Shekalim peut être échangé contre Darkonoth à cause du fardeau du chemin. [Les hommes de la ville, qui ont recueilli leurs shekalim, peuvent les échanger contre darkonoth, pièce d'or, à savoir. (Esdras 2:69): "gold darkemonim", pour alléger le fardeau du chemin (vers Jérusalem)]. Tout comme il y avait des shofroth dans le Temple, [("shofroth" :) des poitrines, dont la bouche était étroite sur le dessus, comme un shofar, dont la bouche est étroite sur le dessus, et qui "s'élargit" (ceci, pour que rien ne puisse être pris d'eux), à savoir. (II Rois 12:10): "Et Yehoyada le prêtre prit un coffre et fora un trou dans son couvercle, etc." Ils se tenaient dans l'azarah et ils amenaient tous leurs shekalim et les déposaient là], il y avait donc des shofroth dans la médinah [Jérusalem. (Selon Rambam, les autres villes d'Israël)]. Si les hommes de la ville envoyaient leurs shekalim [avec un messager pour les emmener à la lishkah (le trésor du temple)] et qu'ils étaient volés ou perdus—si la contribution avait déjà été prélevée [(C'était la pratique de contribuer à partir des coffres (en argent) pour les offrandes. Ils contribueraient à partir de ce qui avait été collecté et en raison de ce qui serait collecté, de sorte que même ceux qui ne l'avaient pas encore étant donné que leurs shekalim auraient une part dans les offrandes.)], ils [les messagers] jureraient aux trésoriers (du Temple). [Car puisque la contribution avait été faite au titre de ces sommes avant qu'elles ne soient perdues, c'est comme si elles avaient été en la possession des trésoriers depuis le moment où la contribution avait été faite—de sorte que lorsqu'ils ont été volés ou perdus, c'est de la possession des trésoriers qu'ils ont été volés ou perdus, raison pour laquelle les messagers jurent (qu'ils n'ont pas été négligents) et ils s'exonèrent. Et même si les serments ne sont pas administrés pour hekdeshoth (dédicaces du temple), ce serment a été institué par les sages afin que hekdeshoth ne soit pas traité à la légère.] Et sinon [c'est-à-dire, si au moment où ils ont été perdus, la contribution n'avait pas encore été faites et l'argent n'avait pas été prélevé sur les coffres à cause de ce qui serait collecté, puis ils avaient disparu de la possession des propriétaires (et non des trésoriers du Temple). Par conséquent,] ils [les messagers] jurent aux hommes de la ville [et se dispensent d'eux-mêmes]. Et les hommes de la ville donnent [d'autres] shekalim à leur place, [car les premiers shekalim qui ont été perdus ne les ont pas accrédités.] S'ils ont été trouvés ou si les voleurs les ont renvoyés, les deux sont des shekalim et ils ne sont pas accrédités pour le l'année suivante.
Bartenura on Mishnah Shekalim
מצרפין שקלים לדרכונות – the people of the city that gathered together their Shekels can exchange them for Darics (i.e., a Persian gold coin) and this is a gold coin as it is written in Ezra (2:69): “[In accord with their means, they donated to the treasury of the work:] gold-6,100 drachmas, [silver -5,000 minas, and priestly robes – 100],” to ease from upon them the burden/weight of the way.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Shekalim
Introduction
This mishnah contains several laws about the journey that the shekalim will make from the provinces from where they are collected to the Temple in Jerusalem.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Shekalim
שופרות – chests whose openings from the top were narrow like a Shofar whose top is narrow from the top and continues to widen in order that people would not be able to take from them anything, as it is written regarding Jehoiada (II Chronicles 24:8): “[The king (Jehoash) ordered that] a chest be made and placed [outside of the gate of the House of the LORD],” (II Kings 12:10): “[And the priest Jehoiada took a chest] and bored a hole in its lid….” They were standing in the Temple courtyard, and everyone was bringing his Shekel and giving it.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Shekalim
They may change shekels into darics because of the load of the journey. If people don’t want to shlepp their individual shekels all the way to the Temple, they may pool them together and turn them into larger coins called “darics.” “Darics” are mentioned in Ezra 8:27 and I Chronicles 1:29.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Shekalim
כך היו במדינה – in Jerusalem, and according to the words of Maimonides, in the rest of the cities of Israel.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Shekalim
Just as there were shofar-shaped chests in the Temple so there were shofar-shaped chests in the provinces. When the shekels were brought to their deposit points, they were put into chests that were shaped like a shofar, wide at the bottom and thin at the top. This was to prevent people from being able to pull coins out (like mailboxes, for those of you who remember when we used to send real letters). Just as they had these types of chests in the Temple, they also had them outside the Temple in the provinces. This made collection much easier.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Shekalim
בני העיר ששלחו שקליהם – by the hand of an agent to bring them to the Temple treasury (for congregational sacrifices).
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English Explanation of Mishnah Shekalim
The townspeople who had sent their shekels and they were stolen or lost: If the appropriation had already been made [the messengers] swear an oath to the treasurers; But if the appropriation had not yet been made they swear to the townspeople, and the townspeople must pay [new] shekels in the place of the [lost] shekels. [If the lost shekels] were found, or if the thieves restored them, then both [the first shekels and their substitutes] are [sacred] shekels and they cannot be credited [to the account] of the coming year. The mishnah now discusses a scenario in which people’s shekels get lost on their way to the Temple. Three times a year the Temple treasurers would count up the shekels that had already been collected and they would start spending them on buying sacrifices (see below 3:1). When reckoning the shekels, they would also count shekels which they knew were on their way from the provinces (called creative accounting). So if the messenger loses the shekels after this appropriation has already been made, the townspeople who sent their money get credit. The messenger then must make an oath to the treasurers that he did not steal the money himself. However, if the money is lost or stolen before the appropriation is made then the townspeople do not get credit and they must send new shekels. In this case, the messenger swears to them that he did not steal the money himself. If the coins are found or if the thieves are found and return the stolen coins, both the new coins and the original coins go to the Temple. The townspeople who twice had to send shekels do not get credit for the following year.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Shekalim
אם נתרמה התרומה – as they were accustomed to donate from the baskets for the needs of the sacrifices, they would donate on what was collected and what would in the future be collected, in order hat there would be a part of a the sacrifices, even for those who had yet not given their Shekels.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Shekalim
נשבעין – the messengers.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Shekalim
לגזברים – to the treasurers, for since the Terumah had been appropriated on these monies, before they were lost, they are made as if they were in the domain of the treasurers from the time that the Terumah had been appropriated, for if they were stolen or lost, they were stolen or lost while in the domain of the treasurers; therefore, the agents swear to the treasurers and they are exempted/dismissed, for even though they don’t take an oath on the sacred property of the Temple, it is a decree of the Sages in order that they not disregard the sacred property of the Temple.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Shekalim
ואם לאו – that at the time when they were lost, the Terumah had not yet been appropriated, and they had not removed the monies from the baskets for what would be collected in the future, it was in the domain of the owners that they were not, therefore, the agents swear to the men of the city and are exempted, and the men of the city go back and collect [for donation] other Shekels in their place, for the first Shekalim that were lost don’t count for them.
