Talmud - Menachot 87a מנחות פ״ז א׳

the flour-like white scum that floats on the surface, nor from the wine at bottom of the cask due to the sediment that collects there. Rather, one brings from the wine in its middle third.

How does the Temple treasurer inspect the wine to determine that it is from the middle of the cask? The treasurer sits alongside the cask and has the measuring reed in his hand. The spigot is opened and the wine begins to flow. When he sees that the wine emerging draws with it chalk-like scum [hagir], he immediately knocks with the reed to indicate that the spigot should be closed.

Rabbi Yosei, son of Rabbi Yehuda, says: Wine in which there is flour-like white scum is unfit for libations, as it is stated with regard to animal offerings: “Unblemished they shall be for you…and their meal offering shall be fine flour mixed with oil…unblemished they shall be for you, and their libations” (Numbers 28:19–20, 31). This indicates that animal offerings, meal offerings, and libations must all be brought from flawless products. Therefore, the presence of flour-like white scum in wine renders it unfit.

GEMARA: The mishna teaches: One may not bring libations from sweet wine, nor from boiled wine, nor from wine produced from smoked grapes, and if one did bring a libation from such wine, it is not valid. The Gemara asks: But doesn’t the first clause teach: One may not bring libations from sweet wine made from sun-dried grapes, but if one did bring a libation from such wine it is valid? How can one clause teach that a libation of one type of sweet wine is valid, and the other clause teach that a libation of another type of sweet wine is not valid?

Ravina said: The text of the mishna is corrupt. To correct it, combine the two clauses into one and teach with regard to all the wines mentioned that they are unfit to be used for libations. Rav Ashi said: The text of the mishna is correct. The reason for the difference between the two wines is that the sweetness of grapes sweetened by the sun is not objectionable, so libations of wine made from such grapes are valid, while sweetness that results from the sugars of the fruit itself is objectionable, so libations of wine made from such grapes are not valid.

§ The mishna teaches: One may not bring wine aged for one year; this is the statement of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, but the Rabbis deem it valid. The Gemara provides the source for Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi’s ruling. Rabbi Ḥizkiyya said: What is the reasoning of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi? The verse states with regard to the libations that accompany the New Moon offering: “And their libations: Half a hin for a bull, a third of a hin for a ram, and a quarter of a hin for a lamb, of wine” (Numbers 28:14). The juxtaposition of the terms lamb and wine teaches that just as a lamb is fit to be used as an offering only if brought in its first year, so too wine is fit to be used as a libation only if it is in its first year.

The Gemara ask: If so, take the analogy further and conclude that just as if one offers a lamb in its second year, it is not valid, so too a libation of wine in its second year is not valid. And if you would say that this is indeed the halakha, that is difficult: But isn’t it taught in a baraita that wine in its second year may not be brought ab initio, but if one did bring it as a libation, it is valid? That baraita certainly expresses the opinion of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, as whom did you hear who said that aged wine may not be brought? Only Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi, who explicitly states this opinion in the mishna. And yet he says in the baraita: If one did bring a libation of aged wine, it is valid. According to Rabbi Ḥizkiyya’s explanation of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi’s opinion, such an opinion is illogical.

Rather, Rava said: This is the reasoning of Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi: As it is written in the verse exhorting a person not to be enticed by fine wines: “Look not upon the wine when it is red” (Proverbs 23:31). Evidently, the redness of wine is indicative of its quality. After a year, wine begins to lose its redness and so it should not be used, ab initio. Nevertheless, it is still of a sufficient quality to be acceptable, after the fact.

§ The mishna teaches: One may not bring wine produced from grapes suspended on stakes or trees; rather, one brings wine produced from grapes at foot height and from vineyards that are cultivated. The definition of vineyards that are cultivated is clarified in a baraita that taught: Vineyards that are cultivated twice a year. This is done by hoeing the earth underneath the vines.

The Gemara relates the efficacy of cultivating the land twice a year: Rav Yosef had a tract of land that was used as an orchard [depardeisa] to which he used to give an extra hoeing, and consequently it produced wine of such superior quality that when preparing the wine for drinking it required a dilution using twice the amount of water than that which is usually used to dilute wine.

§ The mishna teaches: When people produced wine for libations they would not collect the wine into large barrels, as it causes the wine to spoil; rather, it would be placed in small casks. The Sages taught in a baraita: The casks referred to by the mishna are flasks that are made in Lod and that are medium-sized.

The Gemara adds another halakha: When storing casks containing wine for libations, they should not be placed in twos, i.e., one atop the other, but rather singly, i.e., each one should be placed separately.

§ The mishna teaches: How does the Temple treasurer inspect wine to determine that it is from the middle of the cask? The treasurer sits alongside the cask and has the measuring reed in his hand. The spigot is opened and the wine begins to flow. If he sees that the wine emerging draws with it chalk-like scum, he immediately knocks with the reed to indicate that the spigot should be closed. The precise point at which he knocks is clarified in a baraita that taught: If the wine draws with it chalk-like scum, which comes from the sediment, the treasurer knocks with the reed.

