Musar for Shekalim 1:3

בַּחֲמִשָּׁה עָשָׂר בּוֹ, שֻׁלְחָנוֹת הָיוּ יוֹשְׁבִין בַּמְּדִינָה. בְּעֶשְׂרִים וַחֲמִשָּׁה, יָשְׁבוּ בַּמִּקְדָּשׁ. מִשֶּׁיָּשְׁבוּ בַּמִּקְדָּשׁ, הִתְחִילוּ לְמַשְׁכֵּן. אֶת מִי מְמַשְׁכְּנִין, לְוִיִּם וְיִשְׂרְאֵלִים, גֵּרִים וַעֲבָדִים מְשֻׁחְרָרִים, אֲבָל לֹא נָשִׁים וַעֲבָדִים וּקְטַנִּים. כָּל קָטָן שֶׁהִתְחִיל אָבִיו לִשְׁקוֹל עַל יָדוֹ, שׁוּב אֵינוֹ פּוֹסֵק. וְאֵין מְמַשְׁכְּנִין אֶת הַכֹּהֲנִים מִפְּנֵי דַּרְכֵּי שָׁלוֹם:

On the fifteenth (of Adar) money-changers sat in the province (medinah) [Jerusalem, and they made change for the half-shekel for those who brought the currency of their province and were unacquainted with the conversion rate.] On the twenty-fifth, they would sit in the Temple. [Since the time was drawing near, they would sit in the Temple, so that they (the people) would hasten to bring (their shekalim). Rambam explains that all the cities of Israel were called "medinah," and that on the twenty-fifth they sat in the Temple in Jerusalem.] From the time they sat in the Temple, they began to take pledges [from those who had not brought their shekalim.] Whom would pledges be taken from? Levites, it being written (Exodus 30:14): "All who pass to be numbered, from twenty years and above." And the Levites were not counted from twenty years.], Israelites, proselytes, and freed bondsmen; but not women, [it being written (Exodus 30:12): "Then each man shall give the ransom of his soul" — a man, and not a woman], nor bondsmen [bondsmen being obligated only in the mitzvoth that women are obligated in], nor minors [even one who showed two hairs, if he were less than twenty]. Any father who has begun to give the shekel for his minor son cannot leave off doing so. [And if his father dies, he must give the shekel for himself.] And pledges are not taken from the Cohanim [ even though they are obligated in the half-shekel] because of "the ways of peace." [Because they perform the sacrificial service, honor was accorded them, and they were depended upon not to defer their shekalim. And even if they did defer and not give them, beth-din stipulated that the shekalim be theirs in exchange for their service, just as allocations are made from the Temple treasury to others engaged in Temple work, as explained below.]

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