Menachot 64

Today’s daf begins the sixth chapter of Tractate Menachot, which is all about the omer grain offering. Contemporary Jews practice a related but perhaps more familiar ritual called sefirat ha’omer. This involves counting seven weeks from the second day of Passover, which commemorates the exodus from Egypt, until Shavuot, which celebrates the subsequent giving of the Torah. However, both holidays also have an agricultural identity: Passover celebrates the start of spring and the beginning of the barley harvest, marked by the bringing of the omer offering. Shavuot celebrates the bringing of first fruits to the Temple and the start of the wheat harvest, marked by the bringing of two loaves.

The first mishnah addresses offering the omer when the second day of Passover falls on Shabbat. We know that, in general, the Temple service overrides Shabbat prohibitions. The Torah commands a number of sacrifices to be offered on Shabbat, all of which involve normally forbidden Shabbat labor. The omer is also offered on Shabbat when needed, but some rabbis wonder whether all aspects of the offering should be done fully in this situation. The mishnah records two sets of disputes:

Rabbi Yishmael says: On Shabbat the omer was taken out of three seahs (of barley) and on a weekday out of five. 
But the rabbis say: Whether on Shabbat or on a weekday, it was taken out of three seahs.

Rabbi Hanina, the deputy high priest, says: On Shabbat it was harvested by one man with one sickle into one basket, and on a weekday it was harvested by three men into three baskets and with three sickles. 

But the rabbis say: Whether on Shabbat or on a weekday, it was harvested by three men into three baskets and with three sickles.

Though the mishnah doesn’t detail all of the steps here, we know from elsewhere in this chapter that in a single day the omer had to be harvested, gathered, threshed, winnowed, sorted, ground and then sifted before its flour could be prepared as a standard grain sacrifice. Grain offerings usually start with already prepared flour, but for the omer this entire process is part of the ritual. Rabbi Yishmael and Rabbi Hanina both feel that this warrants some modification when done on Shabbat in order to minimize the amount or scale of (normally) prohibited Shabbat labor, like harvesting. However, their colleagues disagree and hold that the omer is always offered in the usual way, even on Shabbat.
 
In the Gemara, Rabbah asserts that Rabbi Yishmael and Rabbi Hanina, who each prescribe a different modification for the omer when brought on Shabbat, would also agree to adopt the modifications proposed by the other. Rabbah sees in both positions a desire to minimize the exertion of labor on Shabbat. For Rabbi Hanina, this means having one person harvest instead of three. For Rabbi Yishmael, it means bringing the omer from three seah of barley instead of five.
 
However, the Gemara rejects Rabbah’s view, asserting instead that Rabbi Yishmael might side with the rabbis against Rabbi Hanina because it better publicizes the mitzvah to have three people harvest. And Rabbi Hanina might side with the rabbis against Rabbi Yishmael because the mitzvah is not done in its proper manner if one harvests less barley than recommended. So while they each think the ritual should be modified on Shabbat, they are not necessarily in agreement about how.

In order to flesh out this dispute over whether the omer should fully override Shabbat, the Gemara brings examples for comparison of other mitzvot that sometimes justify Shabbat violation. In one such example, Rabbah suggests a comparison between overriding Shabbat for the omer and overriding Shabbat to care for a sick person:

An ill person whom doctors evaluated as needing to eat one fig, and 10 men ran and each cut and brought 10 figs simultaneously, they are all exempt. Even if they come one after the other, and even if the ill person had already recovered his health by eating the first fig.

A person is exempt from violating Shabbat in order to care for a seriously ill individual (in this case by harvesting a fig), even if their contribution ends up being redundant. However, in the questions the Gemara brings on this case, it is clear that like Rabbi Yishmael’s opinion on the omer, one should always try to minimize the amount of Shabbat violation if possible — for instance, by harvesting the minimum number of fig clusters when multiple are needed.
 
These discussions show different approaches to the relationship between the Temple service and Shabbat. In one view, the Temple and its attendant sacrifices are basically a Shabbat-free zone, operating in their own mini universe. Accordingly, the omer sacrifice should always proceed as usual, totally disconnected from what day of the week it falls on. In the other framework, Shabbat remains all-encompassing. The Temple service, including the omer offering, is simply one set of needs that briefly overrides it. However, the demands of Shabbat observance never fully disappear.

Read all of Menachot 64 on Sefaria.

This piece originally appeared in a My Jewish Learning Daf Yomi email newsletter sent on March 16, 2026. If you are interested in receiving the newsletter, sign up here.