Talmud - Menachot 71a מנחות ע״א א׳

Rabbi Yoshiya of his generation, i.e., not the tanna of the same name: Do not sit on your knees until you have explained to me the source for that latter clause in the mishna: From where is it derived that the omer offering permits the consumption of the new crop upon its taking root in the ground?

Rabbi Yoshiya responded: From where do we derive, you ask? The source is that it is written: “And if you bring a meal offering of first fruits to the Lord, you shall bring for the meal offering of your first fruits grain in the ear parched with fire, even groats of the fresh ear” (Leviticus 2:14). Can one not learn from here by inference that although the omer offering must be from fully formed grain, there is less-developed grain at an earlier stage that is not “grain in the ear,” i.e., grain that may not be used for the omer offering but is nevertheless permitted by the omer?

The Gemara rejects this claim. Perhaps one can infer from here only that there is less-developed grain that is not “grain in the ear” but is at a further stage than simply taking root. Rather, it actually grew one-third of its full growth. If so, merely taking root is not enough for the omer offering to permit the consumption of that grain.

Rather, Shmuel said that this halakha is derived from a verse discussing the counting of the omer: “Seven weeks you shall number for you; from the time the sickle is first put to the standing grain you shall begin to number seven weeks” (Deuteronomy 16:9). Can one not learn from here by inference that there is grain at an earlier stage that cannot be cut with a sickle, which nevertheless is permitted by the omer offering? This description applies to grain that has taken root. The Gemara rejects this claim as well: Perhaps the inference is to grain at an earlier stage that cannot be cut with a sickle but is actually fodder, i.e., produce that has grown stalks but is not yet ripe.

Rabbi Yitzḥak said: One can derive that grain that has taken root is permitted by the omer offering from the term: “The standing grain” (Deuteronomy 16:9). Can one not learn from here by inference that there is grain that is too soft and unable to stand, which may not be used for the omer offering and yet is permitted by the omer? The Gemara rejects this claim as well: Perhaps the inference is to grain that is unable to stand but is actually soft grain like that of a marsh; it has grown somewhat but is still soft enough that it bends rather than stands.

Rather, Rava said that the source of the halakha is the verse: “And the feast of harvest, the first fruits of your labors, which you sow in the field” (Exodus 23:16). This verse is referring to grain from the time of sowing, i.e., from when the grain takes root. Rav Pappa said to Rava: If so, then even though the grain had not taken root it should be permitted by the omer offering. The verse mentions grain at the time of sowing, but it does not indicate that it is necessary for that grain to have taken root in order to be permitted by the omer. Rava said to Rav Pappa in reply: Wise one [sudni]! It is written: “In the field,” which indicates that the verse is referring to freshly sown produce that has become part of the field, i.e., it has taken root.

MISHNA: Even before the omer offering is brought, one may reap a crop that grows in an irrigated field in the valleys, but one may not arrange the reaped stalks in a pile. The residents of Jericho, whose fields were categorized as irrigated fields in a valley, reaped the crops with the approval of the Sages and arranged the crops in a pile without the approval of the Sages, but the Sages did not reprimand them. One may reap crops in any field for fodder and feed it to an animal. Rabbi Yehuda said: When may one do so? At a time when he begins reaping before the crop reaches one-third of its potential growth. Rabbi Shimon says: One may reap and feed the crops to animals even after they reached one-third of their potential growth.

And one may reap crops prior to the omer due to potential damage to saplings growing alongside the crops; and due to the place of mourning, i.e., to create room for those consoling mourners, who would bless them upon their return from the cemetery; and due to the need to create room for students to study, as failure to do so would lead to dereliction of Torah study in the study hall. After reaping the crops for any of these reasons, one may not fashion them into sheaves, but he leaves them unbound.

