Babylonian Talmud

Rodkinson 1918 — source 4, scan section 4

MiSHNA d. Concerning where the curtain of the Sanctuary must be submerged if it become defiled. The first time it was submerged it was spread out for the people to admire the beauty of the work. MiSHNA e. What Rabban Simeon b. Gamaliel had to tell in the name of Simeon, the son of the assistant high priest. How the curtain was made : the great amount of the cost and how many hundred priests were required to submerge it. xviii- SYNOPSIS OF SUBJECTS. Mishna/. If meat of the Holy of Holies became defiled, where it must be burned. The different opinions of the schools of Shamai and Hillel on this point. Mishna^. The different opinions of R. Eliezer and R. Aqiba concern- ing anything that had become defiled tlirough a principal uncleanness. Mishna h. The joints of the daily sacrifices, where they were laid down ; the sacrifices of the new moon, where they were placed. The payment of Shekalim, if it was obligatory after the destruction of the Temple. The same law regarding cattle-tithe, tithes of grain, and deliverance of the firstlings. The law if one sanctified Shekalim or firstlings ?,iter the destruction of the Temple. TRACT SHEKALIM. Under this heading the payment of a head-tax is treated of, which amounted to one-half of a shekel (in the Mishna always referred to as a shekel) and which had to be paid by every Israel- ite (see Exodus xxx. 12) upon the completion of his twentieth year. In the times of the existence of the Temple, the proceeds of this tax were applied for communal sacrifices and for the needs of the capital. The manner of collection, investment, and ap- plication of this money forms the subject of this treatise. It contains, in addition, many other historical regulations, most of which, however, only held good during the existence of the second Temple. CHAPTER I. MISHNA : {a) On the first day of the month of Adar, warn- ings are heralded (from Jerusalem) concerning Shekalim ^ and Kelayim ^ (the prohibition concerning the use, for ploughing to- EDITOR'S COMMENTARY. CHAPTER I. MiSHNA a. ' Warnings were heralded from Jerusalem concerning Shekalim on and after the first of Adar, in order to prepare for the first of Nissan, before which day the final settlement of Shekalim had to be made. This was inferred by the Palestinian Talmud from the following passage [Exodus xl. 17]: " And it came to pass in the first month in the second year, on the first of the month, that the taber- nacle was reared up." This v/as commented upon by a Boraitha, which stated, that on the day on which the tabernacle was reared up, the entire sum of the Shekalim collected was ready for disburse- ment. "Warnings were also heralded concerning Kelayim, because that month was the time when ploughing and sowing commenced in Palestine 2 THE BABYLONIAN TALMUD. gether, of an ox with an ass, and the sowing together of differ- ent kinds of seeds). On the fifteenth day of that month the Megillah Esther ^ is read in the fortified cities; and the same day the improvement of country roads/ market-places, and legal plunge-baths is proceeded with. Public affairs are again taken up = ; at the same time, graves are marked with lime,^and messen- gers are sent out on account of possible Kelayim.' * The Megillah (Book of Esther) was read on the fifteenth day of this month only in such cities as were fortified since the time of Joshua the son of Nun; but in such as were fortified after his day, and in the open cities, it was read on the fourteenth of the month. No mention is made in the Mishna concerning the reading on the four- teenth, because, the majority of the cities being open, or fortified since the time of Joshua ben Nun, it was generally known, and there was no fear of it being forgotten. In the few fortified cities, however, it was necessary to remind the inhabitants that the day on which they were to read the Megillah was the fifteenth. The Palestinian Talmud (Chapter I., Halakha 2) states, that we are taught by this Mishna that all commandments which are to be fulfilled on a leap year in the second Adar should not be fulfilled in the first Adar; but we can- not see how that can be inferred from this Mishna, although some commentators have tried to explain it. * The rainy season ended by the first of Adar, and in consequence of the heavy rains the country roads and market-places were in bad condition. In the month of Nissan, travel towards Jerusalem was very heavy; hence the warning to improve the roads, etc., was her- alded. The public plunge-baths were also injured by the rains and had to be repaired, for the sake of the public, to whom the law pre- scribes the taking of a legal bath on or before the holidays. ' The Palestinian Talmud states, that at that time the courts of law (Beth-din) would meet in session for the trial of civil suits, criminal cases, and crimes involving the punishment of stripes; for the redemp- tion of such as had devoted all their possessions in honor of the Lord, and such as had given the estimated value of their person, etc. ; also for the performance of the rite of the bitter water (see Numbers v. 12-31), and for the performance of the rite of breaking the calf's neck (see Deut. xxi.), and for the rite of the red heifer (see Numbers xix.), and for the ceremony of piercing a serf's ear (see Exodus xxi.). For all this, and any other matters that came up before them, the courts of law assembled in that month. "Such graves as had been injured during the rainy season, and TRACT SHEKALIM. 3 {b) R. Jehudah says : At one time the messengers used to pull out the Kelayim (illegally mixed seeds) and throw them at the feet of the owners ! The number of the transgressors, how- ever, being constantly on the increase, the Kelayim were pulled out and thrown into the roads. Finally, it was determined that the entire fields of such law-breakers were to be confiscated.* {c) On the fifteenth of this month (Adar) the money-changers outside of Jerusalem seated themselves at their tables.^ In the city of Jerusalem, however, they did not do this until the twenty-fifth of the month. ^ As soon as the money-changers seated themselves also in the city, the taking of pledges from were not marked, had to be restored and marked, in order that a man be saved the annoyance of becoming unclean by stepping on a grave. The Palestinian Talmud infers this from the passage [Le- viticus xiii. 46]: "Unclean, unclean, shall he call out," and inter- prets it to signify that the uncleanness itself should call out ' ' unclean * ' and keep men away from its vicinity. For this reason it was her- alded, that the graves were to be marked in order to be a warning to passers-by that such places were unclean. ^On account of the severity of the law concerning Kelayim and the frequency with which that law was infracted, it was deemed