Misva #307: The Special Sheteh Ha’lehem Wheat Offering on Shabuot

The Torah in Parashat Emor (Vayikra 23:16) commands that a “Minha Hadasha” – “new grain offering” – must be brought in the Bet Ha’mikdash on Shabuot. This offering consisted of two loaves of leavened bread produced from the new wheat crop. Seven weeks earlier, on the second day of Pesach, the Korban Ha’omer was brought, consisting of a measure of the new barley harvest. On Shabuot, the Sheteh Ha’lehem (“two-loaf”) offering was brought from the new wheat harvest. A quantity of three Se’a of the new wheat was harvested, thoroughly cleaned, and then threshed. After the chaff was removed, the wheat was ground into flour, and the flour was then sifted in twelve sieves, resulting in two Esronim of especially fine flour. One rectangular loaf was then made from each of the two Esronim. Each loaf measured 7 Tefahim (handbreadths) long, four Tefahim wide, and 4 Esbaot (finger-widths) high. The baking was done before Yom Tob, as it was not allowed on Yom Tob. On Shabuot, the loaves were waved together with two sheep offered as a Shelamim sacrifice accompanying the “Sheteh Ha’lehem,” before the sheep were slaughtered. The bread was then eaten by the Kohanim. One loaf was given to the Kohen Gadol, and the other loaf was divided among all the Kohanim. On Yom Tob, all the rotations of Kohanim were apportioned shares of the sacrifices, such that each Kohen received a very small piece of the loaf. According to Torah law, the bread was allowed to be eaten throughout the night after Shabuot, until morning. However, the Rabbis enacted a safeguard, requiring that the bread be eaten before Hasot (Halachic midnight). Accompanying the two loaves were the aforementioned two sheep brought as a Shelamim, as well as seven other sheep, a bull and two rams, which were offered as an Ola (burnt offering). Additionally, a goat was brought as a sin-offering. These sacrifices were required in addition to the Musaf sacrifice which was offered on Shabuot, just as on other Yamim Tobim. The offering of the Korban Ha’omer on the second day of Pesach rendered the new grain permissible for consumption; until this offering was brought, it was forbidden to partake of the season’s new grain (“Hadash”). Correspondingly, the offering of the Sheteh Ha’lehem on Shabuot rendered the new grain permissible for flour offerings in the Bet Ha’mikdash. Prior to the offering of the “Sheteh Ha’lehem,” it was forbidden to bring the new grain as a flour offering. The Sefer Ha’hinuch notes that whereas the grain brought for the Korban Ha’omer was not baked, but was rather offered as flour, the Sheteh Ha’lehem was baked into loaves. The reason, he explains, is that the Korban Ha’omer consisted of barley, which was used primarily as animal fodder, whereas the Sheteh Ha'lehem consisted of wheat, which was used for baking bread for human consumption. Therefore, the barley offered as the Korban Ha’omer did not need to be baked, because barley is given to animals raw; the Sheteh Ha'lehem, however, was baked because this is how wheat is primarily used. All the preparations for producing the Sheteh Ha'lehem were done outside the Bet Ha’mikdash, except the baking, which was to be done specifically in the area of the Mikdash. This Misva applies in the times of the Bet Ha’mikdash. It is fulfilled by the Kohanim, but all Am Yisrael bear the collective responsibility to ensure it is offered.