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Prepared by Rabbi P. Feldman of Kollel Iyun Hadaf, Yerushalayim Rosh Kollel: Rabbi Mordecai Kornfeld
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Menachos 68
1) REAPING BEFORE THE "OMER" (cont.)
(a) Answer #1 (Rabah): Harvesting before the Omer must be
done by hand (without a scythe), this reminds him not to
eat.
(b) Question (Abaye): Granted, this reminds him not to eat
while harvesting, but perhaps he will eat while grinding
or sifting!
(c) Answer (Rabah): He must grind with a hand-mill (not with
a water-mill), he turns the sifter upside down when
sifting.
(d) Objection: It is permitted to harvest Beis ha'Shelachin
(a field that must be irrigated) normally - perhaps he
will eat!
1. (Mishnah): One may harvest Beis ha'Shelachin in
(some texts - or) a valley, but one may not make
piles of the grain.
(e) Answer #2 (Abaye): People shun Chadash (it has been
forbidden from its inception), they do not shun Chametz
(it is permitted all year).
(f) Question (Rava): Indeed, you answer the contradiction in
R. Yehudah - but Chachamim also contradict themselves
(they are concerned about Chadash, but not about
Chametz!)
(g) Answer (Rava): Chachamim do not decree about Chametz -
since he searches in order to burn it, we are not
concerned lest he will eat (if he finds)!
(h) Answer #3 (for R. Yehudah - Rav Ashi): R. Yehudah permits
preparing parched flour (it is hard, it is not normally
eaten.)
(i) Rejection: This is wrong! Granted, we are not concerned
lest one eat parched flour - however, perhaps he will eat
before it is parched!
(j) Suggestion: Perhaps we are not concerned because he must
harvest by hand, like Rabah answered!
(k) Rejection: It is permitted to harvest Beis ha'Shelachin
normally, perhaps he will eat!
(l) Rav Ashi is refuted.
2) WHEN IS "CHADASH" PERMITTED?
(a) (Mishnah): From when the Omer is offered, Chadash is
permitted immediately;
(b) People far from the Mikdash (who do not know when it is
offered) are permitted after mid-day.
(c) After the Churban, R. Yochanan ben Zakai enacted to
forbid Chadash the entire day of the 16th.
(d) R. Yehudah: It is forbidden mid'Oraisa - "Ad Etzem ha'Yom
ha'Zeh"!
(e) People far away are permitted after mid-day because Beis
Din (of Kohanim) are not lazy (surely, they offered it by
then.)
(f) (Gemara - Rav and Shmuel): When the Mikdash stands, the
Omer permits Chadash; when there is no Mikdash, daybreak
(normally, this means dawn - Rashi explains, sunrise) of
the 16th permits.
(g) Question: What is the reason?
(h) Answer - Contradiction: It says "(Chadash may not be
eaten) Ad Havi'achem", and it says "Ad Etzem ha'Yom
ha'Zeh"!
1. Resolution: When the Mikdash stands, the Omer
permits; when there is no Mikdash, the day itself
permits.
(i) (R. Yochanan and Reish Lakish): Even when the Mikdash
stands, daybreak of the 16th permits.
(j) Question: But it says "Ad Haviachem"!
(k) Answer: Indeed, there is a Mitzvah (Tosfos - an Ase;
Shitah Mekubetzes (and Tosfos (2B)) say that it is not
even an Ase) to wait until bringing the Omer, but there
is no Lav after daybreak.
3) WHEN IS "CHADASH" PERMITTED?
(a) (The following questions are also against R. Yochanan and
Reish Lakish.)
(b) Question (Mishnah): From when the Omer is offered,
Chadash is permitted immediately.
(c) Answer: Then it is l'Chatchilah to eat.
(d) Question (Mishnah): The Omer permits people (to eat
Chadash), Shtei ha'Lechem permits in the Mikdash.
(e) Answer: Then it is l'Chatchilah.
68b---------------------------------------68b
(f) Question (Beraisa): After the Churban, R. Yochanan ben
Zakai enacted to forbid the entire day of the 16th;
1. Question: What is the reason?
2. Answer: The Mikdash will be rebuilt soon, people
will remember that the previous year they ate
Chadash in the morning of the 16th (and will assume
that this is likewise permitted this year);
i. They do not know that daybreak of the 16th
permitted last year because the Omer was not
offered, this year it will be offered, the Omer
will permit!
3. Summation of question: If there is no Lav to eat
(after daybreak) before the Omer, we would not
decree, even if it is a Mitzvah to wait!
(g) Answer (Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak): R. Yochanan ben Zakai
holds like R. Yehudah, who expounds "Ad Etzem ha'Yom
ha'Zeh" - (after the Churban, it is forbidden) until the
day itself;
1. R. Yehudah holds Ad v'Ad Bichlal ("Ad" means 'up to
and including' - also the day itself is forbidden);
(h) Question: R. Yehudah argues with R. Yochanan!
1. (Mishnah): After the Churban, R. Yochanan ben Zakai
enacted to forbid Chadash the entire day.
2. R. Yehudah: It is forbidden mid'Oraisa - "Ad Etzem
ha'Yom ha'Zeh"!
(i) Answer: R. Yehudah said this because he mistakenly
thought that R. Yochanan forbids mid'Rabanan - really, R.
Yochanan agrees that it is forbidden mid'Oraisa.
