Introduction to Meseches Menachos

The primary topic of meseches menachos, as its name suggests, is the carbon mincha. Menachos is plural for mincha. So, we know from learning meseches zevachim that not all carbonos were created equally. There was a carbon ola, a carbon chatas, a carbon shlamim, a carbon asham, a carbon todah, a carbon pesach, ma'aser beheima, bechor. One of the carbonos was a carbon mincha. Now, although a mincha is just, in a way, another type of carbon, but if you think about it, it was fundamentally different than all the other carbonos. And the difference was really based on its physical nature. So, all carbonos, with the exception of the carbon mincha, were a ba'al chai, an animal, a zachar, an nekeiva, a shor, a kesev, an ez, a bird. But, they're all living beings that were being offered up and sacrificed to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. The carbon mincha was unique in that it was a tzome'ach. It didn't involve anything alive. In fact, the key ingredients of the menachos were wheat, barley, oil, and frankincense, whatever exactly that is. In loshon kodesh, chittin, se'orim, shemen, and levonah. So, just based on the physical nature of the carbon mincha, you know already you're dealing with something that's very, very different. Now, because physically the carbon mincha was so different than all the other carbonos, by definition the avodahs that were done with the carbon mincha would have to be different than the avodahs that were done with all the other carbonos. For example, you can't shecht chittin. You can't do kabbalas hadam with se'orim. And really one of the most important things that we need to internalize before we start Maseches Menachos is that the seder avodah of the mincha is going to be completely different than the seder avodah of the zvach. Stating that although the physical avodahs of the mincha had to be different than the physical avodahs of the zvach and of the other korbanos, however, the avodahs of the mincha very much mirrored and paralleled the avodahs of the korban. So, for example one of the most basic tenets of Maseches Zvachim is that the four dalet avodahs had done shchita, kabalah, halacha, and zrika. Those dalet avodahs were the avodahs that were ma'akev. Those dalet avodahs are the avodahs during which a kohen, if he has a bad machshavah such as shchita, kabalah, or pigul, whatever it might be, can impact the kashrus of the korban. The korban mincha also had dalet avodahs. Not the same dalet avodahs, but also dalet avodahs. And the dalet avodahs of the korban mincha are just as critical to the mincha as the dalet avodahs had done are to the korbanos that are the zvach. So, what were the dalet avodahs of the korban mincha? The first avodah was kemitzah. After the kohen did kemitzah, he took the kemitz and he would put it into a k'li shareis. That was the second avodah. The third was the kohen taking the k'li shareis that has the kemitz in it and walking it, doing halacha, bringing it to the mizbei'ach, and then finally, the fourth avodah is the kohen taking the kemitz, burning it, being maktir it on the mizbei'ach. So, it's kemitzah, taking the kemitz and put it into the k'li shareis, halacha, and aktarah. Now, notice these four avodahs literally parallel the four avoid this of the Zevah. Kemitza is the equivalent thereof of shchita, putting the kemetz into a klisharis. That would be the proverbial kabala, because that's really what kabala is, being mekabel the dam in a klisharis. The hilcha of the kemetz is identical to the hilcha of the dam, and being maktir the kemetz on the mizbeach is the equivalent thereof to the zrika. If a kohen would have a machshava shelailishmah bishas the kemitza, bishas he put the kemetz into the klisharis, bishas the hilcha or the hakdara, it would impact the korban in a very negative way. If a kohen would have a machshavas piggul, etc., etc., during one of those dollar avoidas, it would be the same as if a kohen had a bad machshava, a bad thought during the dollar avoidas of dam. But the point is, again, that although the actual avoidas of the mincha are by definition going to have to be very different than the actual avoidas that were done with the zevah, but at the same time they mirror each other. It's four moving almost four, and it's not just, "Oh, here for, there for." No, each one of the four directly corresponds to one of the four avoidas that was done with the zevah. Additionally, we know there were other avoidas that were done with carbonois, avoidas that are extra credit, avoidas that are not me'akev. The two most notable ones were achilas kashim, melameid chachamim ochelim uba'alim mischaprin, and the other is the hakdaras semurim. The korban mincha also had the equivalent thereof of the achilas kashim and of the hakdaras semurim. The achilas kashim was the shiyarei hamenachos. So, after the kohen would be maktir the kemetz on the mizbeach, there was always going to be leftover of the mincha. The leftovers was eaten, just