“FLOUR POWER” is our second consecutive text-based Gemara mini-series focusing on the Seasonal Barely Harvest and the Firstling Omer Offering. This is the eponymous Temple Rite linked to Sefirat Ha’Omer, the annual Post-Passover Counting of Days that leads us up to Shavuot — the holiday commemorating the Giving of the Torah.
The series opens with the initial steps taken once the fresh Barley is cut, to turn grain into Flour so that it can be processed into the dough of that famous firstling grain offering, known by the Chalice in which it was brought: the proverbial Omer!
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In our Season of Sefira, Tom’s Talmud Tisch annually focuses on Tractate Menachot.
Our fresh new mini-series opened the Mishna (on page 66a) with the preparatory steps that can accelerated flour production from freshly harvested barley stalks.
In Episode Two, entitled “AGAINST THE GRAIN,” we move onto actual flour creation, and some of the doughier duties — thereby completing the Mishna.
Moving beyond the initial processing of fresh stalks and moist kernels, we’ll zero in on milling and multi-level surprisingly significant sifting details. This leads into a fascinating discussion of Private Ownership, Eminent [Temple] Domain and obligations of Firstling Dough Separation, Tithe Taking and related rituals.
The second episode of this second mini-series on Sefirat Ha’Omer, has been sponsored by Jeffrey Solomon and Eva Rosenthal in honour of the memory of Shulamit Chava Bat Arye Leib – Sheryl Goldlist OBM.
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