Vayikra 7:9 records that by a baked minhah sacrifice, the priest who offered the sacrifice received the part of the sacrifice that is not placed on the altar. 7:10 then records that if the minhah was of flour and/ or oil (not baked), then the all of the priests received the part of the sacrifice that was not placed on the altar. Why does this distinction with regard to the priests exist by the two types of minhah sacrifices?
Rashi (on 7:9) quotes from the Sifra that there is no distinction between the different types of minhah sacrifices with regard to the priests, see also Mishnah Menachot 6:1. Instead, the two verses are informing us that all the priests of the family who worked that day in the mishkan/ Bet ha-Mikdash received the remains of all of the minhah sacrifices.
Rambam (Laws of performing sacrifices, 10:14,15, see also Hirsch and Or Hachayyim) notes that the law is as stated by Rashi, but questions why the Torah appears to make a difference between the minhah sacrifices that were baked and those that were just flour. He answers that since the portions of the flour minhah sacrifice that is distributed amongst the priests could be so small that they could not bake it, one might have thought that the priests would institute a system where some priests shared some of the minhah sacrifices and other priests shared other minhah sacrifices. Thus, 7:10 records that the flour minhah sacrifices are shared by all the priests to ensure that each minhah sacrifice is shared amongst all of the priests. This is a very interesting Rambam since we see that the Rambam was concerned about the difference between the simple reading of the Torah and the halakhah, but I am not sure how his rationale explains why 7:9 records that the baked minhah sacrifices go to the priest who offered the sacrifice.
Ramban (on 7:9) first writes that a reason for distinguishing between the two types of minhah sacrifices is that the baked minhah sacrifices involved more work for the officiating priest, and hence the officiating priest received all of the sacrifice as a reward for his work. However, afterwards, he notes that Chazal explained that all the minhah sacrifices go to the family that is officiating that day, and he accepted this ruling since it leads to peace amongst the priests.
The Ramban’s suggestion that the difference between the two types of minhah sacrifices was due to the work involved has been much criticized. Hoffmann (p.172) rejects this possibility since he says there is no even hint in the Torah that the priest was responsible for baking the minhah sacrifice. Chaval (1993, footnote mipnei on 7:9) quotes from the Malbim that a non-priest can bake the sacrifice and that 2:3 and 6:9 state that the minhah sacrifice goes to all of the priests, so how could it be that that only the officiating priest received the sacrifice? Chavel notes that the Panim Yafot suggested that maybe the Ramban meant that the officiating priest was to get the sacrifice since it was difficult (since it was hot?) to separate the baked minhah sacrifice when putting some of the sacrifice on the altar. However, Chaval rejects this suggestion. He writes that there were two priests, one who did the separating and one who put some of the sacrifice on the altar. I do not understand Chavel’s comment since from the Torah it seems that both jobs of separating the sacrifice and placing it on the altar were performed by one priest, but I thought maybe there is a different way to understand the distinction between the two types of minhah sacrifices.
The simple reading of the Torah is that there is a distinction between what the priests receives by the two types of minhah sacrifices. My guess is that the difference is due to the greater responsibility that is required of the priest who offers a baked minhah sacrifice. 2:11,12 records that hametz cannot be offered on the altar, and this was a real danger by the baked minhah sacrifice since it could easily have become hametz. While the priest may not have baked the minhah sacrifice, ultimately he was responsible for placing it on the altar. Thus, either as a reward for this responsibility or to make the priest more aware of this responsibility he was given the entire baked minhah sacrifice. However, this danger was not a problem by the flour minhah sacrifice, and hence the remains of the sacrifice were distributed to all the priests.
This idea might explain similar laws with regard to the officiating priest by the other sacrifices. 7:7 records that the officiating priest received the hatta’t and asham, and again it might be to ensure or reward the priest that the sacrifice was performed correctly. 7:8 records that the officiating priest received the skin of the olah sacrifice. Maybe this was to ensure that the sacrifice was done correctly and more specifically that the skin was not placed on the altar. Finally, the priest who sprinkled the blood on the altar by the todah sacrifice received a portion of the bread from the sacrifice, 7:14, as again it could be that this gift was because he was responsible to ensure that the hametz bread (7:13) that accompanied the sacrifice did not go on the altar. If this approach is correct, then it is the shelamim sacrifice that is the exception (that all the priests shared the priests portion of the shalamim sacrifice) since this was a special gift to the priests, 7:34, Shemot 29:28.
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