Talmud Menachot 45a
Exceptional Specifications
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Ezekiel 46:6-7 |
Numbers 28:11-15 |
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“On the New Moon Day the offering shall consist of a bull of the herd and six lambs and a ram, all without blemish shall they be, and the meal offering…for the lambs as much as he can afford…” |
“On your New Moons, you shall offer a burnt offering of two bulls of the herd, one ram, and seven year-old lambs, without blemish. For the meal offering…” |
What does the Prophet (Ezekiel) mean to teach us by saying only “a bull” when the Torah (Numbers) requires “two bulls?” He is providing the Talmudic Inference (Oral Torah) that if two bulls cannot be found, one should offer a (single) bull!
What does the Prophet mean to teach us by saying only “six lambs” when the Torah requires “seven…lambs?” He is providing the Talmudic Inference that if seven lambs cannot be found, he should offer six lambs, and that if six lambs cannot be found, he should offer five lambs, and that if five lambs cannot be found, he should offer four lambs, and that if four lambs cannot be found, he should offer three lambs, and that if three lambs cannot be found, he should offer two lambs, and that if two lambs cannot be found, should he then offer only one? Yes, even only one, as the Talmudic Inference from “for the lambs as much as he can afford!” But then, since such is written (“for the lambs as much as he can afford”) to imply even only one, what is the point of the Prophet’s saying “six lambs?” To make the point that every effort should be made to provide as many of the required number of lambs as possible! Moreover, however many lambs can be found, if they are more than one, they must all be offered; withholding one invalidates all of the others, as the Prophet implies Talmudically with his additional words not already found in the Torah, “shall they be,” i.e. “shall they all be offered!”
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Ezekiel 45:18 |
Numbers 28:11 |
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“On the New Moon of the First Month, purify [chiteytah] the Sanctuary with the offering of a bull of the herd…” |
“On your New Moons, you shall offer a burnt offering of two bulls of the herd…” |
Should I read the Prophet’s (Ezekiel) word “purify [chiteytah]” as “sin offering [chatat]” [also in accordance with the following verse, “Put some of the blood of the sin offering upon the doorpost of the house…” (Ezekiel 45:19)? But the Torah (Numbers) requires “a burnt offering”! Said Rabbi Yochanan: This portion of Ezekiel will be explained in the future by Elijah the Prophet. Rav Ashi explained: Ezekiel refers to the sin offering of special sacrifices that would be offered in the time of Ezra of the type that were offered in the time of Moses at the inauguration of the Temple Service on the New Moon of the First Month (cf. Leviticus 9:2 and Talmud Shabbat 87b). (Rashi: Ezekiel was prophesying on the Second Temple.) Both opinions are taught in a baraitha by Rabbi Judah and Rabbi Yosi, respectively. As contemporaneous Mishnaic teachers, Rabbi Judah said to Rabbi Yosi: May your mind be at ease as you have set mine at ease!
Sedra Summary 