Talking Talmud

Menahot 89: On Lighting the Menorah and Libations

It took 3.5 log of oil to light the menorah - half a log per cup (with 6 branches, plus the shamash). That's the precise amount of oil to burn through the night, but did they figure that out by using excess oil and working the amount down, or did they start with a little and keep adding until they made it through the night? Also, a new mishnah: where libations that accompany the animal sacrifices were transferrable or combinable among some specific sacrifices. Plus, the lamb that was brought by the person recovering from tzara'at for the guilt-offering needs libations together with it.

Menahot 88: Measuring Oil

More on the measures of liquids - and how the "hin" measuring cup was made by Moses in the wilderness, and then it wasn't used. Plus, a new mishnah - on the quarter-log and its uses, including the ratios of oil to flour. Also, the measure for the menorah's cups, and the process of removing them to fill them.

Menahot 87: Sourcing Wine

A final mishnah for chapter 9: On sourcing the wine for libations in the Temple. With limitations on the practices that would damage or sour the wine. Also, the checked the wine for impurities. Plus, speech was understood to be detrimental for wine. And the first two mishnayot of chapter 10: Listing measuring vessels for dry goods, with 2 measures, and for wet, with 7 different measures.

Menahot 86: EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil)

On "shemen ha-mor" - the oil of myrrh, which a discussion of how Queen Esther beautified herself among the other girls in the beauty contest, until the king chose her to be queen. With the question of defining what this oil was used for (an anointing or a depilatory). Also, a new mishnah - with a focus on olives and the several harvests and various pressings of them, attesting to the various qualities of oil too. And another mishnah - 9 degrees of oil, where the top level would be just prohibitive for the grain-offerings, but were always taken for the menorah oil.

Menahot 85: An Olive Travelogue (Beginning with Tekoa)

2 mishnayot! 1 - Which grain is not acceptable - in this case, specifically listed, but after the fact, the grain would be accepted if used. Plus, how one works the land to grow good grain - from sowing to plowing to timing. 2 - The olive trees in Tekoa were the main source of olive oil for the Temple. After that, the trees in Regev. And after that, any other olives were still kosher, as long as they weren't coming a fertilized grove or an irrigated grove, as above regarding grain.