Três vezes por ano eles removeriam (shekalim) da lishkah. [Eles depositavam todos os shekalim em um lishkah (compartimento) no templo. E três vezes por ano eles tiravam dele e os colocavam (os shekalim) em três grandes cestas de três sa'ah para a compra de ofertas comunitárias. O todo não foi levado de uma só vez para as necessidades do ano inteiro, pois os que estavam em lugares distantes ainda não haviam trazido todos os seus shekalim]: no prossegu de Pesach [quinze dias antes do festival ser chamado de "pross" do festival. Durante trinta dias antes do festival, o halachoth do festival é revisado. ("pross", como em "prussah", isto é, metade)], no prossegu de Shavuoth e no prossegu de Succoth. E eles (esses períodos de tempo) são granóticos ("eira") para o dízimo dos animais. [Esses três tempos são três granot para o dízimo dos animais, os sábios designando esses tempos para o dízimo dos animais que nasceram. E assim como (trazendo o grão para) a eira sujeita o grão ao dízimo, também os animais que nasceram não podem ser comidos após a chegada desses tempos até que sejam dízimos. Mas antes desses tempos, eles podem ser comidos, mesmo que não tenham sido dízimos. Os sábios designaram essas três vezes para o dízimo dos animais, para que os animais estivessem disponíveis para os peregrinos do festival. Pois mesmo que seja permitido vender, massacrar e comer enquanto o tempo do "goren" ainda não chegou, ainda assim, as pessoas não matariam seus animais até que os tivessem dízimo. Pois quem prefere fazer uma mitzvá com sua propriedade se não perder nada, como no dízimo dos animais, o dono comendo o próprio animal dízimo como uma oferta de paz. E se eles não tivessem dízimo nesses três períodos, muitos se absteriam de vender seus animais, não os tendo dízimo, e os animais não estariam disponíveis para os peregrinos do festival.] Essas são as palavras de R. Akiva. Ben Azzai diz: No vigésimo nono de Adar, o primeiro de Sivan e o vigésimo nono de Av. R. Elazar e R. Shimon dizem: No primeiro da Nissan, no primeiro de Sivan e no vigésimo nono de Elul. [As razões de todos esses tannaim e (as bases de) suas diferenças são explicadas no último capítulo de Bechoroth.] Por que eles disseram o vigésimo nono (de Elul) em vez do primeiro de Tishrei? Pois é um festival (Rosh Hashaná), e não se pode dar o dízimo em um festival, motivo pelo qual eles o mudaram para o vigésimo nono de 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.