like the leftover basar of a korban was eaten, with some exceptions. So, too, the leftover of the mincha was eaten, again with some exceptions. There was an idea to take a cheilek of the basar of the korban and be maggot on the misbehave. The carbon mincha had a haktara as well. What was the haktara of the mincha? So, this is fun. The haktara of the mincha was the haktaras hakomitz. Interesting. I thought the haktaras hakomitz was the equivalent of the zrika. How did it become the equivalent of that haktaras emurim? So, this is a very important state dinim in the sugias of mesechtas menachos, where we're going to learn bris k'deira that the haktaras hakomitz really wore two hats. It represented the zrika sadam. It's the equivalent there of the zrika. It also represented the haktaras emurim cuz it's the equivalent there of of the haktara. But, the bottom line is you have the equivalent by the mincha to the dal avodas sadam. You also have the equivalent to the and to the haktara. Now, when it came to a zevach, there was some other avodas that were done even beyond the dal avodas sadam and the achilas kotzim and haktaras emurim. There was smicha, sometimes there was tenufa, you had shivrei ashiraim, right? There were other avodas. When it came to the mincha, there were other avodas as well, unique to the carbon mincha. Yitzika, belila, hagasha. Exactly what these things are, but is Hashem we're going to get to as we start learning the sugias. But, again, high-level, the carbon mincha is fundamentally different than all the other korbanos in the sense that it's not being brought from a bal chai. It's being brought from a tzomeach. Being that it's so fundamentally different, obviously the avodas are going to have to be different. For starters, it doesn't involve blood. A carbon without blood is dead on arrival, right? But, when it comes to the carbon mincha, it's the carrot. It's a whole different type of carbon. Stating that the avodas of the mincha very much mirrored and very much paralleled the avodas the avodas of a zevach. Another thing that we're going to see in the first 25 or so blood is that almost the entire mesechtas zevachim relates to mesechtas menachos as well. So, again, we mentioned that this dal avoidis, this kind of dollar avoidis. And you have the achilas shuraimincha, you have the toras simurim, you have some of the unique avoidis, but really it's all the sugias kamada mesaches vachin that are going to relate to menachis. So, for example, there's a concept of pigul like we mentioned. There's a concept of noiser. There's a concept of tumah. And even some of the nuance sugias, mefaglin bechatzimater or ein mefaglin bechatzimater, right? All the different sugias that we learned throughout mesaches vachin are going to on some level appear or be there in a very abbreviated form. So, when the me'oran wrote mesaches menachis, they assumed you already learned mesaches vachin. Good thing we did because otherwise it would be very hard to understand. But a lot of the terms and a lot of the inyonim that the gemara fleshed out ba'arichus in mesaches vachin are going to be mentioned a lot more bikitzur over here in mesaches menachis. One other point and then we're going to start. And that is as relates to a mincha, there are many different types of menachis. There's a minchas yachid, minchas tzibur, just like all carbonos, you can bring a carbon yachid and a carbon tzibur. There's a minchas nedava where somebody can voluntarily decide that he wants to bring a carbon mincha. And there was minchas chova, sometimes a person was obligated to bring a a carbon mincha. Within the world of minchas nedava, just read the psukim in perek beis in parshas vayikra, there was the minchas solas, the minchas machavas, the minchas marcheshes, the minchas mapitanur. These are very intimidating terms. But really, all they are are different types of menachis and they're being prepared in different ways. So, if you're a chef, maybe you would appreciate a little bit better what the difference is between a minchas machavas and a minchas marcheshes. One is a flatter pan, the other is a deeper pan. They're both fried as opposed to the minchas mapitanur, which is baked. So, again, these are all the different sugim of minchas nedava, and really the nuance is in terms of the way it was prepared. In the world of minchas cho'ifah, there's a whole list. There was the minchas cho'ite. So, who brought the minchas cho'ite? So, that was the poor man, somebody who's so poor he couldn't even afford to bring shnei toirei um shnei bnei yoina, and he did an aveira, which is one of the three aveiras for which a person brings the carbon oil of a yoina. The minchas kanna'os, that was a carbon mincha that was brought by the soita. The minchas chavitin, that was a carbon mincha that was brought by the kohen gadol every single day. The minchas chinuch, where does that term come from? So, the first day that a kohen would do the avodah, he brought a carbon to inaugurate his avodah, and the carbon