intended to increase the knowledge, interest, and anticipation of the reader, thereby hastening the realization of our hopes and prayers for the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the Beit HaMikdash.

"Shtei HaLechem" & "Kivsei Atzeret"
"...Until the morrow of the seventh week shall you count, fifty days; and you shall offer a Mincha Chadasha - a new meal offering before G-d. From your dwelling places, you shall bring bread that shall be waved, two loaves... they shall be fine Solet flour, they shall be baked Chameitz, leavened, first offerings to G-d." (Vayikra 23:16,17)

The Mishna reads, "The Omer, the barley offering brought on 16 Nisan, permitted Chadash, the new produce, to be eaten throughout the land; Shtei HaLechem - the "Two Loaves" brought (fifty days later) on Shavu'ot - rendered Chadash permissible in the Mikdash."(Menachot 68b) When the Omer, from barley, was offered in the Beit HaMikdash, the grain from the new harvest - barley, wheat, spelt, oats and rye - was permitted to be eaten by K'lal Yisrael but still could not to be used for Menachot, meal offerings in the Mikdash. However, once the Shtei HaLechem, from wheat, were brought into the Mikdash and "waved", Chadash wheat (and new wine and olive oil) could be used in the Beit HaMikdash as well.

Don Isaac Abravanel comments, "On Pesach - 16 Nisan - we offered an Omer of barley which is food suitable for animals because immediately after the Exodus, we were still lacking Torah and culture. On Shavu'ot, we received the Torah and great knowledge. We became people of intelligence and under- standing. Therefore we were commanded to bring a "Mincha Chadasha" - a 'new meal offering' - to symbolize the new spirit which G-d placed within us. The Mincha was to be two loaves of wheat bread, food worthy of highly developed and cultured people…"

Like most Menachot, the wheat kernels destined to be used for the Shtei HaLechem had to be of the highest quality. Each kernel of wheat is encapsulated by a thin outer shell called a husk - Motz - and two inner bran layers called Subin and Mursin. These three laminae, when they are removed, comprise the chaff. After harvesting, the cut wheat was left to dry in the sun and threshed (Deesha); this removed the top layer, the Motz.

Winnowing (Zeriya) allowed the wind to blow the detached husks away. The Subin and Mursin were removed by means of Sheefa (rubbing) and Be'eta (pounding). "All Menachot must be rubbed three hundred times and beaten five hundred times. The rubbing and the beating applies to the grains of wheat…" (Menachot 6:5). R. Ovadiya Bartenura, a classic commentator on the Mishna, explains the procedure. "Sheefa - he rubs the wheat between his hand and an object to facilitate the removal of the K’lipa, the peel. Be'eta - he pounds the kernels with his fist or his palm." Then, quoting the Gemara, he continues, "he rubs (the wheat) once and pounds it twice, then he rubs twice, and pounds three times. As a result of repeating this process one hundred times, he has pounded (the wheat) five hundred times and rubbed it three hundred times." The kernels were then ground in a gristmill to strip away the loosened bran layers. "The Omer was sifted through thirteen sieves, the Shtei Halechem was sifted through twelve…" The Gemara comments, "It was sifted through a fine sieve and then a coarse one and again through a fine sieve and then a coarse one." A coarse sieve would let the flour through and retain the bran; the fine sieve retains the flour and allows the fine dust to filter through. Rashi notes, that, while they would alternate sieves, only two sieves were actually used. R. Shim'on ben Eleazar postulates that there were thirteen sieves in the Beit HaMikdash, one on top of the other, the uppermost retained the bran and nethermost retained the flour. But the Mishna concludes, "But they brought flour and sifted it as much as necessary, as it is said, 'And you shall take fine Solet flour and bake it' (Vayikra 34:5) (Menachot 76b). Then the flour was ground yet a second time in a fine flourmill producing the Solet, the finest quality flour required for Menachot.

The Shtei HaLechem were "kneaded and formed" outside of the Azara - the Temple Court - but were baked, one at a time, in a special iron stove in the Azara. "The preparation of the Shtei HaLechem does not override Yom Tov and certainly not Shabbat. Instead they were baked before Yom Tov, i.e. Shavu'ot. And if the Eve of Yom Tov fell on a Shabbat, the Shtei HaLechem were baked on the Eve of Shabbat…" and eaten on Shavu'ot. (Rambam, Hilchot Temidin U'Musafin 8).

The Shtei HaLechem had another unique feature that differentiated them from other Menachot; they were Chameitz. Sufficient Se'or, sour dough, was placed into the two separate mixing bowls together with water and Solet causing the solution to rise. Then the contents of each bowl was kneaded separately (Lisha), rolled out, shaped into the two loaves and then baked (Afiya). In contradistinction to most Menachot, "The loaves were square shaped (not circular). They were seven Tefachim long (one Tefach = 8-9.6cm, four Tefachim wide and four Etzba'ot (four fingers high)." Rashi contends that, similar to the preparation of the Lechem HaPanim ("Showbread" or better, "Bread of the Presence"), the bakers placed dough on the four corners of each loaf, thereby shaping Keranot ("horns") that projected upward giving them a configuration reminiscent of the Mizbei'ach.
After the Korbanot Musaf of Shavu'ot were sacrificed, a Kohein took two lambs, the Kivsei Atzeret ("the Shavu'ot Lambs"), and together with the Shtei HaLechem, did the first Tenufa. He lifted them forward and backward and upward and downward. 'Forward and backwards' - i.e. in all four directions - that is unto Him to Whom the four directions belong and to Him to Whom heaven and earth belong. The two lambs were then slaughtered and offered on the Mizbei'ach as Shalmei Tzibur, the only communal peace offerings sacrificed in the Beit HaMikdash during the entire year. Since the Kivsei Atzeret were congregational Korbanot, they had the status of Kodshei Kodoshim, sacrifices of a higher level of sanctity, and therefore, were slaughtered north of the Mizbei'ach. After dismembering the lambs, a Kohein took the two chests (Chazeh) and the two right hind legs (Shok), placed them together with the Shtei HaLechem, lifted them up and performed a second Tenufa. Like all Shlamim, the Kivsei Atzeret also were accompanied by Nesachim, Solet mixed with olive oil to be burnt on the Mizbei'ach and wine for a libation. After the Zerikat HaDam, the blood application on the Mizbei'ach of the two Kivsei Atzeret, the Kohanim were permitted to eat of the Shtei HaLechem. Surprisingly, no part of the Shtei HaLechem was burnt on the Mizbei'ach; all of it was eaten by the Kohanim.

Similar to the Shtei HaLechem, the portions of the Kivsei Atzeret allocated to the Kohanim (Chazeh and Shok), could be eaten only in the Azara by male Kohanim, in a state of Tahara - ritual purity - during the day of Shavu'ot until midnight.

Catriel Sugarman gives illustrated lectures on the Beit Hamikdash and related topics. He can be reached at (02) 652-7531 or by email at acatriel@netvision.net.il. Catriel is in the process of writing a book entitled: The Temple of Jerusalem, A Pilgrim's Perspective: A Guided Tour through the Temple and the Divine Service.