are part of the *mikshah* requirement yet are made with joints so they can be bent for *hatavat ha-nerot*, and the Gemara supports this through competing *baraitot* and identifications of the *Chachamim*. The sugya then moves to the Temple measuring vessels and derives oil quantities for various *menachot*, including the unique half-*log* of oil for the *todah* breads and the dispute over whether oil scales with each *issaron* or stays one *log* for even very large offerings, using derashot from the *metzora ani* verses. It derives the *hin* as twelve *login* via a *gematria* and sets the Menorah’s nightly measure as a half-*log* per lamp from “*me’erev ad boker*,” alongside a debate whether the original calibration minimized waste or began generously. It concludes with a Mishnah about mixing *nesachim* and a Gemara reinterpretation that restricts mixing the flour-and-oil while permitting certain mixing of wine under specified conditions.
- A statement of Rav Huna brei d’Rav Yehudah in the name of Rav Sheshet says the *ner* in the Mikdash is made “*shel perakim*,” so the lamps are attached yet flexible and can be bent toward the Kohen for *hatavat ha-nerot*. A rationale is given that the verse “*kikar mikshah ha-menorah ve-neroteha*” is read as including the lamps in the one-piece construction, and flexibility is needed to enable proper cleaning. A *baraita* challenges this by describing *hatavat ha-nerot* as removing the lamps, placing them in the Ohel Moed, cleaning with a sponge, adding oil, and relighting, implying the lamps are detachable and not included in *mikshah*. The Gemara answers that Rav Sheshet aligns with another *tanna*, citing *Chachamim* who say the lamps are not moved at all, and it revises the wording to “*lo haytah zazah mi-mekomah*,” meaning they cannot be removed.
- The Gemara identifies the *Chachamim* as רבי אלעזר ברבי צדוק. A *baraita* records רבי אלעזר ברבי צדוק saying the lamp has a thin gold plate on top, and during *hatavah* the Kohen pushes it inward toward the opening, while when adding oil he pushes it toward the top to allow filling. This description assumes the lamp remains attached and is serviced in place rather than detached.
- A further *baraita* states that the Menorah and its lamps come from the *kikar*, while the *melkacheha* and *machtoteha* do not. רבי נחמיה says the Menorah comes from the *kikar* but not its lamps and not its tools. Another derashah is presented on the verse “*kikar zahav tahor ya’aseh otah et kol ha-kelim ha-eleh*,” reading “*otah*” as a limiting term and “*et kol ha-kelim ha-eleh*” as inclusive, and the Gemara notes an internal contradiction in attributions to רבי נחמיה and resolves it as “*trei tannai aliba d’Rabbi Nechemiah*.” יהושע בן קרחה says the Menorah comes from the *kikar* but not its lamps or tools, and he interprets “*et kol ha-kelim ha-eleh*” as teaching the lamps are gold, which the Gemara refines to apply specifically to the *fi nerot* because that area blackens, yet the verse teaches it still requires *zahav tahor*.
- The Mishnah’s measures include a *revi’it* used for the water of the *metzora* and oil for *challei nazir*, and a half-*log* used for *mei sotah* and the oil of the *todah*. The text notes most *menachot* require a full *log* of oil, so the *todah* being a half-*log* is treated as a *chidush*, and the Gemara begins to derive its source.
- A *baraita* presents רבי עקיבא deriving half-*log* for *todah* from the repeated “*ba-shemen*” in the verses describing the three types of *matzah* breads of the *todah*. Rabbi Akiva treats the appearances of “*ba-shemen*” as *ribui achar ribui* that functions as a *mi’ut* from the standard *log* down to a half-*log*, explaining that even one “*ba-shemen*” would have been unnecessary because *todah* is like other *menachot* that already require oil. A further derivation assigns the distribution so that a half-*log* is split into two *revi’iyot*, with one *revi’it* for the *challos* and *rekikim* together and one *revi’it* for the *revuchah*. רבי אלעזר בן עזריה rejects this as the source and states that half-*log* for *todah*, a *revi’it* for *nazir*, and the “eleven days between *niddah* and *niddah*” are *halachah le-Moshe mi-Sinai*.
