Comentário sobre Shekalim 1:8

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.

היו עוקרים ומשליכים לפניהם – in front of the owners of the fields in order that they will be embarrassed but these owners of the fields were happy since they weeded their fields for them, and furthermore, they would place them before their animals, they (i.e., the Rabbis) established that they would throw them on the roads, and still the owners of the fields were happy that they (i.e., the inspectors) would weed for them.

Introduction At the end of yesterday’s mishnah we learned that on the fifteenth of Adar the court would send out agents to uproot kilayim, shoots that have grown from mixed seeds. In today’s mishnah we learn how this was done.

התקינו שיהו מפקירין כל השדה – the confiscation by the court (disposing of private property by the process of law) is valid (see Talmud Gittin 36b).

Rabbi Judah said: at first they used to uproot [the kilayim], and throw them down before them. [But] when transgressors increased in number, they used to uproot them and throw them on the roads. [Finally], they decreed that they should make the whole field ownerless. At first the court would merely uproot the kilayim plants to prevent them from continuing to grow. They didn’t bother throwing them away, but would just uproot them and leave them in their place. The problem with this was that people would use the plants that the court’s agents had uprooted. If they were not fit for human consumption they would feed them to their animals. This is prohibited because it is prohibited to derive any benefit from kilayim. To remedy this, they began to throw the plants out onto the roads where anyone could take them. However, even this was not sufficient. People did not seem to care that the court’s agents would come around and uproot their plants. Indeed, they may have even thanked the court for doing their weeding for them! Therefore the court had to decree that if they found kilayim in someone’s field, they would declare the entire field ownerless. Basically this is penalizing the person by making him lose his field. This was a far more effective measure; since people knew they might lose their field they were far more cautious about allowing kilayim to grow.

במדינה – in Jerusalem and they would exchange the one-half Shekel to people that each one would bring from the coinage of his country and did not know how many of them come out to one-half Shekel.

Introduction This mishnah returns to dealing with the half-shekel.

ישבו במקדש – because the time would get close that they would sit in the Temple in order that they would hurry to bring [the one-half Shekel]. And Maimonides explained that all the cities of Israel were called "מדינה"/Country/provincial towns, and on the twenty-fifth, they would sit in the "מקדש"/Sanctuary in Jerusalem.

On the fifteenth of [Adar] they would set up tables [of money changers] in the provinces. The half-shekel had to be given in Israeli currency. In order to help people exchange their currency they would set up money changer tables in the provinces to change money. The money changers could also exchange large currency for smaller coins.

התחילו למשכן – for whomever did not bring their [one-half] Shekel.

On the twenty-fifth they set them up in the Temple. As the first of Nisan approached, the time when they would begin to use the shekalim collected from the previous year, they would stop having money changers throughout the land and limit their presence to the Temple.

את מי ממשכנין לוים – to exclude from the one who states that the Levites do not take pledges, as it is written (Exodus 30:14): “Everyone who is entered in the records, from the age of twenty years up, [shall give the LORD’s offering],” but the Levites were not counted from age twenty years.

When [the tables] were set up in the Temple, they began to exact pledges [from those who had not paid]. At this point, they would begin to take pledges from people who had not yet paid. A “pledge” means that they would take something away from the person and only return it when the half-shekel had been paid.

אבל לא נשים- (Exodus 30:12): “Each shall pay the LORD a ransom for himself,” is written, and not a woman.

From whom did they exact pledges? From Levites and Israelites, converts and freed slaves, but not women or slaves or minors. Pledges were not taken from everyone, but rather only from free adult Jewish men (excluding priests, as we shall see below), those who are obligated to give the half-shekel. They didn’t take pledges from women, slaves or minors because women, slaves and minors are exempt from the half-shekel. Women are exempt because Exodus 30:12 states, “each man (ish) shall pay a ransom for himself” the word “man” is understood as exempting women. Slaves are usually in the same category as women so they too are exempt. Exodus 30 explicitly excludes minors under the age of 20 (Ex. 30:14).

ולא עבדים – for slaves are not obligated other than in commandments that women are obligated for.

Any minor on whose behalf his father has begun to pay the shekel, may not discontinue it again. Sometimes fathers would begin to donate the half-shekel on behalf of their sons, even though they were not obligated to do so. The mishnah teaches that if they had begun to give the half-shekel, in subsequent years they must continue to do so.

וקטנים – even if he brought forth two [pubic] hairs and he is less than twenty years of age.

