Menachos, Chapter 6, Mishnah 2. In the previous Mishnah we learned that the standard minchah is made up of two parts: the kometz goes up on the Mizbe'ach, and the remainder is eaten by the kohanim. Our Mishnah teaches that there are menachos that do not work this way - there are menachos that go up entirely on the Mizbe'ach, and, on the other hand, offerings that are eaten entirely by the kohanim.
The menachos that go entirely to the Mizbe'ach:
The words of the Mishnah: "Menachos kohanim, u'minchas kohen mashiach, u'minchas nesachim la'mizbe'ach, v'ein bahem la'kohanim" - the menachos of kohanim, the minchah of the anointed kohen, and the minchah of the libations go to the Mizbe'ach, and the kohanim have no share in them. There are three such menachos:
Minchas kohanim - any minchah brought by a male kohen.
Minchas kohen mashiach - the chavitin offering that the Kohen Gadol brings every day, half in the morning and half in the afternoon. All of it is burned: there is no kometz taken from it and no portion eaten by the kohanim.
Minchas nesachim - the accompanying minchah that comes with every olah and every shelamim. No kometz is taken from it and none of it is eaten; rather, all of it goes up on the Mizbe'ach and is burned.
These three go up entirely on the Mizbe'ach: no kometz is taken from them, and the kohanim receive nothing from them.
"Bazeh yafeh ko'ach ha'mizbe'ach mi'ko'ach ha'kohanim": - in this respect the Mizbe'ach's portion is greater than that of the kohanim.
At first glance this statement seems superfluous - what does it teach us that we did not already know? The answer is that there was room to err regarding a separate dispute, concerning one who volunteers to bring an offering of pure wine. The question is how this wine is offered: is it thrown onto the Mizbe'ach, onto the fire, or is it perhaps poured into the bowl at the southwestern corner - the place to which the rest of the libations go - and from there it flows into the shisin, the underground caverns beneath the Mizbe'ach. On this matter there is a disagreement.
The Talmud teaches us that there was room to think that one sprinkles and dashes the wine directly onto the fire, since it is offered as a minchah. But the conclusion is that this is not so, because we do not want to weaken the strength of the fire - and this is the hint contained here. Therefore the wine goes into the bowl above.
The offerings that go entirely to the kohanim:
The Mishnah continues: "Shtei ha'lechem v'lechem ha'panim la'kohanim" - the two loaves and the showbread go to the kohanim. These two offerings go entirely to the kohanim, and nothing from them goes up on the Mizbe'ach:
Shtei ha'lechem - the two loaves that are waved on Shavuos. As we have seen many times, these are chametz loaves that are fit to be brought with the Mizbe'ach service, and their matir is the blood of the sheep.
Lechem ha'panim - the twelve loaves placed in two stacks on the Shulchan inside the Kodesh, from week to week. The kohanim eat it on Shabbos, and the bazichin are the matir of the levonah, while the rest is eaten by the kohanim. It emerges that nothing of the lechem ha'panim goes up on the Mizbe'ach; rather, all of it is eaten by the kohanim.
"V'ein bahem la'mizbe'ach... u'vazeh yafeh ko'ach ha'kohanim mi'ko'ach ha'mizbe'ach": - and the Mizbe'ach has no share in them... and in this respect the kohanim's portion is greater than that of the Mizbe'ach.
They go to the kohanim, and nothing of them goes to the altar. With regard to the lechem hapanim and the two loaves, which go entirely to the kohanim and not to the altar, the power of the kohanim is greater than the power of the altar. And once again the question arises: what is this seemingly superfluous statement coming to add and to hint at?
The answer is that our Mishnah follows the approach of Rabbi Akiva, which we saw in chapter 4, mishnah 3: even if there are no lambs to wave on Shavuos, the loaves of bread, that is, the two loaves, are still brought. One might have thought that in the absence of the lambs the two loaves would go up on the altar and be burned there, and therefore the Mishnah hints that this is not the case - the kohanim have the upper hand, and they receive the bread even if the lambs of Shavuos that accompany it are not brought, and they eat it directly.
It is worth noting that there is a dispute on this matter: Shimon ben Nanas and Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai disagree with Rabbi Akiva and hold that if there are no lambs, no bread is brought at all. The Rambam rules like Rabbi Akiva, while the Raavad holds that the halachah follows Shimon ben Nanas and Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai.
In summary: ultimately, this is all that is hinted at in those seemingly superfluous statements. Our Mishnah teaches about two extremes: the meal offerings of kohanim, the meal offering of the anointed Kohen and the meal offerings accompanying libations, which go up entirely to the altar and the kohanim receive nothing from them - and in this the power of the altar is greater; and in contrast, the two loaves and the lechem hapanim, which are eaten entirely by the kohanim and nothing of them goes to the altar - and in this the power of the kohanim is greater than the power of the altar.