Menachos, Chapter Nine, Mishnah 4. In the previous mishnah we dealt with the measures of liquids that go into the nesachim, which accompany olos and shelamim offerings. The word 'nesachim' may refer to the wine that accompanies these offerings, or to the combination of oil and fine flour - the minchas nesachim that comes along with them. We also learned that the volume of the nesachim does not depend on the type of offering but on the type of animal: whether it is an olah or a shelamim, what determines the amount is whether we are dealing with a bull, a ram, a goat or a lamb.
The measures of the nesachim and their ratios of thickness:
The bull: The Torah requires half a hin - and a hin is twelve log, so this comes to six log of oil and six log of wine. The fine flour that comes with it is three esronim, so the ratio is two log of oil for every isaron of flour.
The ram: A third of a hin - four log of oil and four log of wine, and with them two esronim of fine flour. Here too the ratio is four to two, that is, two log per isaron. It emerges that the thickness of the minchas nesachim of the bull and of the ram is exactly the same.
The lamb and the goat: One isaron with a quarter of a hin, which is three log of oil - the richest minchah of them all.
By way of comparison: all the other menachos come with one log of oil per isaron. So in the bull and the ram the mixture is twice as rich, and in the lamb and the goat richer still.
Two approaches to understanding the mishnah:
Our mishnah deals with what happens when nesachim become mixed together, and its complexity stems from two different approaches. According to the Bartenura, the mishnah is speaking of a minchas nesachim - the mixture of fine flour and oil - that became mixed with another one. The Gemara, however, ultimately concludes that the mishnah is speaking specifically about wine. Again, the term 'nesachim' can refer either to wine or to the mixture of fine flour and oil, and the Bartenura learns the mishnah not in accordance with the Gemara's conclusion. So the mishnah can be read in two ways, and we will explain it according to both.
Distinguishing between 'belilah' and 'irvuv':
A further difficulty in understanding the mishnah is the similarity between two entirely different concepts. 'Belilah' means combining the fine flour and the oil together to produce the minchah properly, whereas 'irvuv' or 'nisarvu' means the joining together of two separate menachos. One must be careful with this distinction: belilah - mixing the fine flour and the oil of a single minchah; nisarvu - the merging of two menachos that were never meant to be combined.
The approach of the Bartenura:
According to the Bartenura, one may combine menachos nesachim of fine flour and oil even lechatchilah, as long as the recipes have the same thickness. Therefore two bulls, or a bull and a ram, or two rams - these may be combined, since the texture of the final product is identical. The problem arises when combining two menachos whose recipes differ and whose thickness differs: if belilah has not yet been performed on them, and now they became mixed, the mixture will no longer have the correct texture - it will have either too little oil or too much, and it will therefore be invalid. But if each of them has already undergone belilah properly, there is no invalidation.
And this is how the mishnah reads according to his approach: "Mearvin niskei eilim b'niskei parim" - one may combine, even lechatchilah, the fine flour and oil mixtures that accompany an olah or a shelamim of a ram and of a bull, since their thickness and their recipe are the same. "V'niskei kevasim b'niskei kevasim" - and likewise two separate lambs, each one brought as an olah or a shelamim, each with its own minchas nesachim: since their thickness is identical, they may be combined lechatchilah. The word "mearvin" is stated in the present tense, and it indicates permission lechatchilah.
"Shel yachid b'shel tzibbur" - even if one minchas nesachim came with an individual's offering and the other with a communal offering. "Shel yom b'shel emesh" - and likewise if the offerings were brought on two separate days.
A clarification is in order: a minchah that was left overnight and not offered becomes disqualified through linah, so our Mishnah is not speaking about yesterday's minchah that was never offered. Rather, a person who brings an animal that requires nesachim, an olah or a shelamim, may bring the sacrifice today and its accompanying nesachim ten days later - that is, in two separate stages. The case the Mishnah is dealing with, then, is a person who brought an olah yesterday and did not have the nesachim on hand, and today he brings a shelamim and brings along with it two sets of nesachim: one for today's shelamim and one for last night's olah. These two mixtures of flour and oil may be combined even lechatchilah.
"Ein me'arvin niskei kevasim b'niskei par v'eilim" - one may not mix the flour and oil of two different formulas with two different consistencies as long as they have not yet been blended, for the proportions will be thrown off and the mixture will not be valid.
