Here we'll continue talking about the oil that was used for the Menachot (meal offerings). The Mishnah says that the olive tree has three different harvests every year. In each of those harvests, three different grades or levels of oil are produced, for a total of nine different grades of oil.
The olive tree has olives from top to bottom, and they don't all ripen at the same time. They ripen in three different batches, in three different stages, and they're harvested one stage at a time. First, you have the olives at the top. For the first olive harvest, a person picks the top of the olive tree. Those olives are the first to ripen because they're the ones with sunlight shining down on them. The sunlight softens the olives to the point where they're ripe.
He pounds the olives, making them open and allowing the oil to ooze out of them. The oil comes out of the olives and drips through the holes at the bottom of the basket into a container below it. Rabbi Yehuda says that the olives are not placed at the bottom of the basket, but are packed around the inside. That's why it's so important to say that it's not just the oil in the container, but also the oil trapped in the walls of the basket. The airflow down the walls allows the oil to drip through the holes, and it filters the oil. It serves as another level where the sediment and other things remain stuck to the wall, so only the pure drops of oil will drip below the container.
When the walls of the basket we're talking about are packed, they add that extra moisture to the oil. So that's a good idea. So here's the oil. Here's the olive. This is the level where you're only going to get the purest type of oil: zeh rishon (this is first). This was the oil collected in the lower container. It's the first oil from this harvest. It's the highest grade of oil because the oil comes out on its own. There's no pressing whatsoever. This is what we call Shemen Zayit Zach, the pure, pure olive oil.
Then he presses the olives with a beam to squeeze out any more oil that's left in them. He takes the beam and puts it on top of the olives in the basket, and that weight pushes out some more oil. He presses the olives with stones, not with the beam. The beam is too heavy and is going to squeeze out a lot of sediment, according to Rabbi Yehuda. Therefore, stones, which are a little bit lighter but still do the job, should be used. This is the oil that comes out through the pressing. It's the second level, the second grade of oil from this harvest. Now the third grade will be discussed.
Then he grinds up the olives with a millstone and presses them with the beam to extract any more oil that will come out. This oil is under more pressure after the olives are ground with a millstone. Then he puts the pieces back under a beam to be pressed once more. This is the third grade of oil from this harvest. The first grade of oil is valid for use in the Menorah (lampstand), and the other two grades are valid for the Menachot. The Torah tells us that the Menorah has to be lit with pure olive oil. Only that original grade of oil fits what you need in order for it to be zach (pure). When it comes to the Menachot, we don't need it to be on that level. Therefore, other grades of oil would be okay.
Then we'll talk about the second harvest, the second batch of olives to harvest. He picks the olives from the part of the tree that's as high as the rooftop. Olive trees were planted near homes, and the olives at rooftop height were the second batch to ripen. So they're a little bit lower than the top olives, the first batch. We pound the olives, and he puts them in a basket with holes. Then the oil drips through those holes to a container underneath, as in the first batch. Same as we had before, the olives are packed around the inside walls of the basket. The oil that collects in the lower container is the first grade of oil from this harvest.
He then presses the olives with a heavy beam to squeeze out more oil. But he presses the olives with stones, not with a beam. This is the fifth grade of oil from this harvest. He grinds up the olives and presses them with a beam to get more oil out of them. This is the third grade of oil from this harvest. The first grade of oil is valid for the Menorah, and the other grades are valid for the Menachot.
Now we'll talk about the third harvest, which also has three grades of oil. But when it comes to the third harvest, the olives are never going to fully ripen. We're talking about the lower part of the tree, where no real sunlight arrives, so the olives are never going to fully ripen. We need to add an extra step in order to bring the oil out.
For the third olive harvest, he packs the olives in a vat, or like a barrel in the house, until they become spoiled, until the flesh of the olives becomes soft enough for the oil to be extracted. They're so hard beforehand. So you pack them in, and they sort of ferment in there and heat up and soften a lot, and now the oil can be extracted from them. He takes the olives and dries them in the sun on the rooftop. When they're packed in that barrel, they start to smell, and all different types of liquids come out of them. The liquid has to be taken off so it doesn't mix with the oil. So he's taking them up to the rooftop in order to dry them out. He's taking them up to the rooftop.
He then pounds the olives after they've been dried, puts them in a basket with holes, and the oil drips through the holes to a container underneath. Rabbi Yehuda says the olives are packed around the inside walls of the basket. According—different from what we said before—they're not just packed inside; they're packed on the inside wall. This is the oil he collects in the container as the first grade of oil from his harvest.
He then presses the olives in a bowl. He then presses the olives in a basket with a heavy beam to squeeze more oil out, but Rabbi Yehuda says no. He uses a stone in order to do that. This is the second-grade oil that comes through the pressing in this harvest. He then grinds the olives and presses them with a beam to get more oil out. This is the third grade of oil from his harvest. Only the first grade of oil here is used for the Menorah. Only the first grade of oil here is used for the Menorah. It's considered to be Shemen Zayit Zach, and the other two are fit for Menachot. So we went through all nine different grades of oil.