In the ordinary workings of the Temple, a half portion of incense was offered in the morning and a second half portion in the afternoon. A mishnah on yesterday’s daf taught that if the morning incense offering was missed, the afternoon offering was still made. However, there was a disagreement about how much. The rabbis said a half measure, but Rabbi Shimon stated a full measure.
Why was this make-up offering allowed, according to Rabbi Shimon? A new golden altar is inaugurated with a full measure of incense in the afternoon, so there’s precedent for an afternoon full-measure offering.
The Gemara isn’t so sure:
But isn’t it taught in a beraita: The service of a new golden altar is initiated with the burning of the incense of the spices of the morning?
The question of whether the incense of the morning or the afternoon initiates the service of a new golden altar is a dispute between tannaim.
This beraita creates a difficulty for Rabbi Shimon’s opinion, because it implies that golden altars are dedicated with a full measure of incense in the morning, not the afternoon. But then the Gemara responds to the beraita by saying that actually whether the altar was inaugurated in the morning or afternoon is a tannaitic disagreement. So perhaps the altar was inaugurated in the afternoon. In fact:
Abaye said: It stands to reason that the halakhah should be in accordance with the one who says that it was initiated with the incense of the spices of the afternoon, as it is written with regard to the golden altar: “And Aaron shall burn thereon incense of sweet spices; every morning, when he dresses the lamps, he shall burn it. And when Aaron lights the lamps at dusk, he shall burn it, a perpetual incense before the Lord throughout your generations.” (Exodus 30:7–8)
It’s not entirely clear how this verse supports Abaye’s argument that the golden altar was inaugurated in the evening. So the Gemara explains:
The fact that ashes are removed from the lamps of the menorah in the morning indicates that the lamps had been lit previously, since if the priest had not performed the lighting of the lamps the previous evening, from where would the ashes be removed in the morning?
An evening offering is part of the process, as evidenced by the clean up necessary the next morning. Moreover, since “perpetual incense” is stated specifically in the context of the dusk offering, the rabbis read this as indicating that the afternoon offering was the first one made on the altar. Taken all together, it implies that the golden altar was inaugurated in the afternoon which, in turn, implies a full measure of incense can, in principle, be offered up if the morning’s half-measure is skipped. Phew.
But let’s not forget about the conflicting perspective: What’s the thinking behind the argument that the new golden altar was inaugurated in the morning?
He derives it from the initiation of the altar of the burnt offering. Just as there, the service of a new altar of the burnt offering is initiated by means of the daily offering of the morning rather than the afternoon, so too here, the service of a new golden altar is initiated by means of the burning of the incense of the spices of the morning.
The Gemara refers back to the mishnah on 49a, which states that the altar of the burnt offering is inaugurated in the morning. By analogy, we might expect the golden altar to also be inaugurated in the morning, undermining Rabbi Shimon’s position.
Each of these arguments has merit, but the Mishneh Torah agrees with Rabbi Shimon. The Mishneh Torah is silent on whether the afternoon offering should be a full or half measure if the morning incense offering was missed, but Lechem Mishneh comes down on the side of using only a half measure. If that’s the case, then the foundation for Rabbi Shimon’s argument stands, but the argument itself loses out.
Read all of Menachot 50 on Sefaria.
This piece originally appeared in a My Jewish Learning Daf Yomi email newsletter sent on March 2, 2026. If you are interested in receiving the newsletter, sign up here.
