מנחות 107:2 — Soncino English Talmud

HE MUST ADD TO THESE A TURTLE-DOVE AND A YOUNG PIGEON. [IF A MAN SAID,] ‘I TAKE UPON MYSELF TO OFFER A THANK-OFFERING OR A PEACE-OFFERING’, HE MUST BRING A LAMB.[IF HE SAID,] ‘I SPECIFIED A BEAST OF THE HERD BUT I DO NOT KNOW WHAT IT WAS I SPECIFIED’, HE MUST BRING A BULL AND A COW, A BULL CALF AND A HEIFER. [IF HE SAID, I SPECIFIED] A BEAST OF THE CATTLE BUT I DO NOT KNOW WHAT IT WAS I SPECIFIED’, HE MUST BRING A BULL AND A COW, A BULL CALF AND A HEIFER. A RAM AND A EWE, A HE-GOAT AND A SHE-GOAT, A HE-KID AND A SHE-KID, A HE-LAMB AND A EWE-LAMB. [IF A MAN SAID,] ‘I TAKE UPON MYSELF TO OFFER AN OX. HE MUST BRING ONE WITH ITS DRINK-OFFERINGS TO THE VALUE OF A MANEH; IF ‘A CALF’, HE MUST BRING ONE WITH ITS DRINK-OFFERINGS TO THE VALUE OF FIVE SELA'S; IF ‘A RAM’, HE MUST BRING ONE WITH ITS DRINK-OFFERINGS TO THE VALUE OF TWO SELA'S; IF ‘A LAMB’, HE MUST BRING ONE WITH ITS DRINK-OFFERINGS TO THE VALUE OF ONE SELA’. IF HE SAID ‘AN OX VALUED AT ONE MANEH’, HE MUST BRING ONE WORTH A MANEH APART FROM ITS DRINK-OFFERINGS; IF A CALF VALUED AT FIVE SELA'S’. HE MUST BRING ONE WORTH FIVE SELA'S APART FROM ITS DRINK-OFFERINGS; IF ‘A RAM VALUED AT TWO SELA'S’, HE MUST BRING ONE WORTH TWO SELA'S APART FROM ITS DRINK-OFFERINGS; AND IF A LAMB VALUED AT ONE SELA’,’ HE MUST BRING ONE WORTH ONE SELA’ APART FROM ITS DRINK-OFFERINGS. [IF HE SAID, ‘I TAKE UPON MYSELF TO OFFER] AN OX VALUED AT A MANEH’, AND HE BROUGHT TWO TOGETHER WORTH A MANEH, HE HAS NOT FULFILLED HIS OBLIGATION. EVEN IF ONE WAS WORTH A MANEH LESS ONE DENAR AND THE OTHER ALSO WAS WORTH A MANEH LESS ONE DENAR. [IF HE SAID] ‘A BLACK ONE’ AND HE BROUGHT A WHITE ONE, OR A WHITE ONE’ AND HE BROUGHT A BLACK ONE, OR ‘A LARGE ONE’ AND HE BROUGHT A SMALL ONE, HE HAS NOT FULFILLED HIS OBLIGATION. [IF HE SAID] ‘A SMALL ONE’ AND HE BROUGHT A LARGE ONE, HE HAS FULFILLED HIS OBLIGATION; BUT RABBI SAYS, HE HAS NOT FULFILLED HIS OBLIGATION. GEMARA. They do not differ, for each rules according to the custom of his place. Our Rabbis taught: [If a man said,] ‘I take upon myself to offer a burnt-offering valued at a sela’ for the altar’, he must bring a lamb, for there is nothing else valued at a sela’ offered upon the altar save a lamb. [If he said,] ‘I specified [an offering valued at a sela’] but I do not know what it was I specified’, he must bring every kind of offering valued at a sela’ that is offered upon the altar. [IF HE SAID,] ‘I SPECIFIED A BEAST OF THE HERD BUT I DO NOT KNOW WHAT IT WAS I SPECIFIED’, HE MUST BRING A BULL AND A BULL CALF. But why? Let him bring a bull, for in any event [that should fulfil his obligation]! — This represents Rabbi's view, who maintains that [if a man offered to bring] a small animal and he brought a large one he has not fulfilled his obligation. If it is Rabbi's view here, then read the following clauses: [IF HE SAID, I TAKE UPON MYSELF TO OFFER] AN OX VALUED AT A MANEH’, AND HE BROUGHT TWO TOGETHER WORTH A MANEH, HE HAS NOT FULFILLED HIS OBLIGATION. EVEN IF ONE WAS WORTH A MANEH LESS ONE DENAR AND THE OTHER ALSO WAS WORTH A MANEH LESS ONE DENAR. [IF HE SAID] ‘A BLACK ONE’ AND HE BROUGHT A WHITE ONE, OR ‘A WHITE ONE’ AND HE BROUGHT A BLACK ONE, OR ‘A LARGE ONE’ AND HE BROUGHT A SMALL ONE, HE HAS NOT FULFILLED HIS OBLIGATION. [IF HE SAID] ‘A SMALL ONE’ AND HE BROUGHT A LARGE ONE, HE HAS FULFILLED HIS OBLIGATION; BUT RABBI SAYS, HE HAS NOT FULFILLED HIS OBLIGATION. It will then be that the first and last clauses represent Rabbi's view while the middle clauses represent the view of the Rabbis! — That is so, the first and last clauses represent Rabbi's view while the middle clauses represent the view of the Rabbis; and [the Tanna of the Mishnah] wished to tell us that this ruling [in the first part of the Mishnah] is really a matter of dispute between Rabbi and the Rabbis. We have learnt elsewhere: There were six [money chests] for freewill-offerings. What did they represent? (Mnemonic: K.N.Z.P.Sh.’A.) — Hezekiah