But they did not exact pledges from the priests, because of the ways of peace. The only category of free adult male from whom they did not exact a pledge is the priest. They didn’t do so in order to avoid fights. Albeck explains that the priests thought that they were exempt from the half-shekel. Although they are indeed obligated, the court seems not to have wanted to get into a fight with them over the subject. Tomorrow’s mishnah will deal with the priests obligation to pay the shekel. We might note that if many of the priests were Sadducees and the Sadducees seem to have rejected the whole practice of giving the yearly half-shekel, then we have here evidence of the Pharisees not wanting to provoke a fight with the Sadducees.

שוב אינו פוסק – his father, once he had begun, but if his father died, he pays the Shekel on his own.

ואין ממשכנין את הכהנים – even though they are obligated in the one-half shekel.

מפני דרכי שלום – because the service of the Sacrifices is upon them, they extend to them honor and rely upon them that they would not have to delay [bringing] their Shekel; alternatively, they would delay and the Jewish court would not grant upon them a gift like they give from the Temple treasury to the rest of those who do the Holy work as we will explain further on.

כל כהן ששוקל אינו חוטא – for even though he is not obligated to give the [one-half] Shekel, and you might think that I would say that if he gives the [one-half] Shekel, it would be found that the community sacrifice is offered from an individual, this comes to inform us that he does not sin since he gives this one-half-shekel to the community completely, and we should not suspect that he would not completely deliver it appropriately.

Introduction In this mishnah we see two early tannaim arguing over whether or not a priest donates the half-shekel.

כל כהן שאינו שוקל חוטא – and the Biblical verse (Exodus 30:14): “Everyone who is entered into the records,” he expounds it this way: He who passes through the Sea of Reeds, that is Kohanim, Levites and Israelites, all who passed through the sea “on the records”, whether they were counted alone, whether they were counted with Israel, “shall give the LORD’s offering,” and even though in the Torah portion of "אלה פקודי"/”These are the records [of the Tabernacle],” it is written (Exodus 38:25): “The silver of those of the community who were recorded,” for six-hundred and three-thousand [and five-hundred and fifty men]” (Exodus 38:26). That is written for the Terumah of the sockets, but for that Terumah, the Levites did not take part, but the Terumah of the community sacrifices, the Kohanim, Levites and Israelites were equal.

Rabbi Judah said: Ben Bukri testified at Yavneh that a priest who paid the shekel is not a sinner. Ben Bukri assumes that a priest is exempt from the shekel offering. The midrash which explains this appears below, in section two. His testimony is that despite the fact that the priest need not donate the half-shekel, if he does donate it he has not transgressed. We might have thought that person who is not liable to pay the half-shekel may not donate it. The problem with a voluntary donation of the half-shekel is that public sacrifices must come from the entire public, meaning from the half-shekel. A voluntary donation may be seen as an individual paying for a public sacrifice. Ben Bukri testifies that we don’t perceive of the priest’s half-shekel in that way. Rather it is a gift to the community, which belongs to the community as a whole. As such it may be used to purchase public sacrifices.

לעצמן – for their benefit, but this is not for a homily, for specifically, in the meal offering of the Kohen alone, the Biblical verse stated (Leviticus 6:16) : “[So, too, every meal offering of a priest] shall be a whole offering”/"כליל תהיה" - and not with that which has the participation with the community. But the Halakah is that the Kohanim are obligated to bring the one-half Shekel and we don’t exact pledges from them for the sake of peace (see end of Mishnah 3).

But Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai said to him: not so, but rather a priest who did not pay the shekel was guilty of a sin, only the priests expounded this verse for their own benefit: “And every meal-offering of the priest shall be wholly burnt, it shall not be eaten” (Leviticus 6:16), since the omer and the two loaves and the showbread are [brought] from our [contributions], how can they be eaten? Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai reasons the exact opposite from Ben Bukri. He holds that the priest is liable to donate the half-shekel and if he doesn’t do so, he transgresses in much the same way that any person who doesn’t give the half-shekel transgresses. The priests tried to use some midrashic reasoning to get out of giving the half-shekel. The Torah states that any minhah, a meal-offering, given by a priest, must be wholly burnt. The half-shekel is used to purchase certain meal offerings, namely the omer (the barley offering brought between Pesah and Shavuot), the two loaves brought on Shavuot, and the weekly showbread. All of these are eaten by priests and not burnt. The priests claim that the fact that these are eaten proves that the priests did not pay for any of them, for had they paid for them they would have had to have been wholly burnt. Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai says that the priests’ midrash is mistaken. Only individual minhah offerings of the priest are wholly burnt. Public minhah offerings paid for partly by priests may be eaten. Hence the priests are liable to pay the half-shekel. We should note that aside from the technical aspects of this debate, there may be an underlying social/religious issue. The question is, are the priests a part of the people or are they a separate class, with their own unique relationship to God? This might be an interesting way of examining Jewish religious leadership in general are leaders a part of the Jewish people, or are they a class on their own. Rabban Yohanan ben Zakkai’s answer would seem to be clear the priests must give their half-shekel, they are part of the Jewish people and not above, or even truly separate from the rest.

