Sukkah, Chapter 5, Mishnah 7. In the previous Mishnah we learned that on Yom Tov the twenty-four mishmaros - the twenty-four groups of kohanim - share in bringing the musaf offerings of the festival. Our Mishnah continues with the same subject and discusses the various mishmaros that bring the offerings on the festivals.
"Bishloshah perakim bashanah hayu kol hamishmaros shavos" - At three seasons of the year all the mishmaros were equal:
Three times a year, on the three festivals, all the mishmaros were equal - that is, they shared equally, and the offerings were not given specifically to the mishmar whose turn fell on that Yom Tov. This equality applies to two matters:
"B'imurei haregalim" - the offerings stated with regard to the festivals, namely the musaf offerings unique to the festival, as opposed to the daily tamid offerings brought every single day by the mishmar on duty. The imurei haregalim were divided among all the mishmaros, as we learned in the previous Mishnah.
"Uv'chiluk lechem hapanim" - when Shabbos falls during Yom Tov, its lechem hapanim is likewise divided among all the mishmaros. Normally Shabbos is the time when the mishmaros change over, and the lechem hapanim is divided between two mishmaros only, the incoming one and the outgoing one; but on Yamim Tovim they divided it among all of them.
"Ba'atzeres omrim lo: heilach matzah, heilach chametz" - On Shavuos they say to him: here is matzah, here is chametz:
The Mishnah focuses on Shavuos, when they would say to each kohen:
"Heilach matzah" - this refers to the lechem hapanim, for the lechem hapanim, like almost all the meal offerings in the Beis HaMikdash, was matzah and not chametz.
"Heilach chametz" - an allusion to the shtei halechem, the two loaves that were exceptional in that they were made as chametz, and were brought together with the two lambs of Shavuos in order to permit bringing the new grain in the Beis HaMikdash.
It emerges that every kohen would receive matzah from the lechem hapanim and chametz from the shtei halechem.
"Mishmar shezemano kavua" - The mishmar whose time is fixed:
And what remains for the mishmar whose turn was set for that week? It brings:
"Tamid" - the regular daily tamid offering, the tamid of the morning and the tamid of the afternoon.
"Nedarim un'davos" - the offerings that individuals brought to fulfill a vow, as well as those they dedicated to the Mikdash as a voluntary gift.
"Ush'ar korbanos tzibbur" - such as the musaf offerings of Shabbos. The Gemara adds that this also includes the par he'elem davar of the community, which the Sanhedrin would bring if they erred in their ruling; it too is offered by the mishmar whose turn was set at that time.
"Umakriv es hakol" - according to the Gemara this refers to the "kayitz hamizbe'ach": when the altar was idle and no offering was being brought upon it, they would take from the funds in the collection chests and bring olos from them. These too were offered by the mishmar whose time was fixed.
A Yom Tov adjacent to Shabbos:
"Yom tov hasamuch l'Shabbos, bein milfaneha uvein mil'achareha, hayu kol hamishmaros shavos b'chiluk lechem hapanim" - a Yom Tov that falls on Friday, before Shabbos, or on Sunday, after it. On that Shabbos, even though it is not itself Yom Tov but merely adjacent to it, the law is as on Yom Tov, and all the mishmaros share the lechem hapanim equally.
The reason: as stated, on an ordinary Shabbos the lechem hapanim is divided only between the two mishmaros that are changing over, whereas on Yom Tov it is divided among all of them. Here, since the Shabbos is immediately adjacent to the Yom Tov and the kohanim cannot return to their homes in the meantime, all the mishmaros are entitled to share in the lechem hapanim.