One-Page Learn · The Halachos at a glance
שְׁקָלִים
Sheqel Dues 3
Sefer Zemanim · The kolbon surcharge, who bears the loss of a shekel on the road, and the coin that was already counted
½
Ma'ah - the value of a kolbon, never less
1/12
Of a dinar - that same kolbon in dinarim
2
Kolbonot owed by one who wants change back from his shekel
0
Holiness in overpayment - the extra stays unconsecrated
Part 1The kolbon, and who is spared it
- Two men, one shekel, one surcharge. Half-shekel coins were in demand, so a man changing a shekel paid the money-changer a premium called a kolbon; two men discharging both obligations with one shekel owe it. (3:1)
- The unobligated owe nothing extra. Two women or two slaves who give a shekel together owe no kolbon; nor does an obligated man who pays for a woman, a slave, or a priest, and priests themselves are exempt. (3:2)
- Gift versus loan. Paying a poor man's, a neighbor's, or a townsman's half-shekel as a gift carries no kolbon, since he is simply increasing the number of shekalim; advancing it as a loan to be repaid does carry one. (3:3)
- Partners only after the money has turned over. Undivided brothers and partners owe no kolbon, but only once they have done business with the joint funds and the original money is gone; funds merely pooled, or a newly re-formed partnership, still owe it. (3:4, 3:5)
RememberThe surcharge is charged on separateness - waived exactly where two people have stopped being two.
Part 2Who bears the loss on the road
- Responsible until it arrives. A man whose shekel is lost bears responsibility for it until it is handed to the Temple treasury. (3:8)
- The unpaid watchman. If a town's emissary was an unpaid watchman and the shekalim were stolen or lost, he swears and is freed, and the townspeople must give a second time; their offer to waive the oath is refused, since nothing consecrated is released without an oath. (3:8)
- The paid watchman, and the pivot of the terumah. With a paid watchman and a loss by force beyond control, if it happened after the treasury funds were set aside the emissary swears to the treasurer and the townspeople owe nothing more; if before, the money was still theirs and they pay again. (3:9)
- When the first coins turn up. If the lost or stolen shekalim are later recovered, both sets are consecrated, but the later set is not credited to next year; it joins the previous year's collection. (3:8, 3:9)
RememberThe scoop of silver taken from the chamber was taken for everyone, including those who had not yet paid.
Part 3Wrong coins, extra coins, found coins
- The agent who paid himself. One entrusted with another's half-shekel who hands it in as his own has misappropriated consecrated property if the treasury funds were already set aside; if not, he has not, and simply owes his friend the coin. (3:10)
- Even a stolen shekel discharges the mitzvah. One who robs or steals a half-shekel from a treasury money-changer and uses it as his own has fulfilled his obligation, and must still make restitution, paying double or adding a fifth as the case requires. (3:10)
- Wrong funds, wrong assumptions. Paying from consecrated funds makes him liable for misappropriation once the money buys a sacrifice, yet he has fulfilled his duty; second-tithe money obliges him to eat its value in Jerusalem; a shekel set aside by one who turns out not to have been obligated is not consecrated at all. (3:11, 3:12)
- Overpayment and the coins between the chests. Whatever exceeds the half-shekel stays unconsecrated even if he filled a purse announcing it was for his shekel; a coin found between two chests belongs to the nearer one, and if equidistant to the stricter purpose, while coins on the Temple Mount are presumed unconsecrated. (3:13, 3:14, 3:15)
RememberThe Temple takes exactly what it asked for and not one prutah more.