Menachos 10:4-5
Menachos 10:4
They reaped the barley for the omer and put it into the baskets. They brought it to the courtyard of the Temple, where they singed it with fire to fulfill the requirement that it be parched; this is the opinion of Rabbi Meir. The Sages say that they beat it with reeds and plant stems so that it shouldn’t get crushed. They put the grain into a perforated tube so that the fire would affect all of it. They spread it out in the courtyard, where the wind blew it (to cool), then they put it in a mill to extract an isaron of fine flour, which was sifted through 13 sieves. The remaining flour was redeemed and could be eaten by anyone. The flour was liable to challah but exempt from tithes; Rabbi Akiva says that it was liable to both challah and tithes. The kohein came to the isaron of fine flour and added its oil and frankincense, poured and mixed the ingredients, waved it and brought it near the altar. He took the handful and burned it, and the rest was eaten by the kohanim.
Menachos 10:5
Rabbi Meir said that after the omer was offered, the people would go out and find the markets of Jerusalem full of flour and parched grain being sold without the consent of the Sages. (It was of the new crop but it had been harvested and prepared before the omer was offered.) Rabbi Yehuda says that it was sold with the consent of the Sages (who were not concerned that the people might eat it before the omer was offered). After the omer was offered, the new crop was permitted right away; those who lived far away (and didn’t know when the omer was offered) could start eating the new crop at midday. After the Temple was destroyed, Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai instituted that the new crop should be prohibited the entire day of its waving (i.e., 16 Nisan). Rabbi Yehuda pointed out that it is already prohibited by the Torah as per Leviticus 23:14, “until that very day” (“until” being inclusive, and therefore such an enactment would add nothing). Those who lived far away were permitted to eat the new crop after midday because they knew that the court wouldn’t allow the offering of the omer to be delayed.