(j) Question: But it says that he *enacted* to forbid the
day!
(k) Answer: It means, he expounded and taught this to people.
(l) Rav Papa and Rav Huna brei d'Rav Yehoshua would eat
Chadash on the night after the 16th (all the Amora'im
mentioned here were in Bavel);
1. They hold, Chadash is only mid'Rabanan in Chutz
la'Aretz, therefore we are lenient when in doubt
(perhaps Kidush ha'Chodesh was a day later than
expected, that is the reason why we keep two days of
Yom Tov in Chutz la'Aretz.)
(m) Rabanan of Rav Ashi's academy would eat Chadash on the
morning of the 17th;
1. They hold, Chadash is mid'Oraisa in Chutz la'Aretz
(so we are stringent, perhaps what we call '16th'
was really the 15th), and that R. Yochanan ben
Zakai's enactment was mid'Rabanan;
2. The enactment only applies to the 16th, not to the
17th, which is kept on account of doubt.
(n) Ravina's father would not eat until the night after the
17th;
1. He is stringent about the doubt of the day, and he
holds like R. Yehudah (who says that mid'Oraisa, the
entire day of the 16th is forbidden.)
4) THE "OMER" AND "SHTEI HA'LECHEM" PERMIT
(a) (Mishnah): The Omer permits people, Shtei ha'Lechem
permits in the Mikdash;
(b) We may not bring (Chadash) Menachos, Bikurim or Minchas
Nesachim before the Omer - if it was brought, it is
Pasul;
1. We may not bring any of them before Shtei ha'Lechem
- if it was brought, it is Kosher.
(c) (Gemara - R. Tarfon) Question: Why is the law different
if he brought before or after the Omer?
(d) Answer (Yehudah ben Nechemyah): Before the Omer, its
prohibition to people was not permitted; after the Omer
this was permitted!
(e) R. Tarfon was silent; Yehudah's face beamed. (Rashba - R.
Tarfon had assumed that the Isur of Chadash in the
Mikdash before Shtei ha'Lechem is unrelated to the Isur
of Chadash to people before the Omer. Tosfos Yom Tov -
Rambam understands that R. Tarfon did not agree with
Yehudah's answer.)
(f) R. Akiva: You are happy that you outsmarted the Chacham?!
I will be amazed if you live a long time!
(g) R. Yehudah bar Ilai: This occurred two weeks before
Pesach; Yehudah died before Shavu'os.
(h) (Rav Nachman bar Yitzchak): According to Yehudah, if
Nesachim of Bikurim (i.e. Chadash wine; Tosfos Yom Tov -
Nesachim (of Chadash) *or* Bikurim) were offered before
the Omer, they are Kesherim.
(i) Objection: This is obvious!
(j) One might have thought, grain was Hutar mi'Klalo
(forbidden and then permitted), wine (or Bikurim) was not
Hutar mi'Klalo - Rav Nachman teaches, all the more so it
is Kosher, for it was never forbidden.
(k) Question (Rami bar Chama): Does Shtei ha'Lechem permit
out of order?
1. Question: What is the case?
2. Answer: (In this order) grain was planted after the
Omer, Shtei ha'Lechem was brought on Shavu'os, the
Omer was brought the next year;
i. Perhaps Shtei ha'Lechem permits Chadash (in the
Mikdash) only when it is in order (the Omer
already permitted the grain to people);
ii. Or, perhaps it permits even out of order (but
in any case, one must wait until the coming
Omer, for the grain is still forbidden to
people, and therefore Pasul for Korbanos.)
(l) Answer (Rabah - Beraisa): "V'Im Takriv Minchas Bikurim
(...Aviv Kaluy)" - this refers to the Omer, it is brought
from barley;
1. Suggestion: Perhaps it is brought from wheat!
2. Rejection #1 (R. Eliezer): It says here "Aviv", the
name the Torah calls the month of leaving Miztrayim;
i. Just like Aviv of Mitzrayim refers to (Nisan,
the season to harvest) barley, also Aviv of the
Omer.
3. Rejection #2 (R. Akiva): Individuals bring
obligatory Menachos of wheat (Minchas Chotei) and of
barley (Minchas Sotah) - the Tzibur brings Menachos
of wheat (e.g. Shtei ha'Lechem) and of barley;
i. If the Omer would be wheat, the Tzibur would
never bring barley.
4. Rejection #3 (R. Akiva): If the Omer would be wheat,
the Shtei ha'Lechem would not be Bikurim (the first
of its species - but the Torah calls it Bikurim!)
5. Summation of answer: If Shtei ha'Lechem permits out
of order, it would be possible for Shtei ha'Lechem
to be Bikurim even if the Omer was wheat:
i. The Omer could be brought from wheat that took
root last year between the Omer and Shtei
ha'Lechem, and Shtei ha'Lechem (this year) will
be brought from wheat that took root after last
year's Shtei ha'Lechem and before this year's
Omer;
ii. (This is called Bikurim, for it is the first
Korban permitted by this year's Shtei
ha'Lechem, the Omer was permitted by last
year's Shtei ha'Lechem.)
(m) Rejection: We do not call something 'Bikurim' because it
is the first permitted by Shtei ha'Lechem - rather, it
must be the first of its species brought in the Mikdash
from the new produce. (Therefore, the Omer must be
barley.)
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