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Rebbi Yochanan maintains that sanctifying half of the flour of the Kohen Gadol's daily Minchas Chavitin in one vessel, and half in another vessel, is ineffective. The entire amount must be sanctified in one vessel, even though it will be divided later and half offered in the morning and half towards evening. The Gemara asks that Rebbi Yochanan seems to contradict himself, because he rules elsewhere that if a person separates half of the minimum amount of a Minchah with intention to add to it later, that half is sanctified.
The Gemara answers that when the person intends to add more flour later ("Da'ato l'Hosif"), the law is different. In such a case, half of the flour may be sanctified by itself. The Gemara proves this from the ruling of Rebbi Yosi who says that although a Kli Shares must be full in order to be Mekadesh its contents, when the person has intention to add to it later, it is Mekadesh its contents even when it is not yet full.
We explore the Minḥat Ḥavitin, the daily grain offering of the High Priest, which receives only sparse treatment in the biblical text yet becomes a site of extensive rabbinic elaboration in Mishnah and Talmud.
We argue that the rabbinic tradition does not merely clarify biblical ambiguities but fundamentally reconstructs the meaning, status, and theological function of the offering.
