Shekalim 13 - Wonderful administrators

There were fifteen administrators in the Temple, all listed by name. For example, Petachia ben Pinchas was responsible for the box where the money for bird sacrifices was collected, Hugras the Levi was the conductor, and the family of Garmu was baking bread. Of course, the same people could not possibly be administrators for all 420 years of the Second Temple; rather, it is the righteous among them who were singled out by name. According to another opinion, these were their names in the generation when this rule was composed.

Rabbi Akiva was one of the greatest teachers, and he arranged the vast body of the Torah knowledge in divisions and groups to facilitate learning. His students also enumerated multiple laws together, such as "four types of damages," "fifteen women who do not need a yibum," "thirty-nine labors on Shabbat," and so on.

And yet - said Rabbi Chaggai - the earlier generations have plowed and planted, weeded, threshed, winnowed, ground, sifted, kneaded, and baked knowledge for us, and we don't have a mouth to eat. This agrees with Talmud's principle that man's capacity for learning wanes with generations. If previous generations were like angels, then we are like humans compared to them. If they were as people, then we are like donkeys - and not even like the donkey of Rabbi Pinchas ben Yair.

And what is the story of this she-donkey? It was stolen by robbers but refused to eat stolen food. After three days, the robbers let it go, and it came back but still refused to eat. Rabbi Pinchas asked the inn-keeper, have you separated the tithes? The inn-keeper answered that the animals were not obligated to keep doubtful tithes' laws (d'mai). To that, Rabbi Pinchas answered that this was true, but she was very stringent with herself and accepted not to eat even doubtfully untithed produce. They gave her properly tithed food, and she ate.

Art: The Three Generations by James Clarke Waite

Shekalim 12 - Gifts to the Temple

One may decide to donate his possessions to the Temple. In this case, we assume that his intention was the “fund for the upkeep of the Temple,” and they are used as-is, if it is possible (like a hammer or a ladder) or redeemed, and the money then goes to the Temple.

What if some of the items among his possessions were animals fit the for Altar? Since they achieved “Temple fund holiness,” they cannot simply be exchanged for a different, even higher, Altar level of holiness. Rather, the male animals are sold, and the proceeds are used to buy burned offerings, this being the highest level of sacrifice. The female animals, which are fit for peace offerings, should also be sold, and the money used to buy peace offerings. Again, this roundabout process is explained by the fact that one level of holiness cannot be simply exchanged for another. All this is the reasoning of Rabbi Eliezer.

Rabbi Yehoshua disagrees and suggests we look at the intention of the donor. Since the donor surely wanted the highest level of service available, then the male animals should be offered as burned offerings - because this most likely was the donor’s intention. The female animals are more of a problem. Following the same logic, the donor probably wanted them too to become burned offerings. However, it is not possible with female animals, which can only be peace offerings. Therefore, since the donor's original intent is contradictory, we need to sell them and buy peace offerings with the proceeds. So here we agree with Rabbi Eliezer, albeit not with his reasoning. The Talmud continues with other opinions on what to do with the gifts.

Art: Drovers And Their Animals Beside A Ruin by Sebastien Heemskerck

Shekalim 11 – Multi-step transaction with incense

Twice daily, they burned incense in the Temple. Additionally, two handfuls of this incense were burned by the High Priest on Yom Kippur. If some of it remained after the end of the year in Nissan, when new shekels were brought, the old incense would become unfit. What did they do with it?

They would first exchange it against the money donated for the Temple's upkeep and designated it as payment for the artisans. Now the incense was completely deconsecrated. Then they would give the incense to the artisans as wages. They could not (and should not) use it because it is prohibited for personal use. Instead, it was bought from them with the new shekels. Thus, they bought the incense with the new money, and it became consecrated for use in the new year.

Art: An artisan's family in an interior by Giuseppe Constantini

Shekalim 10 - Remainder and remainder of remainder

The shekels donated to the Temple were used for buying sacrifices. These included daily offerings, Shabbat offering, wine, oil, the Bread of Vision, and other public offerings. A special problem was presented by the two loaves of bread brought on Shavuot when the year was Shmita. In Shmita year, one cannot plow and sow, so they would have no wheat at the end of the year! Therefore, the Temple would hire guardians to shoo away the animals and ask passers-by not to interfere with the wheat that grew of itself, which would be used on Shavuot. These people had to be paid - and not because of the lack of volunteers, but because in guarding the wheat, they could accidentally pick up the produce, thus acquiring it. Then it would not belong to the congregation later on. However, if they were paid, even if they took the produce, they would do so on behalf of the congregation and would not acquire it for themselves. This important payment had to be done with the same shekalim.