מקבלין מידם – and with the condition that they will hand them over to the community completely for just as a community sacrifice is not offered by an individual.

Introduction Most of this mishnah deals with Gentiles who wish to make donations to the Temple. We should note that this was a sensitive and realistic issue in the Second Temple Period. There were some groups of Jews, notably the Dead Sea Sect, which adamantly opposed accepting donations from the Gentiles. A quote from the book of Ezra which we will see below also seems to express this approach. In contrast, the rabbis are more open to Gentile donations. In fact, I don’t believe that they were opposed in principle. Rather they felt that when their understanding of the Torah allowed such donations, it was sanctioned. The rabbis seem to be trying to walk a fine line to make Jews responsible for the ultimate upkeep of the Temple and yet to not totally exclude Gentiles from participating in what they may have perceived as worship to the one, true, God.

קיני זבים וזבות – turtle-doves and young pigeons that men with flux and women with discharges bring and it speaks of Cutheans alone, for men with flux and women with discharges are not with idolaters.

Even though they said, “they don’t exact pledges from women, slaves or minors, [yet] if they paid the shekel it is accepted from them. We learned in mishnah three that women, slaves and minors are exempt from paying the half-shekel, and hence pledges are not taken from them to get them to pay their shekels. In our mishnah we learn that shekels are accepted from them. As we stated above with regard to the priest, as long as they give the shekel with the intent of it becoming a communal possession, the shekels can be used to buy public sacrifices. The only problem would be if they gave it thinking that they were making an individual donation for a public sacrifice. In such a case, their shekels would have to be rejected, since public sacrifices must come from only public money.

כל שהוא נידר ונידב מקבלין מידם – as it teaches in a Baraitha (Talmud Menahot 73b): (Leviticus 22:18): “When any man (איש איש) [of the house of Israel or of the strangers in Israel presents a burnt offering as his offering for any of the votive or any of the freewill offerings that they offer to the LORD],” to include the non-Jews who offer votive or freewill offerings like an Israelite. But I don’t have anything other than a burnt offering, as it is written (Leviticus 22:18): “that they present a burnt offering as his offering”. From where do I learn peace offerings? The inference teaches us “for any of the votive”. From were do we include the bird offerings and the meal offerings and the wine and the frankincense and the wood? The inference teaches us: “for any of the votive or any of the freewill offerings that they offer to the LORD.”

If a non-Jew or a Samaritan paid the shekel they do not accept it from them. In contrast, shekels given by non-Jews or Samaritans are rejected. This is so that the public sacrifices, which come to afford atonement for the entire Jewish people, should paid for by the Jewish people themselves. As we shall see below, other sacrifices are accepted from non-Jews.

וכן הוא מפורש על ידי עזרא – for the Cutheans wanted to assist them (i.e., the Jews), and they sent to them (Ezra 4:2): “Let us build with you, for we too worship your God [having offered sacrifices to Him since the time of Esarhaddon of Assyria who brought us here].” What did they respond to them? (Ezra 4:3): “It is not for you and for us to build a House [to our God, but we alone will build it to the LORD God of Israel, In accord with the charge that the king, King Cyrus of Persia, laid upon us]” together to our God, for you have no portion or righteousness or memory in Jerusalem.

And they do not accept from them the bird-offerings of zavin or bird-offerings of zavot or bird-offerings of women after childbirth, This section refers to sacrifices which a person must bring at the end of their period of impurity. The Yerushalmi explains that the mishnah here teaches that Samaritans, who are in some matters considered Jews, do not bring these sacrifices. Assumedly the reason is that they do not count the period of their impurity correctly, and hence they bring the sacrifices at the wrong time. Gentiles cannot bring these sacrifices because they are not obligated for them.

