When Jerusalem Said No: Stories of Six Dismissed Offerings in the Second Temple (Mishnah Challah 4:10-11)

Intro

This Mishnah discusses various instances of offerings brought to the Second Temple in Jerusalem.

(See table below, after this section, breaking this all down.)

1. Nittai of Tekoa (נתאי איש תקוע):¹ He brought hallah (a portion of dough set aside as an offering) from Betar (ביתר), but they were not accepted, though the passage does not specify the reason.

2. People of Alexandria (אנשי אלכסנדריא): They also brought hallah, but it was not accepted. Again, specific reasons are not given.²

3. People from Mt. Zevoim (אנשי הר צבועים): They brought bikkurim (first fruits) before the festival of Shavuot, but these were not accepted because the Torah specifies that first fruits should be brought during the festival of Shavuot, aligning with the agricultural cycle described in Exodus 23:16.

4. Ben-Antigonus (בן אנטיגנוס): He brought bekhorot (firstborn animals) from Babylonia, which were not accepted.

5. Joseph the Priest (יוסף הכהן): His offerings of bikkurim (of wine and oil) were not accepted, and his attempt to celebrate Pesach Katan (פסח קטן)³ in Jerusalem with his family was also turned back to prevent setting a precedent that might become a binding obligation.

6. Ariston (אריסטון):⁴ Unlike the others, his bikkurim from Apamea (אפמיא), a city in Syria, were accepted. The acceptance was based on a ruling that equated purchasing a field in Syria to purchasing one in the outskirts of Jerusalem, thus validating his offerings as though they were local.

Table

The Passage

Mishnah_Challah.4.10-11:

1. נתאי איש תקוע הביא חלות מביתר, ולא קבלו ממנו. 

2. אנשי אלכסנדריא הביאו חלותיהן מאלכסנדריא, ולא קבלו מהם. 

3. אנשי הר צבועים הביאו בכוריהם קדם עצרת, ולא קבלו מהם, מפני הכתוב שבתורה (שמות כג), "וחג הקציר, בכורי מעשיך, אשר תזרע בשדה":

4. בן אנטיגנוס העלה בכורות מבבל, ולא קבלו ממנו. 

5. יוסף הכהן הביא בכורי יין ושמן, ולא קבלו ממנו. אף הוא העלה את בניו ובני ביתו לעשות פסח קטן בירושלים, והחזירוהו, שלא יקבע הדבר חובה. 

6. אריסטון הביא בכוריו מאפמיא, וקבלו ממנו, מפני שאמרו, הקונה בסוריא, כקונה בפרור שבירושלים:

1. Nittai of Tekoa brought hallah-portions from Be-Yitur, but they did not accept from him. 

2. The people of Alexandria brought hallah, but they did not accept it from them. 

3. The people from Mt. Zevoim brought bikkurim prior to Atzeret (Shavuot), but they did not accept from them, on for it is written in the Torah: “And the festival of the harvest, the first-fruits of your labors, which you have sown in the field” (Exodus 23:16).

4. Ben Antigonus brought up firstlings from Babylon, but they did not accept from him. 

5. Joseph the priest brought first fruits of wine and oil, but they did not accept from him. He also brought up his sons and members of his household to celebrate Pesah katan in Jerusalem, but they turned him back, so that the thing should not become firmly fixed as an obligation. 

6. Ariston brought his first fruits from Apamea and they accepted from him, because they said, one who buys [a field] in Syria is as one who buys [a field] in the outskirts of Jerusalem. 

1. The name Nittai (נתאי) is unusual, and may be an error, and should say Mattai (מתיי or מתאי), a variant of the name Matityahu. See Wikipedia, “Nittai of Arbela“:

In Yerushalmi Hagigah II 76d he is called Mattai of Arbela, which is also found in ancient and linguistically reliable manuscripts of the Mishnah, such as Codex Kaufmann, Codex Parma A and the Cambridge Codex (edited by W. H. Lowe).

The confusion in the rendering of his name seems to be due to faulty textual transmission, i.e. the Hebrew mem being separated graphically into two parts, which looked, respectively as a nun and a yod, thus Mattai became Nittai.

Jesus’s student Matthew is referred to as Mattai (מתי) in a beraita quoted the Talmud, see Sanhedrin.43a.22, where his name is played on:

ת"ר

חמשה תלמידים היו לו לישו:

מתאי, נקאי, נצר, ובוני, ותודה

אתיוהו למתי

אמר להו: מתי יהרג?!

הכתיב (תהלים מב, ג): “מתי אבוא, ואראה פני אלהים”

אמרו לו: אין, מתי יהרג, דכתיב (שם מא, ו): “מתי ימות, ואבד שמו”

the Sages taught:

Jesus the Nazarene had five disciples:

Mattai, Nakai, Netzer, Buni, and Toda.

They brought Mattai in to stand trial.

Mattai said to the judges: Shall Mattai be executed?!

But isn’t it written: “When [matai] shall I come and appear before God?” (Psalms 42:3). Mattai claimed that this verse alludes to the fact he is righteous.

They said to him: Yes, Mattai shall be executed, as it is written: “When [matai] shall he die, and his name perish?” (Psalms 41:6).

2. For more on the Jewish community of the major Egyptian city of Alexandria, see my previous piece.

3. Better known as Pesach Sheni. It is called  Pesach Katan in Mishnah Rosh Hashanah 1:3 as well.

4. It is notable that the two people mentioned as coming from outside of Eretz Yisrael — Ben-Antigonus from Babylonia and Ariston from Syria — have Greek names.

This fits well with the beraita quoted in Gittin.11b.3, which states that:

רוב ישראל שבחוצה לארץ שמותיהן כשמות גוים

the names of most Jews outside of Eretz Yisrael are like the names of gentiles