Talking Talmud

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.

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.

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.

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.

Which barley is to be used for the omer offering? During a sabbatical/shemitah year, they couldn't plant, but they could collect the natural growth, which they did. That collection needed to be as for food, however, and not for fuel -- because shemitah produce could not be burned. But it wasn't quite burned either.... Also, a deep dive into "first fruits/bikkurim," and how they were to be brought from the 7 species from the land of Israel. Plus, refinement of the details of the bikkurim as brought, based on the verses, and also the basic growth and whether it was in a field or elsewhere, for example. But why weren't bikkurim offered for all fruits and not just the 7 species?