Or sin-offerings or guilt-offerings. There are two different versions of this mishnah and the two differ with regard to whether sin and guilt offerings are accepted. According to one version they are not accepted from Gentiles or Samaritans because these are sacrifices cannot be donated (see below). Rather these are two types of atonement offerings incurred by people for various sins, and these laws govern only Jews. The other version says that guilt and sin offerings are accepted. According to this version, the line refers only to Samaritans, from whom these offerings are accepted in the hope that they will repent and return to being “real Jews.”

But vow-offerings and freewill-offerings they do accept from them. This is the general rule: all offerings which can be made as a vow-offering or a freewill-offering they do accept from them, but offerings which cannot be made as a vow-offering or a freewill-offering they do not accept from them. A “vow offering” is when one says, “I vow to bring an offering.” A “free-will offering” is when one says, “I vow to bring this animal.” Both types of sacrifices are accepted from Gentiles and Samaritans. This halakhah is derived midrashically from Leviticus 22:18, which twice uses the word “ish” (man). The double appearance is taken to mean that these offerings are accepted from both Jews and Gentiles alike.

And thus it is explicitly stated by Ezra, as it is said: “You have nothing to do with us to build a house unto our God” (Ezra 4:3). In the preceding verses in Ezra some enemies of the Jews come to Zerubbabel and the chiefs of the clans and say, “Let us build with you, since we too worship your God.” The Jewish leaders respond, “It is not for you and us to build a House to our God, but we alone will build it to the Lord God of Israel.” From here the rabbis conclude that non-Jews may not participate in the funding of the public sacrifices. However, as we noted above, other types of sacrifices are accepted from them.

קולבון – קל/easy בון /to understand – that is to say, something light and small that we add to the one-half Shekel to harmonize between them.

Introduction The rabbis added onto the half-shekel a surcharge which is called a “kalbon.” Rabbi Meir and the other rabbis disagree over the nature of the kalbon and therefore over who has to pay it. According to Rabbi Meir everyone who gives the shekel has to pay the kalbon. Rabbi Meir reasons that the kalbon is a surcharge because they coin he is giving is probably not as pure as the coin demanded by the Torah. Hence, there is always an obligation to give the kalbon. The other sages understand the kalbon to be a surcharge because when he gives a coin they will have to exchange it with a moneychanger. Therefore they hold that anyone who gives his half-shekel in one coin to the Temple need not give the kalbon, because there is no exchange. If two together give one shekel then the two must add one kalbon, because had they split their coin into two, they would have had to pay the moneychanger. The sages decreed that the money saved by not giving it to the moneychanger should go to the Temple. In our mishnah and in the following one we learn some details about who pays the kalbon.

השוקל ע"י אשה [וכו'] פטור – for example that he lent them since they are exempt, they are not obligated in agio/surcharge, but he pays the debt for them, even paying the half-shekel for someone who is obligated, he is exempt from the surcharge, as is mentioned later.

The following are liable [to pay] the kalbon (: Levites and Israelites and converts and freed slaves; but not priests or women or slaves or minors. This is the same list that appeared above in mishnah three with regard to taking pledges. The kalbon was paid only by those from whom they took pledges in order to collect the half-shekel. The kalbon was not taken from those who don’t owe the half-shekel in the first place. The one exception may be the priests, whom according to our mishnah do not pay the kalbon. Albeck explains that the priests were lenient on themselves. Another explanation might be that this mishnah goes according to Ben Bukri in mishnah four who said that priests do not have to give the half-shekel. Finally, there are some manuscripts that do not have the word “priest” in this mishnah.

אם שקל על ידו ועל יד חבירו – when he lends him, we are speaking about and he pays a full shekel – one half of a shekel for himself and another half-shekel that he lends to his fellow.

If a man paid the shekel on behalf of a priest, or on behalf of a woman, or on behalf of a slave, or on behalf of a minor, he is exempt. Since the person for whom the shekel is being paid is exempt, the one who pays it on their behalf is also exempt.

חייב קלבון אחד – for he holds that whomever gives the one-half shekel that is clearly defined in the Torah is exempt from the surcharge, as it is written (Exodus 30:13): “This is what everyone….shall pay”/"זה יתנו" – like this he will give and no more; and the second one who gave a full Shekel, does not give other than one surcharge.

If a man paid the shekel on his own behalf and on behalf of his fellow he is liable for one kalbon. Rabbi Meir says: two kalbons. The first opinion is that of the sages, which I explained in the introduction. They are only liable for one kalbon because only one exchange was made. Rabbi Meir holds that everyone is always individually liable for a kalbon. Hence, if one person pays on behalf of him and another person, he must add two kalbons.

