Tre volte all'anno avrebbero rimosso (shekalim da) la lishkah. [Avrebbero depositato tutti gli shekalim in una lishkah (compartimento) nel Tempio. E tre volte all'anno prendevano da esso e mettevano (gli shekalim) in tre grandi cestini di tre sa'ah per l'acquisto di offerte comuni. Il tutto non è stato preso in una sola volta per le esigenze dell'intero anno, perché quelli in luoghi lontani non avevano ancora portato tutto il loro shekalim]: al pross di Pesach [Quindici giorni prima del festival è indicato come il "pross" del festival. Per trenta giorni prima del festival vengono rivisti gli halachoth del festival. ("pross", come in "prussah", cioè metà)], al pross di Shavuoth e al pross di Succoth. E loro (questi periodi di tempo) sono granot ("piani di trebbiatura") per la decima bestia. [Queste tre volte sono tre nobili per la decima bestia, i saggi hanno designato queste volte per la decima delle bestie che erano nate. E così come (portando il grano verso) il pavimento della trebbiatura rende il grano soggetto alla decima, così le bestie che sono nate non possono essere mangiate dopo l'arrivo di questi tempi fino a quando non sono decime. Ma prima di questi periodi possono essere mangiati anche se non sono stati decimi. I saggi designarono queste tre volte per la decima bestia in modo che le bestie fossero disponibili per i pellegrini del festival. Perché anche se è permesso vendere, macellare e mangiare finché il tempo dei "goren" non è ancora arrivato, le persone non macellerebbero le loro bestie fino a quando non le avessero decime. Per uno preferisce fare una mitzvah con la sua proprietà se non perde nulla in tal modo, come con la decima bestia, il proprietario che mangia l'animale con la decima stessa come offerta di pace. E se non avessero decimato in questi tre periodi, molti si asterrebbero dal vendere le loro bestie, non averle decime, e le bestie non sarebbero disponibili per i pellegrini del festival.] Queste sono le parole di R. Akiva. Ben Azzai dice: il ventinovesimo di Adar, il primo di Sivan e il ventinovesimo di Av. R. Elazar e R. Shimon dicono: il primo di Nissan, il primo di Sivan e il ventinovesimo di Elul. [Le ragioni di tutti questi tannaim e (le basi di) le loro differenze sono spiegate nell'ultimo capitolo di Bechoroth.] Perché hanno detto il ventinovesimo (di Elul) invece del primo di Tishrei? Perché è un festival (Rosh Hashanah), e non si può decretare un festival, per questo motivo lo hanno spostato fino al ventinovesimo di Elul.
Bartenura on Mishnah Shekalim
בשלשה פרקים בשנה תורמין את הלשכה – all of the Shekalim would be placed into one chamber in the Temple and three times a year they would take from it and place them into three baskets/funds, for each basket was from three Se’ah in order to purchase from them the community offerings and they would not take all of it at one time for the needs of the entire year, for those who lived far way had not yet brought all of their Shekalim.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Shekalim
Introduction
Our mishnah teaches that three times a year they would take the gathered shekels out of the chamber in the Temple and appropriate them to buy public sacrifices. This time is connected to the period in which animals are tithed. In the remainder of the mishnah there are two other opinions as to when animals are tithed, and therefore as to when the shekels are appropriated.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Shekalim
בפרוס הפסח – fifteen days before the Festival [of Passover] is called “half the period of preparation,” because thirty days prior to the Festival they would ask and expound upon the laws of the Festival. And the word "פרוס" is the language of a piece, meaning one-half.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Shekalim
At three periods of the year the appropriation is made [from the shekels] in the chamber: Half a month before Pesah, half a month before Shavuot, and half a month before Sukkot, and these are also the threshing floors [the seasons] for the tithe of beasts, the words of Rabbi Akiva. According to Rabbi Akiva the shekels are appropriated at the same time of year that animals are tithed. I have translated “A half-month before” based on the Talmud. The mishnah itself says only “Before”, but uses a word which implies that this must occur at least a half-month before. The word “threshing floors” is borrowed from tithes for grain. The meaning is that in these three periods it becomes forbidden to eat any animal until every tenth animal has been tithed. The tithed animal still belongs to its owners, but its blood must be sprinkled on the altar and its meat eaten in Jerusalem. It seems likely to me that Rabbi Akiva said that animals were tithed before the holidays so that people would bring them to Jerusalem when they made their festival pilgrimages.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Shekalim
והן גרנות של מעשר – these three periods are the fixed seasons for the tithing of cattle, and these times were fixed by the Sages to tithe the cattle that had been borne, and just as the harvesting season establishes for the tithing of grain, so too, these time periods establish prohibiting eating the cattle that were born until they are tithed, but prior to this period, it is permitted to eat them, even though they haven’t been tithed, but the Sages established these three times for the tithing of cattle, in order that they would be found for those who come up making pilgrimage for the Festivals, for even though it is permitted to sell and to slaughter and to eat all the time that the harvesting season had not yet arrived, even so, people would not slaughter them until they were tithed, for it is pleasant for people to fulfill a Mitzvah with their monies in which they are not lacking anything, such as the tithing of cattle, which of itself brings tithes and they eat it as a peace-offering. If they would not tithe at these three periods, many would be prevented from selling them, because they were not tithed, and there wouldn’t be cattle available for those coming up on pilgrimage.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Shekalim
Ben Azzai says: on the twenty-ninth of Adar, and on the first of Sivan, and on the twenty-ninth of Av. The remaining sages disagree as to when animals are tithed. Ben Azzai gives dates that are more precise and slightly differ from those given by Rabbi Akiva. The twenty-ninth of Adar is basically the same, as it is half a month before Pesah. The first of Sivan is only 7 days before Shavuot. He seems to give more time because there is not a lot of time between Pesah and Shavuot in which animals might be born. The third tithe is at the end of Av, because Ben Azai holds that animals born in Elul are tithed separately.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Shekalim
בן עזאי אומר בכ"ט באדר – his reason is that all of these are a condition, and their disputes are explained in the last chapter of [Tractate] Bekhorot (Chapter 9, Mishnayot 5-6).
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English Explanation of Mishnah Shekalim
Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Shimon say: on the first of Nisan, on the first of Sivan, and on the twenty-ninth of Elul. Why did they say, “On the twenty-ninth of Elul and not on the first of Tishre? Because the first of Tishre is a holy day, and it is not permitted to tithe on a festival, therefore they moved it up to the twenty-ninth of Elul. Rabbi Elazar and Rabbi Shimon that the animals are tithed on the first of Nissan, which is similar to both Rabbi Akiva and one day after Ben Azai’s time. The second tithing period is on the first of Sivan, the same as Ben Azai. The third tithing period is on the twenty-ninth of Elul. The mishnah explains that they would have said the first of Tishre but one can’t tithe on the first of Tishre because it is a holiday, namely Rosh Hashanah. It seems that in this case he basically agrees with Rabbi Akiva who said half a month before Sukkot.
