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Menahot 69: Elephants, Wolves, and the Things They Swallow Whole

03.21.2026 | ג׳ בניסן תשפ״ו

Does the omer offering render kernels that are planted in the ground permitted? It depends on whether they have taken root. Also, sales of grain – with questions as to whether it’s movable property or land, and how to deal honestly, rather than in fraudulent ways. And what about swearing as to the honesty of their handling? Under what circumstances – the narrowest of them – does the omer offering permit aspects of planted unrooted kernels, or not? Also, when wheat or barley kernels are mixed into the dung of cattle or other animals, what rules apply to that grain? What about when an elephant swallows an Egyptian wicker basket – and excretes it intact? Or if an elephant swallows leaves whole and excretes them whole? Or wolves who swallowed and excreted (intact, though not alive) two babies. With implications for purity and impurity.

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Anne and Yardaena

Anne Gordon is the deputy editor of Ops & Blogs at The Times of Israel. She is a veteran educator, having taught in high school and post-high school institutions in Israel and America for several decades. Yardaena Osband is a pediatrician and teaches in her community and online. They both hail from Boston, proud alumna of Maimonides School, where they first learned Gemara. Talking Talmud is their conversation (via podcast) on the daf yomi. They say: “Learning the daf? We have something for you to think about. Not learning the daf? We have something for you to think about! (Along with a taste of the daf…) Join the conversation with us!”

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