פירוש על שקלים 1:1

באחד באדר משמיעין על השקלים – the Jewish court sends [messengers] throughout the cities of Israel and announces that they should bring their Shekalim (i.e., one-half-shekel per adult male, as per Exodus chapter 30, verses 11-16), because on the first of Nisan, one needs to bring community sacrifices from new Terumah/priest’s due, as it is written (Numbers 28:14): “That shall be the monthly burnt offering for each new moon of the year.” Renew and bring a sacrifice from the new Terumah, for we derive the months of the year of here (Numbers 28:14) from (Exodus 12:2): “It shall be the first of the months of the year for you.” Therefore, we advance it by thirty days, which is from the first day of Adar to announce that they should bring their Shekalim.

Introduction In the introduction to the tractate I explained what the half-shekel is and what it was used for. Our mishnah teaches that on the first of Adar they would make public announcements telling people to start preparing their half-shekels. The mishnah also teaches other public events that occur in Adar.

ועל הכלאים – We announce that they should reduce the other seed until there should not remain in it one-quarter of a Kab for a Seah, as is taught in Chapter Two [Mishnah One] of Mishnah Kilayim: that every Seah that has one-quarter of a Kab from another species should reduce it, and our Rabbis explained that after the seeds have ground, even one in one-thousand one must uproot everything, for every two kinds and every one kind singly is permitted, but they forbade through mixtures – but relinquishment does not belong witht his, for specifically, when they estimate after that which has been combined at the time of seeding, there is no need other than to reduce, for according to the Torah, one in two is cancelled out, but they don’t call seeding “mixed seeds” other than because of merely appearance’s sake , one must reduce, but after they grew, there is no need for renunciation, but one must uproot everything so that nothing would remain other than one of the species.

On the first of Adar they make a public announcement about the shekels and concerning kilayim. On the first of Adar, the month before Nisan (the month in which Pesah falls) they begin to make announcements reminding people to bring their shekels, or more specifically half-shekels. They also announce that people should go out to their fields and vineyards to uproot any “kilayim” that may have sprung up. “Kilayim” are diverse seeds which have sprung up in the same area.

בחמשה עשר בו קורין את המגילה בכרכין – [cities] surrounded by walls from the days of Joshua the son of Nun for since it was necessary to teach [in the Mishnah] that on the fifteenth of Adar money-changers sit in the country, it teaches also everything that they would do on that day.

On the fifteenth: they read the Megillah [Esther] in walled cities, and they fix the roads and the streets and the ritual water baths, and they perform all public duties, and they mark the graves, and [messengers] go forth also concerning kilayim. The mishnah now begins to teach things that occur, or begin to occur on the fifteenth of the month. The first thing is that on the fifteenth of the month, people in walled cities read the book of Esther, the Megillah. We will learn much more about this when we learn Tractate Megillah. The reason that the mishnah mentions the date upon which it was read in walled cities is that this date coincides with the other things done in the continuation of the mishnah. The second thing is that they begin to fix the public roads and ritual baths because Pesah is coming in one month. People would need to travel to Jerusalem and purify themselves in order to take part in the pesah sacrifice. Also, Adar is the beginning of the dry season (actually, it can still rain in Adar). It would have been difficult to fix the roads when the rains were still coming down. In addition they performed all sorts of other public duties that could not be done during the rainy season. They would mark graves with lime so that priests could see where the graves were and avoid them. During the winter the lime would wash away. Therefore, during Adar, once the rains had stopped they would reapply the plaster. Above we learned that on the first of Adar they would announce to people that they should go out and check to make sure that there were no kilayim in their fields. On the fifteenth, they would send out messengers to make sure that this had been done. We can see that this was an issue of great importance to them. The rabbis seem to have been especially concerned about kilayim because one cannot tell from looking at picked grain or grapes whether they grew in a field that had kilayim in it. This is true of other food-related problems as well.

ומתקנים את הדרכים ואת הרחובות – and the marketplaces that were ruined vy rains during the days of he winter, we repair them for the those who come up on Pilgrimage (i.e., at Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot). But there are those who interpret – because of the killers who murder people unintentionally that are able to flee from before the blood avenger as it is written (Deuteronomy 19:3): “You shall survey the distances, [and divide into three parts the territory of the country hat the LORD your God has allotted to you, so that any manslayer may have a place to flee to].”

ואת מקואות המים – if plastered increased in them, we clean them and if their measurement is lacking, we conduct drawn water to them and complete them according to measurement – if they had there the majority of forty Se’ah from that which was proper.

ועושים כל צרכי רבים – such as monetary cases, capital cases and laws of striping and the redemption of valuation of a person or animal dedicated to the sanctuary, property set apart for priest’s or temple use, sanctified property and the handing of the bitter water to the suspected wife and the burning of the heifer and the boring through of the Hebrew bondsman’s ear, and the purification of the leper and the sending to open cavities of collected waters in order that they be found there for the people to drink from them in the days of the summer – all of these are the needs of the many.

ומציינין את הקברות – so that they will not spread tent-like for Levitical uncleanness for Kohanim arising from their being under the same shelter over a corpse, and make them pure, and this marker is when they cleanse the plaster and pour it around the grave, but during the rainy season, the plaster is dissolved/diluted and one must go back and mark it.

ויוצאים – messengers of the Jewish court.

אף על הכלאים – for even though they announced about them on the first of Adar, they do not rely upon the announcement lest the owners did not uproot them (i.e., the mixed seeds), and they themselves go out and uproot them.