R. Shimon ha detto: Qual è la differenza tra shekalim e un'offerta per il peccato? [Perché Beth Hillel dice che se uno mette via i soldi, dicendo: "Questo è per il mio siclo", il surplus è chullin, mentre se dice: "Questo è per la mia offerta per il peccato", concedono a Beth Shammai che è un dono (a hekdesh)?] Shekalim ha un importo fisso, [in fase di scrittura (Esodo 30:15): "I ricchi non daranno di più e i poveri non daranno di meno". Pertanto, deve aver inteso solo un siclo, e il resto è "hekdesh in errore"], ma l'offerta per il peccato non ha un importo fisso. [Se lo desidera, può portare un'offerta per il peccato per una madre'ah d'argento, e se lo desidera può portarne uno per una grossa somma. Pertanto, i soldi "prendono" e l'eccedenza è un dono.] R. Yehudah dice: Anche gli shekalim non hanno un importo fisso! Quando Israele risalì dall'esilio, darebbero darkonoth come il siclo. [Il Darkon era una moneta del regno medio. Era d'oro e valeva due selaim ed era la moneta commerciale standard. E proprio come ai tempi del primo Tempio, quando la loro moneta era un siclo, avrebbero dato un mezzo siclo; anche adesso, quando era un darkon, avrebbero dato un mezzo darkon.] Poi tornarono a selaim. [Dopo il regno del Medio Evo, il Darkon fu annullato e tornarono al commercio con selaim, la loro valuta originale coniata al momento del primo Tempio, e diedero un mezzo siclo come all'inizio.] Poi tornarono a guadare. [La valuta standard divenne tevain, cioè un mezzo siclo.] Desideravano dare dinari [cioè, desideravano dare metà di quella moneta, un dinaro (la sela era due dinari); ma questo non è stato accettato da loro. Perché è permesso aggiungere al siclo della Scrittura in base alla differenza nella valuta coniata all'epoca, ma non toglierla. Vediamo, quindi, che anche gli shekalim non hanno un importo fisso, a volte essendo più, a volte meno, il loro dare sempre il mezzo siclo di quel tempo.] R. Shimon si riunì: Nonostante ciò, ognuno diede ugualmente [cioè, Shekalim non può ancora essere paragonato a un'offerta per il peccato. Per tutto il tempo, il mezzo siclo era uguale per tutti—ognuno ha dato il mezzo siclo di quel tempo.] Ma (la quantità per) l'offerta per il peccato [non è mai uguale per tutti:] Questo porta (un'offerta per il peccato) per una sela; quello, per due (selaim) e quello, per tre. [E qui concludiamo che la logica di Beth Hillel è secondo R. Shimon.]
Bartenura on Mishnah Shekalim
מה בין שקלים לחטאת – what is the difference that regarding Shekalim when one collects/gathers monies and says, “these are for my [half-]Shekel, that the School of Hillel states that the excess is non-holy and that regarding Sin-offerings, that they agree with the School of Shammai that the excess is a free-will offering?
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English Explanation of Mishnah Shekalim
Introduction
This mishnah explains the difference between shekels and a sin-offering such that Bet Hillel holds that the surplus of coins set aside for a sin-offering are sacred whereas the surplus of coins set aside for a shekel are not.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Shekalim
שקלים יש להן קצבה – as it is written (Exodus 30:15): “the rich shall not pay more and the poor shall not pay less,” therefore, he definitely did not intend other than the [half-]shekel, and the excess is an errant dedication to the Temple, but the sin-offering has no limit. If he wants, he should bring a sin-offering of silver M’ah, and if he desires, he can bring greater sums. Therefore, the monies are seized but the excess is a donation.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Shekalim
Rabbi Shimon says: what is the difference between shekels and a sin-offering? Shekels have a fixed value, but a sin-offering has no fixed value. Shekels have a fixed value. Hence one who says, “These coins are for my shekel” intends to make sacred only the value of a shekel. On the other hand, a sin-offering has no fixed value and therefore, one who says, “These coins are for a sin-offering” may have intended for all of the coins to be sacred, even the surplus.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Shekalim
היו שוקלים דרכונות – coinage of the Persian kingdom that came up with them from the Diaspora and it was of gold. It was worth two Selaim, and people were accustomed to do business with that coin, and like the time of the First Temple when their coin was the Shekel, they would give the one-half Shekel. So, now, when their coin was a Darkon/daric, they would give one-half daric.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Shekalim
Rabbi Judah says: shekels also have no fixed value. For when the Israelites came up out of the diaspora they used to pay the shekel in darics, then they paid the shekel in selas, then they paid it in tibs, and finally they wanted to pay it in dinars. Rabbi Judah says that the shekel also doesn’t have a fixed value. When the people of Israel first returned from the Babylonian exile they brought coins called “darics” (see above, mishnah one). A daric is a Persian coin worth four shekels. They then began to bring selas, which are worth two shekels. They then began to bring tibs, which are worth a shekel, which is equivalent to the half-shekel of the Torah. Finally, the people wanted to pay in dinars. According to the Talmud, the rabbis did not let them pay in dinars because this is less than the mandated half-shekel of the Torah. It seems like we have in this mishnah a record of different coins that were in use in different periods. According to one commentary, in each period they would give half of the coin that was commonly used. In any case, since the value of the shekel changed over time, Rabbi Judah says that the shekel too has no fixed value.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Shekalim
חזרו לשקול סלעים – after the Kingdom of Persia passed on, the coinage of the daric was cancelled, they returned to do business with Selaim which was their first coinage that was in usage at the time of the First Temple and they gave one-half shekel as at the first.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Shekalim
But Rabbi Shimon said: nevertheless they are all of the same value for everyone, whereas [in the case of] a sin-offering one man may bring it of the value of one sela, another may bring it of the value of two selas, and another in the value of three selas. Rabbi Shimon responds that when he said that the shekel has a fixed value he meant that at any given time everyone brings the same value, and not that that value could not change over time. If people were bringing darics, everyone brought the same daric. In contrast, people can bring animals worth different amounts as sin-offerings. This explains Bet Hillel in the previous mishnah.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Shekalim
חזרו לשקול טבעין – the coin in usage returned to be the Tevaim which is the one-half shekel that they desired to give was one-half of that coinage, that is one Dinar. For a Selah is four dinars and they did not accept it from them for they had to supplement to the Shekel of the Torah because they changed the going currency at that time but not to decrease from it. Therefore, we see that the Shekel also had no definite limit for sometimes the Shekels were large and at other times, the Shekels were small, for they would not give ever other than one-half shekel according to the currency in vogue at the time.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Shekalim
אעפ"כ יד כולן שוה – that is to say, that still the Shekalim are not similar to the sin-offerings, for in each and every time period, the one-half Shekel was equivalent for all. This [person] would donate according to that [person] – each individual one-half Shekel according to the going rate of that time period. But sin-offerings are not equivalent ever, for this one brings a Selah and the other brings two or three Selaim, and in this, the rationale of the School of Hillel agrees with that of the School of Shammai.
