Menachot 11: Fingers, Consequences re:Place and Time

The rabbis consider how the kemitza, meal-offering, is in fact carried out.  The kemitza is the name of the fourth finger, and so the rabbis are certain that this act did not require all five fingers.  They discuss how the scoop might have been taken, the difficulty of that task, what might disqualify the kemitza, and other related issues.  

A new Mishna teaches us that the priest performs kemitza by extending his fingers onto the palm of his hand.  If the priest uses too much or too little oil or too little frankincense, the offering is disqualified.  The Gemara explains that the finger and thumb are used to remove any extra flour, but some rabbis believe that all five fingers could be used.  The difficulty of this task - when it was to be done with such precision - resulted in arguments about how, in fact, it could be done at all.

We end with the very beginning of a new Mishna.  It teaches the following:

• when one removes a handful from the meal offering with the intent to consume the remainder 
• outside of the Temple courtyard 
• or to burn its handful or an olive bulk of its handful outside of the Temple courtyard
• or to burn its frankincense outside of the Temple courtyard
• in all of those cases the offering is unfit but there is no liability for karet if one does consume it
• if one intends to consume the remainder of the meal-offering
•  on the next day
• or to eat an olive bulk of its remainder on the next day
• or to burn its handful on the next day 
• or to burn an olive-bulk of its handful the next day
• or to burn its frankincense on the next day
• in these cases the offering is piggul, disqualified due to errors regarding time, liability includes karet