Regarding the remnants of meal-offerings, the
Torah teaches “And that which is left thereof shall Aaron and his sons eat; it shall be eaten without leaven in a holy place; in the court of the tent of meeting they shall eat it” (
Vayikra 6:9). The
Gemara on today’s
daf (=page) quotes a
baraita that examines that passage and explains that we learn from it the following:
Why does the text state: They shall eat?This teaches us that if there was only a small quantity of the meal-offering the priests may eat hullin (mundane food) and terumah (priestly gifts) with it in order that it may make a satisfying meal.What is the point of the expression, ‘They shall eat it’? In order to teach us that if the quantity was large,the priests must not eat hullin or terumah with it, in order that the meal-offering should not make an over-sated meal – akhilah gasah.
There is no difficulty about bringing
hullin into the
Temple court, since, as
Rashi explains, he can eat
hullin outside first and then continue with the meal-offering in the Temple court. Or, as
Tosafot explain, there is no restriction in merely bringing an object into the Temple court so long as no service is performed with it.
Generally speaking, the concept of akhilah gasah is understood to mean that the individual does not eat in a normal manner, rather he eats in a ravenous way. This ordinarily expresses itself in someone gorging himself in a gluttonous manner with no concern for etiquette or propriety. There are also ramifications in Jewish law for someone who eats akhilah gasah. When someone continues eating after he is already satiated, it is an action that involves effort and is unpleasant. Jewish law usually views such consumption as not meeting the criteria to be considered “eating.”