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Menachos 8:2-3

Menachos 8:2

One may not bring flour for offerings from a field that is fertilized with manure, irrigated or planted with trees (as these yield inferior produce) but if one did so, it is valid. In order to acquire flour of sufficient quality, one should plow his field the first year. In the second year, he should plant 70 days before Passover and it will produce abundant flour. The flour is tested by the Temple treasurer sticking his hand into it. If, when he withdraws his hand, some powdery flour comes up, it is invalid as it is and it must be sifted. If it gets maggots, it is invalid.

Menachos 8:3

Tekoa is the source of the choicest oil; Abba Shaul says that the next best comes from Regev on the other side of the Jordan. Oil from anywhere in Israel is sufficient but they used to bring it from these places. One may not bring from a field that is fertilized with manure, irrigated or planted with seeds but if one did so, it is valid. One may not bring oil from unripe olives; if one did so, it is invalid. One may not bring oil from berries soaked in water, or from olives that were preserved or stewed; if one did so, it is invalid.

Author: Rabbi Jack Abramowitz