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Week 25 - Tuesday - 16 May 2000

SHEKALIM: CHAPTER 1: MISHNAH 4

R. Yehudah said: Ben Bukhri testified in Yavneh, any kohen who contributes the shekel has not sinned. R. Yohanan b. Zakkai replied: That is not so, but any kohen who does not contribute the shekel has sinned, but the kohanim render this verse for themselves (Lev. 6:16): "Every meal offering of a kohen shall be entirely burnt: it shall not be eaten," hence, if the Omer offering and the Two Loaves and the Showbread are ours, how are they eaten?

Kehati

This mishnah continues to deal with the kohanim, and there is a dispute among the Sages as to whether kohanim, too, must contribute the half shekel.

R. Yehudah said: Ben Bukhri testified in Yavneh, any kohen who contributes the shekel - the half shekel, has not sinned - I.e., even though he is exempt from contributing the half shekel, and if he contributes, it is a voluntary contribution - thus animals purchased with such contribution would be funded by individual donations, nevertheless he is not a sinner, because he wholeheartedly donated his half shekel to the community as a gift, thus ensuring that the funding was from the communal fund.

R. Yohanan b. Zakkai replied - To Ben Bukhri: It is not so, but any kohen who does not contribute the shekel has sinned - for the kohanim, too, are obligated to contribute a half shekel, but the kohanim render this verse for themselves - For their own benefit.

Every meal offering of a kohen shall be entirely burnt: it may not be eaten - A meal offering brought by a kohen is burnt entirely, and from this the kohanim adduced that hence if the omer offering and the Two Loaves and the Showbread - all of which are meal offerings brought out of communal funds and are eaten by the kohanim, so that these meal offerings are ours - because we have a share in them through the shekalim we contributed, how are they eaten - how may we eat them, for they are considered as a meal offering of a kohen, which is entirely burned? Thus, the fact that we are permitted to eat them is proof that we are not obligated to contribute a half shekel, and we are not partners in these meal offerings. R. Yohanan b. Zakkai, though, holds that one does not interpret the verse in this way, because only in reference to the meal offering of an individual kohen is one required to burn it entirely, but a communal meal offering, even though the kohanim have a share in it, is not entirely burned. And the halakhah is that the kohanim must contribute a half shekel, but one does not exact collateral from them, as we learned above.

SHEKALIM: CHAPTER 1: MISHNAH 5

Even though they said: One does not extract collateral from women, slaves and minors - if they contributed a half shekel one accepts it from their hand. If a Gentile or a Cuthean contributed a half shekel, we do not accept it from their hand. Nor do we accept from their hand nests of zavim, zavot and women after childbirth, nor sin offerings and guilt offering; but we accept from them vow offerings and gift offerings. This is the general rule: Whatever may be vowed or donated, we accept from their hands; whatever may not be vowed or donated, we do not accept from their hands. And so, too, has been explicitly stated by Ezra as it states (Ezra 4:3), "It is not for you and for us to build a house for our God."

Even though they said - in Mishnah Three above, one does not extract collateral from women and slaves and minors - For the reasons given above, if they contributed a half shekel, we accept it from their hand - provided they offer the money as an outright gift, so that the communal sacrifices should not be funded by an individual donation. In the Jerusalem Talmud we are told we can demand a half shekel from a minor who has brought forth two pubic hairs (a sign that he has reached puberty).

If a Gentile or a Cuthean contributed a half shekel, we do not accept it from their hand - We have already explained in various places that a Cuthean is one of the Gentiles whom the Assyrian king brought from Cuth and other countries to Samaria. Following a plague of wild lions, they converted to Judaism out of fear, as mentioned in II Kings 17. According to the Tanna in this mishnah, Cutheans are considered non-Jews.

Nor do we accept from their hands nests of zavim, zavot and women after childbirth - The two turtledoves or two young pigeons that a zav or zavah - a man or woman who had a seminal issue - must bring after purification (Lev. 15:14;29) and so, too, with a woman after childbirth (Lev. 12:8), nor sin offerings and guilt offerings - The Jerusalem Talmud explains that this refers only to Cutheans, because of the law of zav or zavah does not apply to non-Jews.

But we accept from them vow offerings and gift offerings - There are some that do not have the word "but" in the text so that it reads: sin offerings and guilt offerings, vow offerings and gift offerings we accept from them. This is evidently the version of Rambam, for he writes that we accept sin and guilt offerings from Cutheans, for since their intent is for atonement, they may repent (see Tosefot Yom Tov). As to non-Jews, however, we only accept vow offerings and gift offerings from them.

This is the general rule: Whatever may be vowed or donated - A vow offering is when a person says: "I take upon myself to bring a burnt offering," etc. A gift offering is when a person says: "This particular animal is a burnt offering," etc. The former is a general pledge to bring a sacrifice, while the latter is a pledge of a specific animal as a sacrifice, we accept from their hands - as it states (Lev. 22:18), "Any one of the house of Israel, or of the strangers in Israel, that will bring his sacrifice whether they are vow offerings or gift offerings." Our Sages interpreted: "Any one" includes non-Jews, who may also offer vow and gift offerings, just as Jews do. Whatever may not be vowed or donated - for the altar, even though it may be vowed or donated for the maintenance of the Temple, we do not accept from their hands - so that they should not have a portion in the communal sacrifices, and so it has been explicitly stated by Ezra - In the Book of Ezra, as it says, "It is not for you and for us to build a house for our God." - When the Cutheans offered to assist in the building of the Temple and said to the Jews, "Let us build with you, for we do as you do, we pray to your God," Zerubavel and Yeshua answered them, "It is not for you and for us to build a house for our God." So, too, do we see in the book of Nehemiah, "But you have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem" (2:20). From this we deduce that one does not accept anything from them toward communal expenditures.

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