ר' מאיר אומר שני קלבונות – Rabbi Meir holds that the person who pays in the one-half shekel is obligated for a surcharge, therefore two paid in a full Shekel [together] are liable for two surcharges, but the Halakha is not according to Rabbi Meir.

If one gave a sela and received a shekel, he is liable to pay two kalbons. In this case a person gives the Temple treasurer a sela, which is the value of a Torah shekel. This is twice the amount he needs to give. He takes back in change a “mishnaic shekel”, which is a Torah half-shekel. In this case he must pay a kalbon for the shekel he gave and for the shekel he took, since both exchanges carry surcharges. We see from here that high banking fees are no modern invention!

הנותן סלע – that is a full shekel to the money changer of sanctified contributions, and he takes from it the one-half shekel that remains to him with him, and the Shekel that is mentioned here is the one-half shekel.

נותן ב' קלבונות – in this the first Tanna/Teacher [of our Mishnah] agrees that he gives two surcharges, one surcharge to keep the balance from the one-half shekel that he takes from the sanctified monies, and the other, for since he did not give the one-half shekel as is delineated in the Torah, he is obligated for the surcharge.

השוקל ע"י עני – for a poor person

If one paid the shekel on behalf of a poor man or on behalf of his neighbor or on behalf of his fellow-townsman, he is exempt [from the kalbon]. But if he loaned [it] to them he is liable.
Brothers who are partners who are obligated for the kalbon are exempt from the tithe of beasts.
But when they are liable to the tithe of beasts they are exempt from the surcharge.
And how much is the kalbon? A silver ma'ah, the words of Rabbi Meir. But the sages say: half a ma'ah.
This mishnah continues to discuss the kalbon, the extra surcharge paid with the shekel.
Section one: If someone pays the shekel for a friend as a gift, the rabbis did not make him pay the kalbon as well. The same is true, as we shall see below, if a father pays the kalbon on behalf of his son. However, one who pays the shekel on someone else’s behalf as a loan does have to pay the kalbon.
Section two: This section refers to two different types of partnerships between brothers who have inherited from their father. The first type is when they have already divided up the inheritance and then pooled their money together to form a business partnership. In such a case they are liable for the kalbon as are all partners who pay each other’s kalbon, but they are exempt from paying the tithe on beasts (domesticated animals) since partners do not pay this tithe on their shared animals. The second partnership is one in which they have not yet divided up the inheritance. In such a case the money is treated as if it still belonged to one person, their father. They are liable for the tithe but they are exempt from the kalbon, since this is similar to as case in which a father pays the shekel on his son’s behalf.
Section three: Rabbi Meir holds that the kalbon is a ma’ah, which is 1/12 of a half-shekel. This matches Rabbi Meir’s understanding of the kalbon as compensation for the non-pure elements which are customarily put into silver coins. This ma’ah is supposed to increase the silver of the shekel so that it now reaches the value of the Torah’s half-shekel. The sages, however, hold that the kalbon is in place of a fee paid to the moneychanger. The fee is a lesser amount, only half a ma’ah.

פטור – since he gives it to them as a gift.

האחין השותפין שחייבין בקלבון – brothers who are partners that split and came back and became partners again – are obligated for the surcharge like two people who gave Selaim.

פטורים ממעשר בהמה – all cattle that are born to them all the days of their partnership do not need to be tithed, for we expound in the [last] chapter of [Tractate] Bekhorot (see Chapter 9, Mishnah 3 – Talmud Bekhorot 56b) (Numbers 18:15): “]The first issue of the womb of every being, man or beast, that is offered to the LORD,[ shall be yours/יהיה לך;” – yours but not of a partnership, and we establish this verse with tithes, and even though that it is written with regard to first born.

וכשחייבים במעשר בהמה – that is when they didn’t divide it, then they are obligated for tithing, as we expound – that he is able, even if they didn’t purchase it as that which belongs to the estate (before division), as the inference teaches us, “it will be”/יהיה – in all cases (see Numbers 18:18).

פטורים מן הקלבון – for the money of their father stands in its legal status as it is like a father who gives for his sons and for or for his neighbors and is exempt.

מעה כסף – one twenty-fourth of Selah, and its weight is sixteen S’eorot.

חצי מעה – one forty-eighth and its weight is eight S’eorot, and the Halakha is according to the Sages.