How was flour measured in the bes hamikdash?

Question

Modern cooks will tell you that the way to measure flour is to scoop flour with a scoop whose volume is known, and then to shave any excess off the top. (However, liquids are measured by pouring into a graded (that is, lined) receptacle until the desired line is reached.)

Is that how they measured flour in the bes hamikdash also?

The reason I ask is as follows:

M'nachos 57:2 cites a tana as holding that utensils for measuring flour ("dry measures") were anointed as k'le shares (sanctified) only within, and not on their outside surfaces, whereas "wet measures" were anointed within and without. Other tanaim (see Tosafos s.v. "Rabi") maintain that dry measures were not anointed at all, while wet ones were.

If flour was measured in the bes hamikdash by scooping, then it (I suppose) makes sense that the outsides of dry measures were not sanctified, as they'd want any flour that falls off after scooping, and back into the bin, not to be holy.

Answer 1

My understanding (based on brachos 52a+b, thank you zaq for the source) is that the issue of wet vs dry is an issue of Tumah. (if a vessel is wet on the outside then something touching the outside sends tumah to that which is inside, but if the outside is not wet this doesn't happen.

So a dry measuring cup should not be annointed on the outside is it causes needless risk of the dry things getting tumah. A wet measuring device however, is allready likely to get wet on the outside, so no added risk is involved.

Based on that logic, they could have both been measured in the same way, but had designated wet vs dry containers.

Lastly, I was once told that the mincha offerings were measured via the hand for the actual offering.

Answer 2

A kiddush cup, which is tammeh on the outside, doesn't transfer tummah to your hand because the outside of the cup is dry.

Since your hand won't become tammeh before hamotze through just holding a tammeh-kiddush cup, Yekkies have the custom to wash before kiddush. However, most don't keep that custom because we are concerned that the wine, which itself can become tammeh, may drip onto the tammeh-exterior of the cup and become tammeh, and then, the tammeh-wine on the outside of the cup may touch your hand, making your hand tammeh before you make hamotze.

{brachos 52a+b}

...

So, my guess:

With a dry measure, there is probably no concern that the dry-flower will become tammeh through contact with the dry-outside of the measure, and the overflow of flour also wouldn't transfer tummah to your hand. However, a wet measure would need to be anointed inside and out to prevent this kind of transfer of tummah through wet-contact with the tammeh-interior or exterior of the measure.

(Also, I don't know if the measures had handles, but a handle can't become tammeh, only the inside and outside surfaces.)

Answer 3

אח״כ מצאתי...‏

An Illustrated Guide to Korbonos and Menochos (by Rabbi Sinai Malowicki, 1st edition, Torah Umesorah Publications, 1991, ISBN 0-914131-99-0) says passim (i.e., about each type of mincha) "The flour is poured into a holy dish which measures exactly one עִשָּׂרוֹן". I don't know his source.

Answer 4

The kohen would scoop with his three middle fingers, and that was a measure. A quick google suggests Menachot 11 to be the source.

Answer 5

First of all there was little concern about tumah in that the kohanim doing the procedures had to be tameh so if the vessel was wet on the outside it didn't matter. The gemara in Menachos goes through the various sizes of measuring vessels used in the offering of wet and dry materials and the machlokes as to how many sizes of each there were.