Sotah, Chapter 3, Mishnah 1. This Mishnah continues describing the procedure of the sotah's minchah offering. As we mentioned, the woman brings the offering, or her husband brings it for her, in an Egyptian basket. Now the Mishnah describes the stages of presenting the offering and waving it.
The order of presenting and waving the offering:
"Hayah nosein minchasah mitoch kefifah Mitzris" - the husband, who is the one bringing the offering, takes the flour offering out of the basket.
"V'nasan l'soch kli shareis" - he places it into a service vessel, a sanctified vessel, for the purpose of the waving. This offering requires a process of waving back and forth.
"V'nasan al yadah" - he places the vessel containing the offering onto the woman's hands.
"V'chohen meiniach yado mitachteha u'menifah" - the kohen places his hand underneath, beneath her hand, and waves it together with her.
Why do both of them wave together?
There is an indication in the verse that the owner - the person on whose behalf the offering is brought - must perform the waving, and likewise that the kohen must do so. Therefore both of them take part in waving the offering up and down and back and forth.
In summary: in this Mishnah we learned the order of waving the sotah's minchah offering - transferring the flour from the Egyptian basket into a service vessel, placing the vessel on the woman's hands, and the kohen placing his hand beneath hers - as well as the reason both of them participate in the waving: because both the owner and the kohen are required to wave.
In the next section we will continue with the order of the offering of the sotah's minchah.