307. Lechem Mishneh: The obligation to bring two loaves

At the end of seven weeks, during which we counted the Omer, we come to the holiday of Shavuos. On this day, an offering must be brought of the new wheat. This took the form of two loaves, which were presented in a waving motion. The loaves were baked in a box shape, seven handbreadths long, four handbreadths wide and four fingerwidths thick. (That’s roughly 25 inches by 14 inches by 3 inches and change.) The loaves were baked the day before Shavuos and were offered with a burnt offering consisting of seven lambs, one bull and two rams, as well as a sin offering of a goat and a peace offering of two lambs. (This all appears in verses 23:18-19.). After the loaves were presented, they were to be eaten by the kohanim.

The reason for this mitzvah is similar to what we said about the barley offering in Mitzvah #302. Namely, it provides us with an opportunity to reflect on God’d generosity. He causes the crops to renew themselves each year so that we can have food. We publicize this fact and thank Him by giving Him a portion of the harvest. The Sefer HaChinuch speculates that the reason the barley was brought as flour but the wheat was brought as loaves is because wheat is essentially food for humans, while barley is largely used as animal feed.

As with the barley offering, this mitzvah applied in Temple times but only to men, women being generally exempt from positive, time-bound mitzvos. It is discussed in the Talmud in tractate Menachos on page 68b, 95b-96a, and elsewhere. This mitzvah is codified in the Mishneh Torah in the eighth chapter of Hilchos Tamidin and is #46 of the 248 positive mitzvos in the Rambam’s Sefer HaMitzvos.