In the mishnah before us - Menachos chapter 3, mishnah 4 - we will continue to examine several of the parallels between the minchah and an animal offering, since the laws of the minchah correspond in large measure to the laws of a zevach in all their details.
Remainders that were lost before the kometz was burned:
In Maseches Pesachim we find a dispute among the Tannaim: if a kohen no longer has the flesh of the animal - the body of the animal was lost, burned or became tamei - and the blood has not yet been offered, may the blood still be placed on the mizbeach? According to Rabbi Eliezer the answer is yes, and according to Rabbi Yehoshua the answer is no.
The first part of our mishnah deals with the parallel question: what is the law regarding the remainders - the portion eaten by the kohanim - that became tamei, were burned or were lost before the kometz was burned on the mizbeach? The kometz is what permits the remainders, just as the blood is what permits the flesh of the zevach. Since there are no remainders standing ready to be eaten, may the kometz still be burned, or has the entire minchah been disqualified?
The language of the mishnah: "Nitmu shiyareha, nisrefu shiyareha, avdu shiyareha" - its remainders became tamei, its remainders were burned, its remainders were lost:
"K'midas Rabbi Eliezer - kesheirah" - according to the approach of Rabbi Eliezer it is valid. According to his basic position the blood may be offered even though there is no flesh to be rendered permitted through it, and therefore the kometz too may be burned on the mizbeach. Everything that needed to be done was done, and the minchah is valid.
"K'midas Rabbi Yehoshua - pesulah" - according to the approach of Rabbi Yehoshua it is invalid. According to his position, "if there is no flesh there is no blood": just as there is no permission to offer the blood when there is no flesh to be eaten, so too there is no possibility of burning the kometz when there are no remainders to be eaten, and the offering becomes invalid.
The halachah follows Rabbi Yehoshua: if the remainders were lost before the burning of the kometz, the minchah is invalid and another must be brought in its place.
A kometz that was not placed in a k'li shareis:
The next part of the mishnah is an entirely new subject (and in the Babylonian Talmud it is even counted as a mishnah in its own right): what is the law when the kometz was not placed in a k'li shareis, a sacred service vessel, before it was brought up onto the mizbeach? With animal offerings there are four primary blood services, and corresponding to them are four stages in the minchah:
The slaughtering - the drawing out of the blood, and corresponding to it the kemitzah.
The receiving of the blood in a sanctified k'li shareis, and corresponding to it the placing of the kometz in a vessel.
The carrying to the mizbeach, and corresponding to it the carrying in the minchah.
The throwing of the blood on the mizbeach, and corresponding to it the burning of the kometz.
The question is what the law is when the kohen skipped the stage of placing the kometz in a vessel. It should be emphasized that we are not speaking about placing the minchah in a k'li shareis before its preparation - a stage that is essential according to all opinions, since it is what invests the minchah with kedushas haguf, an intrinsic sanctity - but rather about taking the kometz and placing it directly on the fire. After the fact, has the obligation been fulfilled?
The mishnah rules: "Shelo bichli shareis - pesulah" - if it was not done in a k'li shareis, it is invalid. One who performed the kemitzah and did not place the kometz in a k'li shareis, but instead placed it directly in the fire on the mizbeach, his minchah is invalid, because he skipped an essential stage: just as there is a receiving of the blood in a vessel with a zevach, so too a placing in a vessel is required with a minchah.
However, "Rabbi Shimon machshir" - Rabbi Shimon rules it valid after the fact, on the strength of a separate derashah: "kodesh kodashim hi kachatas v'ka'asham" (it is most holy, like the chatas and like the asham) - the minchah is compared to the chatas (sin offering) and to the asham (guilt offering). Just as with the chatas the blood is applied with the finger onto the altar, in contrast to the asham whose blood is thrown onto the altar, so too this derashah comes to teach that the kometz may go up directly onto the altar without first being placed in a vessel.
The halachah follows Rabbi Shimon; and in practice, one who skips the stage of placing the kometz in a vessel - his minchah is invalid.
Burning the kometz in several stages:
The third part of the Mishnah deals with an entirely new matter: what is the law when the kometz is burned in several stages? For example, a kohen who took the kometz, divided it into two halves, and burned each half separately on the altar. The Mishnah rules: "Hiktir kumtzah pa'amayim - kesheirah" - if he burned its kometz in two stages, it is valid.
The underlying principle: as long as each and every burning of the kometz, or of part of it, consists of at least one kezayis, the minchah is valid even if the burning was carried out in several stages and in several portions. The Mishnah's assumption here is that a single kometz contains about two kezeisim and a bit more, but not three. That is why the Mishnah spoke of "two times": dividing it into two halves is possible, since each half can be at least a kezayis, whereas dividing it into three thirds is not possible, since a third of a kometz will not amount to a kezayis.
But a kohen whose hand is unusually large, so that four kezeisim can fit into his kometz, may burn it even in three or four stages - provided that every part of the kometz goes up on the altar, and that each portion is at least the measure of one kezayis. In such a case the minchah is valid.
In summary: In this Mishnah we learned three laws that express the parallel between the minchah and an animal offering: shirayim that became tamei, were burned or were lost before the burning of the kometz - a dispute between Rabbi Eliezer and Rabbi Yehoshua, a continuation of their dispute regarding blood without meat, and the halachah follows Rabbi Yehoshua that the minchah is invalid; a kometz that was not placed in a service vessel - invalid, while Rabbi Shimon rules it valid on the strength of the derashah "kodesh kodashim hi kachatas v'ka'asham"; and burning the kometz in several stages - valid, provided that each burning is at least a kezayis.