"V'im balal eilu bifnei atzman v'eilu bifnei atzman" - if he blended the minchas nesachim of the bull in a ratio of two to one in one vessel, and that of the sheep in a ratio of three to one in a second vessel, and each one was properly blended, and afterward the contents of the two vessels became mixed together - "kesheirim". This too is permitted, since once the blending was done properly there is no longer any concern.
"V'im ad shelo balal" - but if the flour and oil of one of the nesachim, or of both of them, had not yet been blended, and now they became mixed together, it is "pasul", because in the minchah that was not blended there will turn out to be either too much oil or too little.
The Gemara's conclusion:
The Gemara raises a difficulty with the Mishnah's wording: "me'arvin" implies permission lechatchilah, yet in the final analysis a person may not lechatchilah merge two separate menachos of nesachim, since each one must be offered on its own by decree of the verse. The Gemara therefore concludes that our Mishnah is not speaking about mixing the flour and oil at all, but about the wine that accompanies the offerings.
At first glance, what is there to discuss? The wine that accompanies a bull or a goat or a sheep is entirely the same wine, with no difference whatsoever between them. The minchah is offered on the fire of the altar, while the wine is poured into the bowl at the southwest corner at the top of the altar. If so, what does it matter if they become mixed?
Rather, the Sages made a decree: mixing the wine of two sets of nesachim is liable to lead a person to think that one may also mix the menachos of the nesachim, the mixtures of flour and oil, which may not be combined lechatchilah. For this reason the mixing of the wine was forbidden as well. It follows that in a case where there is no longer room for the decree - since the flour and oil mixtures have already been combined and it is too late to be concerned - one may mix the wine as well.
Reading the Mishnah according to the Gemara's conclusion:
"Me'arvin niskei eilim b'niskei parim v'niskei kevasim b'niskei kevasim" - one may mix lechatchilah the wine that accompanies a ram with the wine that accompanies a bull, and the wine of one sheep with the wine of another sheep. This is said with regard to a situation in which the menachos of their nesachim already became mixed together after the fact: true, it should not have been done, but once the flour and oil became mixed and their formula is identical, the mixture is valid after the fact, and there is no longer any reason to forbid mixing the wine.
"Ein me'arvin niskei kevasim b'niskei parim v'eilim" - one may not mix the wine that accompanies a sheep with the wine that accompanies a bull or a ram. This refers to a situation in which, even if the menachos that came with the two offerings became mixed, since their formulas and consistencies differ the mixture is disqualified even after the fact and a new minchas nesachim will have to be brought. Therefore he is not permitted to mix their wine lechatchilah either; rather, he should keep the wine separate, or bring new wine if it was already mixed. This is the decree of the Sages.
"V'im belalan eilu bifnei atzman v'eilu bifnei atzman" - if he already had in hand the flour and oil of the two different formulas, one vessel for the sheep and a second vessel for the bull, and each was blended on its own so that its consistency was correct, "v'nis'arvu" - and afterward the two blended menachos were merged into one vessel, it is valid after the fact, since their consistency had been proper. And for that reason "kesheirim" - he may now mix the wine lechatchilah as well, since there is no longer any room for the decree.
"Ve'im ad shelo balal" - but if the fine flour and the oil were not blended together in each of the two separate vessels before they were combined with one another, then it is "pasul" - invalid. In such a case he may not combine the two wines either; rather, he must keep the wine separate or bring new wine, just as he will need to bring fresh mixtures of fine flour and oil, since they were combined in the wrong proportions.
Admittedly, this material is far from simple. But now that we have made it through the difficult part, we can move on to what follows. Whoever understood it - wonderful; and whoever did not - there is always next time.
The lamb that accompanies the Omer offering:
The final section of the Mishnah introduces a new point, dealing with the lamb that is brought together with the Omer offering on the second day of Pesach. We have already discussed the Omer meal offering itself, but along with it a lamb is brought as an olah, and the Torah specifies that the amount of fine flour in the meal offering of its libations is double that of an ordinary meal offering. Even though the flour component is doubled, that is, two esronim instead of one issaron, the liquid component - the oil and likewise the wine - is not doubled. The result is two esronim of fine flour with only a single log of oil, making this an exceptionally dry meal offering, the driest of all the meal offerings, apart from those that contain no oil at all.