said, They represented the six priestly groups; and the Sages installed [six money chests] so that they should be at peace with each other. R. Johanan said, Because of the abundant offerings [the Sages] installed [six] money chests so that the money became not mouldy. Ze'iri said, They served for the offerings of a bull, a calf, a ram, a lamb, a kid and a goat; this being in accord with Rabbi who said that if a man offered to bring a small animal and he brought a large one he has not fulfilled his obligation. Bar Padda said, They served for the moneys of] bullocks, rams,^ᵃ^ᵇ^ᶜ^ᵈ^ᵉ^ᶠ^ᵍ^ʰ^ⁱ^ʲ^ᵏ^ˡ^ᵐ^ⁿ^ᵒ^ᵖ^ᵠ^ʳ

^ᵃnote:Which may be either a male or female animal.
^ᵇnote:One maneh =25 sela's; one sela’ = 4 denars. The prices mentioned for the various beasts are traditional, though there is a Biblical indication that the ram was to be worth two sela's in Lev. V, 15.
^ᶜnote:R. Eleazar b. Azariah and the first Tanna.
^ᵈnote:Both agree that the cheapest should be offered, but in the place where the first Tanna lived lambs were cheaper than pigeons, whereas in the town where R. Eleazar b. Azariah lived the reverse was the case.
^ᵉnote:The fact that this man specified the offering and did not merely say ‘an offering valued at a sela’ for the altar’ proves that he believed that others besides a lamb were included in the last expression. He must therefore bring a lamb, a meal-offering, and frankincense, each valued at a sela’.
^ᶠnote:For even if he offered to bring a bull calf, the offering of a bull which is larger would surely fulfil his obligation!
^ᵍnote:According to the Sages the offering of a bull alone in the first clause would suffice.
^ʰnote:Shek. VI, 5. V. supra 104a.
^ⁱnote:There were in all thirteen money chests (,urpua, horn-shaped chests) in the Temple, seven bearing inscriptions indicating the kind of money that was to be put in them, while six were allocated for money for freewill-offerings. These were offered as burnt-offerings on behalf of the community and the skins fell to the priests.
^ʲnote:Why were six necessary for the purpose?
^ᵏnote:So Sh. Mek. and Dik. Sof. a.l. These are the characteristic letters of the teachers who propose answers to this question.
^ˡnote:The priests were divided into twenty-four divisions (,urnan), each division serving in the Temple for one full week every half year. The division was sub-divided into six families or groups (,uct h,c). and each group was in service on one day in the week. On the Sabbath the whole division was called upon to do the service.
^ᵐnote:For each priestly group there was a separate money chest for freewill-offering; so that whenever the altar was idle and the occasion thus arose for offering burnt-offerings, the money would be taken from that chest allotted to the group in service on that day, and the skins of the animals offered would be shared among the priests of that group. In this way altercation and strife between the priestly groups would be avoided.
^ⁿnote:Which would be the case if all the money were to be placed in one chest.
^ᵒnote:The money for these offerings was put into separate chests. E.g., if a man undertook to offer a bull for a burnt-offering, he would bring a maneh (this being the price of a bull, v. our Mishnah) and put it into the chest that bore the inscription ‘bull’; the priests would then come and take the money from that chest, purchase a bull, and offer it.
^ᵖnote:The need for six chests.
^ᵠnote:If a bullock which had been set aside for a sin-offering of the community had been lost and another had been offered in its place, and afterwards it was found, it was left to pasture until it contracted a physical blemish when it was sold. The money so obtained was put into a chest specially set aside for this purpose.
^ʳnote:The money obtained on selling the ram of the guilt-offering for theft of for sacrilege when it was no longer required for that purpose (as in the circumstances described in the prec. n.) was put into a second chest.