Commentaire sur Shekalim 7:5

היו ממשכנין את מוצאיה – a person who would find a burnt offering or a peace offering, they would exact a pledge from him until he would bring its libations from his own – three-tenths of an Ephah for a bull and two-tenths of an Ephah for a ram and one-tenth for a lamb.

Introduction This mishnah is a direct continuation of yesterday’s.

מניחין אותה ובורחים – in order that he would not be liable for its libations.

In olden times they used to take a pledge from any one who had found such a [stray] animal, until he brought its libation-offerings. Then people would leave the animal and run away. So the court decreed that its libation-offerings should come from public funds. In yesterday’s mishnah we learned that one who finds an animal in close proximity to Jerusalem must treat it as if it were a sacrifice, usually either a burnt offering or a wellbeing offering. These sacrifices also require libations to be brought with them (oil, grain and wine, see above 5:3). At first they used to force the people who found the animals to bring the libations as well. They would enforce this by taking collateral from those who found the animal and holding on to the collateral until they brought the necessary libations. This caused a problem people would leave the animal and run away rather than admit that they had found an animal near Jerusalem. Therefore, the court decreed that the libations should come from public money. We should note that the mishnah has an interesting approach to that which people might be expected to do. It does not expect that people will take the animal home and treat it as if it was theirs. In other words, the Mishnah expects that people will do the right thing and admit that they found the animal near Jerusalem. However, people will not do the “right thing” if by doing so they will have to pay money out of their own pocket. Note again, the people leave the animal and run away they do not take it for themselves. People seem to respect the fact that this animal might indeed be a sacrifice but they are not willing to go broke in dealing with it.