The mitzva of the omer is for the barley to come from standing grain. If one did not find standing grain, he brings from sheaves. Its mitzva is for it to come from fresh, moist grain. If one did not find moist grain, he brings from dry grain. Its mitzva is for one to reap the grain at night, but if it was reaped during the day, it is fit. And reaping the grain for the omer overrides Shabbat.

GEMARA: With regard to the ruling of the mishna that one may reap a crop that grows in an irrigated field in the valleys, the Gemara cites that which is taught in a baraita: Rabbi Binyamin says that one verse states: “When you come into the land that I give to you and shall reap its harvest, then you shall bring the omer” (Leviticus 23:10). This verse indicates that one may reap his grain before bringing the omer offering. But it is also written in the continuation of the same verse: “Of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest,” from which it may be inferred that the omer is brought from the first reaped grain.

How can these texts be reconciled? With regard to a place from which you bring the omer grain for the sacrifice, i.e., from a field that is saturated with rainwater, you may not reap there. But with regard to a place from which you may not bring the omer grain, an irrigated field, you may reap there.

The Gemara questions this resolution: Why not say instead: With regard to the type of grain from which you bring the omer, i.e., barley, you may not reap it; but with regard to the type of grain from which you may not bring the omer, e.g., wheat, you may reap it? The Gemara answers: You cannot say that resolution, due to that which Rabbi Yoḥanan teaches. On 70a it was stated that Rabbi Yoḥanan derives a verbal analogy between the halakhot of ḥalla and the omer offering, from which he learns that the prohibition against reaping the new crop before the omer sacrifice applies to all five types of grain. Therefore, the reconciliation of the verses must be as first suggested, that one may reap in a place from which the omer grain may not be brought.

§ The mishna teaches: The residents of Jericho, whose fields were irrigated fields in a valley, reaped their crops with the approval of the Sages and arranged the crops in a pile without the approval of the Sages, but the Sages did not reprimand them. The Gemara asks: Whom did you hear who said: The Sages reprimanded them, or: They did not reprimand them? In other words, who is the tanna who, in the context of the customs of the residents of Jericho, addresses whether or not the Sages reprimanded them, as opposed to whether or not their actions were in accordance with the Sages’ will? The Gemara states: It is Rabbi Yehuda.

Upon identifying the tanna of the mishna, the Gemara asks: And does Rabbi Yehuda really hold that the reaping of the residents of Jericho was performed with the approval of the Sages? But isn’t it taught in a baraita (Tosefta, Pesaḥim 3:15): The people of Jericho performed six actions, three with the approval of the Sages and three without the approval of the Sages.

And these are the actions they performed with the approval of the Sages: They would graft palm trees the entire day of the fourteenth of Nisan, and they would bundle Shema, and they would reap grain before the omer offering was brought; all of these were with the approval of the Sages. And these are the actions that they performed without the approval of the Sages: They would pile the harvest before the omer, and they would permit the use of consecrated branches [gamziyyot] of carob and of sycamore trees, and they would make breaches in the walls of their gardens and in their orchards to feed fallen fruit to the poor during drought years, so that the poor could take the fruit that had fallen even on Shabbatot and Festivals. This is the statement of Rabbi Meir.

Rabbi Yehuda said to Rabbi Meir: This is an inaccurate formulation, since if they acted with the approval of the Sages, then every person would do so, not only the residents of Jericho. Rather, you should formulate it in this manner: Both these three acts and those three acts were performed without the approval of the Sages. With regard to three of them the Sages reprimanded them, and with regard to the other three the Sages did not reprimand them.

And these are the actions they performed for which the Sages did not reprimand them: They would graft palm trees the entire day, and they would bundle Shema, and they would reap and pile grain before the omer offering was brought. And these are the actions they performed for which the Sages reprimanded them:

Traduction : The William Davidson digital edition of the Koren Noé Talmud, with commentary by Rabbi Adin Even-Israel Steinsaltz.

Menachot 71a explores when the omer offering permits new crop consumption, debating whether grain rooting suffices or requires further growth stages.