He would actually bake it into bread, into loaves. This Mishnah will talk about the Minchat Chavitin, which is a Minchat offering brought daily by the Kohen Gadol (High Priest). An Isaron (a tenth-ephah measure) of flour was brought in the morning and divided in half. The first half was brought in the morning and the second half in the afternoon. After he brought the full Isaron of flour in the morning, 12 loaves were cut in half. Twelve half-loaves were offered in the morning and 12 half-loaves in the afternoon.
The Mishnah says, “They’re not brought to the Bet HaMikdash in halves.” Even though the Kohen Gadol only offered half an Isaron in the morning and half an Isaron in the afternoon, he wasn’t allowed to bring half an Isaron at a time. Rather, he brought the entire Isaron to the Bet HaMikdash in the morning and then divided it in half. He offered one half in the morning and the other half in the afternoon.
But what would happen if the Kohen Gadol, who brought an Isaron of flour in the morning for his Minchat, offered half of it in the morning and then died before the second half was offered in the afternoon? The Mishnah says that if the Kohen Gadol offered half of an Isaron in the morning and then died, and on that same day they appointed a Kohen Gadol in his place, the new Kohen Gadol does not bring half an Isaron from his house for the afternoon. He doesn’t do that, even though the Kohen Gadol is only bringing the afternoon portion. He’s not allowed to bring half an Isaron from his house. As we’ve stated, the Minchat here has to come from a full Isaron. It can’t come from a divided Isaron. He also doesn’t bring the half Isaron of the first Kohen Gadol who died. Even though there’s a half Isaron waiting in the Bet HaMikdash to be offered, we learned that he can’t bring that. It has to come from his Isaron. What does he do? He brings a full Isaron from his house and divides it in half. He offers half of it in the afternoon, and the other half is destroyed.
What we end up with is two half Isaron offerings that day: one half Isaron in the morning by the first Kohen Gadol, who then died, and a second half Isaron in the afternoon by the second Kohen Gadol, who was appointed. Two half Isaron are destroyed: the first half Isaron, left over by the first Kohen Gadol after he died, and the second half of the Isaron brought by the new Kohen Gadol, who brought only the afternoon portion. We can’t bring the second half that he brought. We burn them just like any other Korban (sacrifice) that’s not allowed to be offered.
If there’s no Kohen Gadol, a different Kohen (priest) has to bring the Minchat Chavitin here. If they never appointed a new Kohen Gadol, with whose money was the Minchat Chavitin brought? Rabbi Shimon says, from the money of the Tzibur—that means from the Bet HaMikdash treasury, with the Machatzit HaShekel (half-shekel contribution) funds that they would use to buy the other Korbanot (offerings). They would use those funds here to buy the Minchat Chavitin. Rabbi Yehuda says, from the money of the inheritors. They were the inheritors of the Kohen Gadol who passed away.
And the Minchat Chavitin we’re talking about here, when there’s no Kohen Gadol, requires a complete Isaron to be brought in the morning and a complete Isaron in the afternoon. As opposed to when a Kohen Gadol is bringing it, it’s half an Isaron and half an Isaron. Here, we say it’s one complete Isaron in the morning and one complete Isaron in the afternoon.