- The Mishnah states a *log* measures oil for all *menachot*, even for a *minchah* of sixty *issaron* one gives sixty *login*, while רבי אליעזר בן יעקב says even a *minchah* of sixty *issaron* has only one *log*. A *baraita* derives the scaling rule from the verse about the *metzora ani*, reading “*issaron balul ve-log*” as teaching each *issaron* requires a *log*, and it attributes this to the *Chachamim*. נחמיה and רבי אליעזר say even a *minchah* of sixty *issaron* has only one *log*, reading “*la-minchah ve-log shemen*” as implying one *log* per *minchah*. The Gemara asks what they do with the *Chachamim*’ derashah and answers that they use it for the verse’s basic requirement that the poor *metzora* brings a *minchah* with oil, with additional argumentation about why the verse is needed despite parallels to the rich *metzora*. The sugya also derives from this verse a minimum volunteered *minchah* size, stating it must not be less than something that requires a *log*, namely an *issaron*, and records the position that “*tartei shma’at mina*” can be learned from the same phrasing.
- The text derives that a *par* has a half-*hin* of *nesachim*, equaling six *login*, because a full *hin* equals twelve *login*. It derives the twelve from “*shemen zayit hin*” together with “*shemen mishchat kodesh yihyeh zeh li*,” reading “*zeh li*” as a *gematria* of twelve. It notes this as an instance of learning via *gematria* and brings the parallel example of *stam nezirut* being thirty days from “*yihyeh*” as *gematria* thirty, alongside the view of the רא"ש that such *gematria* functions as an *asmachta* rather than an independent *middah*.
- The sugya sets the Menorah’s requirement as three and a half *login* per night because each of the seven lamps has a half-*log*. A *baraita* derives the quantity from “*me’erev ad boker*,” teaching “*ten lah midatah she-tehei doleket ve-holekhet me’erev ad boker*,” and it states the Sages measured that a half-*log* suffices from evening to morning. An additional teaching reads “*me’erev ad boker*” as meaning no other *avodah* is valid “*me’erev ad boker*” except this, and the text brings the Tosafot objection from *haktarat eivarim* and *terumat ha-deshen* with Tosafot’s resolution, alongside a different understanding in Rashi in Yoma about the Menorah as the last daytime *avodah*. The text adds that on shorter nights thicker wicks are used so the fixed half-*log* does not leave excess.
- The Gemara records two views on how the Sages originally calibrated the oil amount, either estimating from above downward or from below upward. It ties the approach of starting small and increasing to “*ha-Torah chasah al memonam shel Yisrael*.” It ties the approach of starting large and reducing to “*ein aniyut bimkom ashirut*,” treating the Mikdash as a setting where one does not act with stinginess. The text notes the tension between these two principles as they appear side by side.
- The Mishnah permits mixing the *nesachim* of bulls with rams and mixing those of lambs with lambs, but it forbids mixing lamb *nesachim* with those of bulls and rams, while validating a case where each was mixed separately and only then became mixed. A challenge is raised from a rule about not mixing fats for burning, implying *haktarah* is done one at a time, and רבי יוחנן proposes the Mishnah’s permissibility is only *bedi’avad*. The Gemara rejects that reading from the Mishnah’s structure and concludes the Mishnah cannot mean mixing the flour-and-oil *lechat’chilah*. Abaye reinterprets the Mishnah as referring to mixing the wine, and a *baraita* states that the restriction applies to flour and oil but wine may be mixed; Abaye refines this by distinguishing whether the flour and oil were already sanctified, permitting wine mixing *lechat’chilah* once sanctified, while otherwise restricting *lechat’chilah* mixing of wine as a preventive decree lest one come to mix the flour and oil *lechat’chilah*.
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