that he used to bring was a carbon mincha. The minchas ha'omer, that was brought on tes ayin Nissan to be matir the the tvo'ach chadash. The lechem ha'panim was a carbon mincha. The shtei ha'lechem that was brought on Shavuos was a carbon mincha. The minchas nesachim, this is a big one. The minchas nesachim was a carbon mincha that was brought with the nesachim that was brought with many korbanos. So, for example, an oilah and a shlamim always had to have nesachim with it. The nesachim always came along with a a carbon mincha. But the bottom line is there's a whole bunch of different types of menachos, all of which, literally, every single one is a topic and a sugia over here in maseches menachos, regardless. The short version of the hakdamah to maseches menachos is the last 11 minutes. The longer version hakdamah to maseches menachos is maseches zevachim, which was the last four months. And the Ezra Hashem, we begin now another masechta which very much picks up, in a sense, where the previous masechta left off. Now, as it relates to the first mishnah here in maseches menachos, it literally parallels the first mishnah in maseches zevachim. So, what was the first halacha in maseches zevachim? The idea that a carbon that's brought to Shma could be a problematic carbon. All carbonas that were brought to are kosher. With the exception of the Pesach and the right? That's the opening verse of the is going to open up in a very similar vein and it's going to discuss the idea of and how it intersects with the carbon mincha. So, let's just have it over. What does it mean a carbon has to be brought when is it that if a carbon is brought to it's going to impact the carbon? It's again, it's the very first of and really really it begins with a mission in the end of the end of the fourth which says do the base of he had to have in mind six different carbons of he had to have in mind the type of carbon that he's bringing the carbon is he had to have in mind that it's being brought for so there was six carbons that the coin had to have when he was bringing a carbon. What would be if a coin brought a carbon and he had in mind the wrong carbon? So, he didn't go the and have in mind the right carbon but to the contrary he actually had in mind the wrong carbon. The is that if the that he had the carbon was in two of the six carbons. It was either in the carbon or in the it could have a negative impact on the carbon. If it's on the latter four of the then it has zero impact on the of the carbon. So, what is the carbon is in the world of if you're bringing uh oh, you to have in mind not have in mind what's also known as shinnui kodesh. You can't be meshaneh the type of kedushah of the carbon that you're bringing right now. What is the lesheim zevach? If Reuven is the ba'al ha carbon, you have to have in mind that Reuven should get ritzui from this carbon, not have in mind that Shimon is the one that's going to get ritzui from the carbon. That's also known as shinnui ba'alim. In the event that there's a machshavah of shelo lishmah, when it comes to the lesheim zevach, also known as shinnui kodesh, or the lesheim zevach, also known as shinnui ba'alim, it's then and only then that we're even having a conversation about maybe the machshavah shelo lishmah negatively impacting the carbon. If, however, the machshavah shelo lishmah would be in one of the other machshavos, then really, in a perfect world, you the kohen would have it's going to be the even have zero negative impact on the carbon. What would be if the kohen had no machshavah at all? What would be if it was stam? So, that is zevachim that base hamikdash and the gemara comes out that when it comes to zevachim, stam is lishmah. The sugiyah in shas stam is a problem, but when it comes to the din lishmah of a carbon, over there stam is going to be kosher. So, as it relates to zevachim, what's the halachah when it comes to shelo lishmah? Lechatchilah, lesheim shishah devarim shezeh zevach nizbach. B'di eved, only two of the machshavos really matter, and that is lesheim zevach, also known as shinnui kodesh, or lesheim zevach, also known as shinnui ba'alim. What is the halachah in the event that the kohen had a bad machshavah? So, the shittah of the Tanna Kamma, the ikkar shittah of maseches zevachim is that kol hazevachim shehnizbechu shelo lishmah kesheirim. Any zevach where the shechitah or the kabbalah or the zerikah or the shechitah was done shelo lishmah, it's going to be kosher. V'lo oleh la ba'alim lesheim chovah. However, the ba'alim is not going to get ritzui, it's not going to get kapparah. He has to go ahead and bring another carbon. Meaning, the carbon's kosher, you can eat the basar, you can be matir eimurim, but the ba'alim doesn't get the kapparah he's supposed to get, with the exception of Pesach and chometz. That's as it relates to zevachim. What's the halachah of shelo lishmah as it relates to menachos? that is the very first Halacha of Menachot Menachot, and that is where Hashem where we pick up.