פירוש על עדיות 1:10

הפורט סלע של מעשר שני בירושלין – that he would exchange a Sela that is in his hand and take small coins to spend them for the needs of the meal of the [Second] Tithe.

One who exchanges a sela from second tithe in Jerusalem: Beth Shammai says: “Copper coin for the whole sela.” And Beth Hillel says: “Silver for one shekel and copper coin for one shekel.” The disputants before the Sages say: “Silver for three denars and copper coin for one denar.” Rabbi Akiva says: “Silver for three denars and for the fourth silver, copper coin.” Rabbi Tarfon says: “Four aspers in silver.” Shammai says: “He must leave it in the shop and eat on the credit thereof.” This mishnah discusses the person who arrives in Jerusalem with his silver sela of second tithe and wishes to exchange it for copper coins so that he can buy small quantities of food. According to Beth Shammai he must exchange the entire sela for copper. This is consistent with Beth Shammai’s opinion in the previous mishnah: one cannot exchange silver second tithe with silver, but only with copper. According to Beth Hillel, he may exchange half of the sela for a silver shekel and the other half for copper. Again, Beth Hillel holds that since he is exchanging part of the sela for copper he may also exchange part for silver. Rabbi Akiva takes Beth Hillel’s position even further. A person may exchange even ¼ of the sela (denar) for copper and the rest (3/4) for silver. A sela is worth four denars. Rabbi Tarfon goes even further. For the fourth denar he may even take four aspers of silver and one asper’s worth of copper. An asper is 1/5 of a denar. Shammai again is strictest. He holds that he shouldn’t exchange the sela at all. Rather he should leave it at a store and eat on credit.

בית שמאי אומרים – if he comes to exchanges all the Selas that are in his hand for small coins, he should make the exchange.

ובית הלל אומרים – he should only exchange half of them, lest he stay in the city until he spends all of them, and he should deposit them in the city until another Festival as the small coins/pennies decay/become disfigured, and if he would return and exchange them for Selas, it would be found that the money-changer would gain twice over and the Second Tithe would be lost.

הדנים לפני חכמים – Shimon ben Azzai and Shimon ben Zoma and Chanan the Egyptian/HaMitzri.

בשלשה דינרים כסף ובדינר מעות – The Sela is [worth] four Denars, and when one comes to exchange the Sela, he should not take other than one Denar of small coins, and three Denars should be silver.

וברביעית כסף ברביעית מעות – With the fourth Denar of Silver, he should not take other than one-quarter of it copper and three parts silver, so that it is found that he would purchase one M’ah from sixteen for a Sela alone.

ארבעה אספרי כסף – The Denar [is worth] five Sestertius, and it is a coin in the land of Greece that until today we call it ASPERO, it is found that a Sela is twenty ASPERO, and when he exchanges for a Denar, it should be exchanged for four silver ASPERO and one copper coin. It is found that he purchases one copper coin from twenty for every Sela alone.

יניחנה בחנות ויאכל כנגדה – He should not exchange the small coins/pennies, lest he perhaps forget and make them non-sacred. But he should leave the Sela with the money-changer and eat [food] against it until it runs out. But the Halakha is according to the words of the School of Hillel alone.