From wheat flour. Here we'll talk about a person who vowed to bring a Mincha (meal offering), but in an invalid manner, in a way that wouldn't be accepted. The Mishnah says: Let's say somebody says, “I accept upon myself to bring a Mincha, but from barley flour,” and that's unacceptable. A Mincha has to be only from regular wheat flour. The only types of Mincha are the omer (barley offering), which is brought on the second day of Pesach (Passover) and is made from barley, and the Mincha of the sotah (woman suspected of adultery). Here, in this situation, the mistake is that he didn't say it had to be from wheat flour. So what do we say about this person? He has to bring a Mincha. Any voluntary Mincha has to come only from wheat flour.
The Hachamim (the sages) explained this case: the person said, “Oh, if I knew that I couldn't bring a Mincha from barley, I would have brought it from wheat. No big deal to me.” But if he says, “Oh, if I knew I couldn't bring it from barley, I wouldn't have made a swear whatsoever,” we say that his swear is undone. It's meaningless, and there's no obligation to bring a Mincha. If he says, “I'm taking it upon myself to bring a Mincha from ordinary flour,” we say he has to bring a Mincha from solet, from fine flour. Only sifted flour that's very fine could be used to bring a voluntary Mincha. A voluntary Mincha is never offered without oil and levonah (frankincense). B'lo shemen (oil) ulevonah yavi imah shemen ulevonah. If he said, “I'm accepting upon myself to bring a Mincha without oil and without levonah,” we say he has to bring it with oil and with levonah. A voluntary Mincha is never offered without oil and levonah.
Chatzi isaron (one-tenth of an ephah) yavi isaron shalem. If he says, “I'm accepting upon myself to bring half of an isaron of flour,” he has to bring a complete isaron. A Mincha has to have at least one isaron of flour. It could go up to 60 isaron, but it could only go in increments of 60 isaron. From one to 60 isaron, you can't bring half. It has to be one, full numbers all the way till 60. Isaron u'mechatzah yavi shenayim. If he says, “I'm accepting upon myself to bring an isaron and a half,” he has to bring two isaron, because a Mincha has to be complete isaron, like we stated.
Rabbi Shimon is going to disagree with all of this. Rabbi Shimon poter. Says Rabbi Shimon, this person is fully exempt from bringing a Mincha: shelo hitnadev kederech ha'mitnadevim. Because he didn't make a donation of a Mincha in the manner of people who donate. He made a promise to bring a Mincha, but in an invalid manner. So, therefore, the vow, the swear that he made, doesn't catch whatsoever. He holds to the rule, bigmar devarav adam nitpas. A person, his words are interpreted by the conclusion. We take the full context of what they were saying. So he made a swear to bring a Mincha, but he made a swear to bring one of barley. So, therefore, it doesn't exist in the first place, according to Rabbi Shimon. So that whole swear is null and void. He's exempt from bringing a Mincha totally.