The Gemara challenges: Why does the treasurer knock with the reed; let him simply speak. The Gemara explains: This supports the opinion of Rabbi Yoḥanan, as Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Just as speech is beneficial to the incense spices, so is speech detrimental to wine, and so the treasurer avoids speaking.

§ The mishna teaches: Rabbi Yosei, son of Rabbi Yehuda, says: Wine in which there is flour-like white scum is unfit for libations. Rabbi Yoḥanan raises a dilemma concerning such wine: If one consecrated it to be used as a libation, what is the halakha with regard to whether he should be flogged for consecrating it due to the prohibition against consecrating a flawed item as an offering? Does one say that since it is unfit, it is comparable to a blemished animal? Or perhaps, the prohibition to consecrate a flawed item applies only to an animal. The Gemara concludes: The dilemma shall stand unresolved.

§ Having discussed which flours, oils, and wine are fit to be offered in the Temple, the Gemara considers which animals are of sufficient quality to be used as offerings. The Sages taught in a baraita: The choicest rams are those from Moab; the choicest lambs are those from Hebron; the choicest calves are those from Sharon; and the choicest fledglings, i.e., doves and pigeons, are those from the King’s Mountain.

Rabbi Yehuda says: One should bring lambs whose height is like their width, i.e., they are so robust that they are as wide as they are tall. Rava bar Rav Sheila said: What is the reason of Rabbi Yehuda? As it is written: “And He will give the rain for your seed, with which you sow the ground, and bread of the produce of the ground, and it shall be fat and bountiful; your cattle shall graze in wide pastures [kar nirḥav] on that day” (Isaiah 30:23). The word “kar” can also mean a lamb, and “nirḥav” means wide. Accordingly, Rabbi Yehuda interprets this verse, on a homiletical level, to be alluding to robust sheep.

The chapter concludes by quoting an additional prophecy of Isaiah concerning the rebuilding of Eretz Yisrael: It is written: “I have set watchmen upon your walls, Jerusalem; they shall never be silent day nor night; those who remind the Lord, take no rest” (Isaiah 62:6). This is referring to the angels appointed by God to bring the redemption. The Gemara asks: What do these watchmen say to remind the Lord? This is what Rava bar Rav Sheila said: They recite the verse: “You will arise and have compassion upon Zion; for it is time to be gracious to her, for the appointed time has come” (Psalms 102:14).

Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak says: They recite the verse: “The Lord builds up Jerusalem, He gathers together the dispersed of Israel” (Psalms 147:2). The Gemara asks: And initially, when the Temple still stood and the Jewish people were gathered together in Eretz Yisrael, what would the watchmen say? Rava bar Rav Sheila says: They would say: “For the Lord has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His habitation. This is My resting place forever; here will I dwell for I have desired it” (Psalms 132:13–14).

MISHNA: Two sizes of measuring vessels for dry substances were used in the Temple for measuring flour for the meal offerings. One held a tenth of an ephah and the other held one-half of a tenth of an ephah. Rabbi Meir says: There were three measuring vessels; one that held a tenth of an ephah, another one that also held a tenth of an ephah, and a third one that held one-half of a tenth of an ephah.

What purpose did the tenth of an ephah measuring vessel serve? It was the vessel with which one would measure flour for all the meal offerings. One would not measure the flour by using a measuring vessel of a size that held the entire volume of flour required at once, i.e., neither with a vessel of three-tenths of an ephah for the meal offering accompanying the sacrifice of a bull, nor with a vessel of two-tenths of an ephah for the meal offering accompanying the sacrifice of a ram. Rather, one measures the flour for them by repeatedly using the tenth of an ephah measuring vessel to measure the required number of tenths.

What purpose did the one-half of a tenth of an ephah measuring vessel serve? It was the vessel with which one would measure the flour for the High Priest’s griddle-cake offering. A tenth of an ephah was required each day; he sacrificed half of it in the morning and the other half of it in the afternoon.

GEMARA: The Gemara cites a baraita that clarifies Rabbi Meir’s opinion. It is taught in a baraita that Rabbi Meir would say: What is the meaning when the verse states: “A tenth, a tenth, for every lamb” (Numbers 28:29)? The fact the word “tenth” appears twice teaches that there were two measuring vessels that each held a tenth of an ephah in the Temple. One of them held that volume when it was heaped, and the other one was slightly larger and held that same volume when the flour was leveled with the rim.

The one that held a tenth of an ephah when heaped was the vessel with which one would measure the flour for all the meal offerings.

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

Menachot 87a examines proper wine selection for libations, detailing how Temple treasurers checked for impurities and debating which sweet or boiled wines were valid.