R. Shimon sagte: Was ist der Unterschied zwischen Shekalim und einem Sündopfer? [Warum sagt Beth Hillel, wenn man Geld weglegt und sagt: "Dies ist für meinen Schekel", ist der Überschuss chullin, während wenn er sagt: "Dies ist für mein Sündopfer", geben sie Beth Shammai zu, dass es ist ein Geschenk (an Hekdesh)?] Shekalim haben einen festen Betrag, [es wird geschrieben (2. Mose 30:15): "Die Reichen werden nicht mehr geben und die Armen werden nicht weniger geben." Daher muss er nur einen Schekel beabsichtigt haben, und der Rest ist "hekdesh irrtümlich"], aber ein Sündopfer hat keinen festen Betrag. [Wenn er möchte, kann er ein Sündopfer für eine Mutter bringen'ah aus Silber, und wenn er möchte, kann er einen für eine große Summe mitbringen. Daher "nehmen" die Gelder, und der Überschuss ist ein Geschenk.] R. Yehudah sagt: Selbst Shekalim haben keinen festen Betrag! Wenn Israel aus dem Exil aufstieg, gaben sie Darkonoth als Schekel. [Der Darkon war eine Münze des Königreichs Medean. Es war aus Gold und zwei Selaim wert und es war die Standardmünze des Handels. Und genau wie in der Zeit des ersten Tempels, als ihre Münze ein Schekel war, gaben sie einen halben Schekel; auch jetzt, wenn es ein Darkon war, gaben sie ein halbes Darkon.] Dann kehrten sie zu Selaim zurück. [Nach der Herrschaft der Medeaner wurde das Darkon für ungültig erklärt und sie kehrten zum Handel mit Selaim zurück, ihre ursprüngliche Währung wurde zum Zeitpunkt des ersten Tempels geprägt, und sie gaben wie zu Beginn einen halben Schekel.] Dann kehrten sie zu Tevain zurück. [Die Standardwährung wurde tevain, dh ein halber Schekel.] Sie wollten Dinar geben [dh sie wollten die Hälfte dieser Münze geben, einen Dinar (die Sela sind zwei Dinar); aber das wurde von ihnen nicht akzeptiert. Denn es ist erlaubt, den Schekel der Schrift entsprechend dem Unterschied in der damals geprägten Währung zu ergänzen, aber nicht davon abzulenken. Wir sehen also, dass auch Shekalim keinen festen Betrag haben, manchmal mehr, manchmal weniger, und immer den halben Schekel dieser Zeit geben.] R. Shimon kam zurück: Trotzdem gab jeder gleich [dh Shekalim kann immer noch nicht mit einem Sündopfer verglichen werden. Denn zu allen Zeiten war der Halbschekel für alle gleich—jeder gab den halben Schekel dieser Zeit.] Aber (der Betrag für) das Sündopfer [ist niemals für alle gleich:] Dieser bringt (ein Sündopfer) für eine Sela; das eine für zwei (selaim) und das eine für drei. [Und hier schließen wir, dass das Grundprinzip von Beth Hillel R. Shimon entspricht.]
Bartenura on Mishnah Shekalim
מה בין שקלים לחטאת – what is the difference that regarding Shekalim when one collects/gathers monies and says, “these are for my [half-]Shekel, that the School of Hillel states that the excess is non-holy and that regarding Sin-offerings, that they agree with the School of Shammai that the excess is a free-will offering?
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English Explanation of Mishnah Shekalim
Introduction
This mishnah explains the difference between shekels and a sin-offering such that Bet Hillel holds that the surplus of coins set aside for a sin-offering are sacred whereas the surplus of coins set aside for a shekel are not.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Shekalim
שקלים יש להן קצבה – as it is written (Exodus 30:15): “the rich shall not pay more and the poor shall not pay less,” therefore, he definitely did not intend other than the [half-]shekel, and the excess is an errant dedication to the Temple, but the sin-offering has no limit. If he wants, he should bring a sin-offering of silver M’ah, and if he desires, he can bring greater sums. Therefore, the monies are seized but the excess is a donation.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Shekalim
Rabbi Shimon says: what is the difference between shekels and a sin-offering? Shekels have a fixed value, but a sin-offering has no fixed value. Shekels have a fixed value. Hence one who says, “These coins are for my shekel” intends to make sacred only the value of a shekel. On the other hand, a sin-offering has no fixed value and therefore, one who says, “These coins are for a sin-offering” may have intended for all of the coins to be sacred, even the surplus.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Shekalim
היו שוקלים דרכונות – coinage of the Persian kingdom that came up with them from the Diaspora and it was of gold. It was worth two Selaim, and people were accustomed to do business with that coin, and like the time of the First Temple when their coin was the Shekel, they would give the one-half Shekel. So, now, when their coin was a Darkon/daric, they would give one-half daric.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Shekalim
Rabbi Judah says: shekels also have no fixed value. For when the Israelites came up out of the diaspora they used to pay the shekel in darics, then they paid the shekel in selas, then they paid it in tibs, and finally they wanted to pay it in dinars. Rabbi Judah says that the shekel also doesn’t have a fixed value. When the people of Israel first returned from the Babylonian exile they brought coins called “darics” (see above, mishnah one). A daric is a Persian coin worth four shekels. They then began to bring selas, which are worth two shekels. They then began to bring tibs, which are worth a shekel, which is equivalent to the half-shekel of the Torah. Finally, the people wanted to pay in dinars. According to the Talmud, the rabbis did not let them pay in dinars because this is less than the mandated half-shekel of the Torah. It seems like we have in this mishnah a record of different coins that were in use in different periods. According to one commentary, in each period they would give half of the coin that was commonly used. In any case, since the value of the shekel changed over time, Rabbi Judah says that the shekel too has no fixed value.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Shekalim
חזרו לשקול סלעים – after the Kingdom of Persia passed on, the coinage of the daric was cancelled, they returned to do business with Selaim which was their first coinage that was in usage at the time of the First Temple and they gave one-half shekel as at the first.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Shekalim
But Rabbi Shimon said: nevertheless they are all of the same value for everyone, whereas [in the case of] a sin-offering one man may bring it of the value of one sela, another may bring it of the value of two selas, and another in the value of three selas. Rabbi Shimon responds that when he said that the shekel has a fixed value he meant that at any given time everyone brings the same value, and not that that value could not change over time. If people were bringing darics, everyone brought the same daric. In contrast, people can bring animals worth different amounts as sin-offerings. This explains Bet Hillel in the previous mishnah.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Shekalim
חזרו לשקול טבעין – the coin in usage returned to be the Tevaim which is the one-half shekel that they desired to give was one-half of that coinage, that is one Dinar. For a Selah is four dinars and they did not accept it from them for they had to supplement to the Shekel of the Torah because they changed the going currency at that time but not to decrease from it. Therefore, we see that the Shekel also had no definite limit for sometimes the Shekels were large and at other times, the Shekels were small, for they would not give ever other than one-half shekel according to the currency in vogue at the time.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Shekalim
אעפ"כ יד כולן שוה – that is to say, that still the Shekalim are not similar to the sin-offerings, for in each and every time period, the one-half Shekel was equivalent for all. This [person] would donate according to that [person] – each individual one-half Shekel according to the going rate of that time period. But sin-offerings are not equivalent ever, for this one brings a Selah and the other brings two or three Selaim, and in this, the rationale of the School of Hillel agrees with that of the School of Shammai.