Some money would still remain in the chamber, and, being that their mitzvah was already accomplished, the money could be used for the goat of Yom Kippur and for the city walls and towers. If any money was still left, the Temple could use it for commerce - says Rabbi Ishmael. However, Rabbi Akiva says that it would be degrading. He also says that surplus money from donations to the poor cannot be used for commerce but must be held for any contingency. Rabbi Akiva himself was a charity administrator.

Art: The Lesson in Charity by Henri Nicolas van Gorp

Shekalim 9 - Scooping three times

There was a procedure to the scooping: the priest would go into the chamber and call from there, “Should I scoop?” and the administrators would command him three times: “Scoop! Scoop! Scoop!” He would fill the first box and cover the money remaining in this part of the room with a hide; he would then fill the second box and again cover the remainder with a hide, and the third portion he would not cover. Why all this? The first portion was of the people of Israel, the second - for the surrounding cities, and the third - for the people of Babylon, Media, and far away lands.

The family of Rabban Gamliel was especially zealous: they would enter the chamber and throw the coins right before the priest doing the scooping, and he would try to make sure to scoop their coins into his box.

On this subject of extra effort, Rabbi Pinchas ben Yair outlines ten steps of spiritual growth: extra effort brings to being free from wrongdoing; that brings one to re-think his previous wrongful acts; this leads to holiness, that is, refraining even from permitted pleasures; this leads to humility; humility brings one to realize one’s shortcomings and to honest desire not to do wrong again; this brings to doing good beyond the letter of the law - which brings Divine inspiration in its wake; then he can resurrect the dead, and this, in turn, brings Elijah the Prophet, may he be remembered for good.

Art: Divine inspiration by Petrus Van Schendel

Shekalim 8 - Scooping the shekalim

All of the collected shekalim coins were deposited in a certain chamber in the Temple, and three times a year, they would scoop the money from there, before each of the three holidays: Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot. These were also the times designated for separating the tithe of the animals. These times (about two weeks before each holiday) were established by the Sages for a few reasons: these are normal times when the animals bear their young; so that the people had the meat to eat at pilgrimages, and so that they would not delay their offerings.

Scooping was performed with three boxes, numbered aleph-bet-gimel, and some say with Greek letters, alpha-beta-gamma. The priest who performed the scooping did not enter with a hemmed garment, a shoe, a sandal, or any other box - to avoid the situation that if he would later become poor, people would say, “This happened to him because he stole!” and if he would become rich, they would say, “He became rich from the proceeds of his stealing!” This illustrates that one must strive to be clear of all suspicions, and even if he is clear in the eyes of God, he must still strive to avoid suspicions in the eyes of men.

Art: The Parable Of The Rich And Poor Man by (after) Frans II Francken

Shekalim 7 – Monument

Continuing with surpluses, money collected for prisoners' redemption and then left over should be used to redeem other prisoners, but nothing else. Similarly, surplus money intended to redeem one captive should be given to that captive since he already acquired it through the hands of collectors acting as his appointed agents.

A surplus of money collected for the poor should be given to other poor people, but a surplus of money collected for one person should be given to him. A surplus of money collected to bury the dead should be used for other burials. Still, if it was collected for a specific dead, then there are three opinions: give it to his heirs, make a monument for him, or keep it intact until Elijah the prophet comes and decides.

Incidentally, only common people need monuments, but the righteous's teachings serve as their memorials and outlive the stone. Nevertheless, today is customary to build monuments for the righteous, not for their benefit, but for the living who will be reminded of them.

In the final analysis,  charity and just deeds are better than the sacrifices and the money (shekalim) used for the sacrifices. People used to taunt King David, going next to his windows and asking, “When will the Temple be built?” – because it was known that it can be built only after King David's death. However, David would say, “Even though they want to anger me, I am happy with their words. I, too, would give up my life to build the Temple.” And nevertheless, God would say, “I will make your life complete, because one day of your life, David, with your charity and just deeds, are more precious to Me than the future sacrifices.”

Art: View of the Monument to Peter the Great in Senate Square by Vasilij Ivanovic Surikov