EXTRA 3 — Vayikra 2:14 · Sifra / Menachos

Extra Credit · Toras Kohanim & Menachos

The Complete Passuk

וְאִם־תַּקְרִ֛יב מִנְחַ֥ת בִּכּוּרִ֖ים לַיהֹוָ֑ה אָבִ֞יב קָל֤וּי בָּאֵשׁ֙…

And if you bring a meal-offering of first-fruits to Hashem — of the early grain, parched with fire…

Source

Sifra and Menachos 68b on the obligatory character and the grain species.

The Midrash (longer context)

Core Text
״וְאִם תַּקְרִיב״ — הֲרֵי ״אִם״ מְשַׁמֵּשׁ בִּלְשׁוֹן ״כִּי״, שֶׁהֲרֵי אֵין זֶה רְשׁוּת, שֶׁהֲרֵי בְּמִנְחַת הָעֹמֶר הַכָּתוּב מְדַבֵּר שֶׁהִיא חוֹבָה. ״אָבִיב״ — נֶאֱמַר כָּאן אָבִיב וְנֶאֱמַר לְהַלָּן ״הַשְּׂעֹרָה אָבִיב״ — מַה לְּהַלָּן שְׂעוֹרִים אַף כָּאן שְׂעוֹרִים.

English: “And if you bring” — “if” functions as “when,” for this is not optional; Scripture speaks of the omer meal-offering, which is obligatory. “Aviv” — it is stated here “aviv” and elsewhere “the barley was aviv”; just as there it is barley, so here it is barley.

In Sifra / Menachos: The language of choice is re-read as obligatory timing. The word “aviv” is linked by gezerah shavah to the barley of the Egyptian plague, fixing the omer as barley, not wheat.

Type of Learning

R’ Eliezer #7 (גזירה שוה) + custom re-reading of “im.”

What Is Learned

The first-fruits mincha of this verse is the obligatory omer of barley brought on the second day of Pesach.