Daf Yomi learners finished their brief foray into Talmud Yerushalmi. Mesechta Shekalim of the Jerusalem Talmud was completed this week, and the cycle continued with Mesechta Yoma of Talmud Bavli. Some may surmise that the insertion of a tractate from Yerushalmi into a syllabus that otherwise includes only Bavli is a rather recent innovation. In fact, a manuscript of Talmud Bavli found in Munich had Tractate Shekalim from the Yerushalmi appended to it. Said manuscript was completed in 1342CE.
Many of the sugyos in Yerushalmi have parallels in the Bavli. They are often used to shed light on one another. One such discussion revolves around the purpose of a set of six collection boxes that were installed in the Beis Hamikdash. The Gemara refers to these boxes as shofros because they resembled a shofar in that they were narrow at the top and wide at the bottom. This made it easy to donate, but difficult for someone to surreptitiously steal some of the money.
There are four variant opinions of what these boxes were for. Chizkiya suggests that all six collection boxes served the exact same purpose (Shekalim 6, Halacha 4). They were used to purchase voluntary communal korbanos when the Mizbeach was not in use.
The service every day in the Beis Hamikdash began and ended with the Korban Tamid. Anyone who wanted to bring a personal korban such as a Shelamim, Chatas, or Olah, would offer his own personal korban sandwiched in between the morning and afternoon Tamid. However, if a particular day was on the slow side, there would be times when the Mizbeach would not be utilized. This would constitute a lack of respect for Hashem’s Mizbeach. Therefore, in the event that there was downtime for the Mizbeach, communal korban olos were brought.
The Korban Olah, literally translated as the sacrifice that goes up, is given its name because all the meat is burnt on the Mizbeach. However, the kohanim that were working that day in the Beis Hamikdash benefited from these extra korbanos because they were allowed to keep the hides. Where did the funds come to purchase these extra korbanos? The money was taken from the six designated collection boxes. Some money put in those boxes was freely donated. Other funds might have been leftover money from another holy venture and were therefore put in those boxes.
Still, that fails to explain why the Beis Hamikdash needed six collection boxes that serve the exact same purpose. One box would have sufficed. Chizkiyah explained that the six collection boxes correspond to each weekday. The kohanim were divided into twenty-four groups. There was a 24-week rotation, and each week a different group of kohanim had the privilege of performing the avodah in the Beis Hamikdash that week. Each group was further divided into six families. Every day, a different family had the privilege of performing the avodah in the Beis Hamikdash. On Shabbos, all the families jointly performed the avodah.
Naturally, some days in the Beis Hamikdash were busier than others. For example, if one day the weather was rainy, an individual might decide to delay bringing his private korban until the rains passed. Similarly, if a day was particularly hot or cold, an individual might delay his korban for the next day. On the days that were less busy, there was more downtime for the Mizbeach. Consequently, more communal olos would be brought with the funds coming from the communal collection boxes. Left as is, the families that served on a busier day would cry foul. A kohen who served on a sunny Tuesday would say to a kohen who served on a rainy Wednesday, “On my day we were very busy. There was no downtime. We didn’t get a chance to bring any communal olos. It’s not fair that your family gets all those extra hides from the communal olos.”
The Korban Eidah says that the kohen who served on a rainy Wednesday would retort, “Yes, we brought a lot of communal olos, but that is precisely because we weren’t busy with all the private korbanos. In the end, it’s all fair. You profited from the portions you were allowed to keep from the private korbanos. We profited from the hides from the communal olos. It’s all good!”
Chizkiya says that the kohen who served on a sunny Tuesday might not be satisfied. “Yes, we were busy with many private korbanos. But that is due to our good fortune. You had the bad fortune of serving on a rainy day. However, we should all share equally in sacrifices from the communal funds. You have no more right to those hides than we do. Of course, the proceeds from the private korbanos offered by us on Tuesday belong exclusively to us. You, Mr. Wednesday Cohen, certainly have no right to them. But we should share the hides of the communal olos equally.”
It’s incredible that some kohanim may actually feel this way. An objective observer would feel it’s perfectly justified to help the kohanim, who had very few private korbanos to bring, with some communal korbanos. Furthermore, Chizkiya opined that having six collection boxes solved the problem. How did it solve anything? The sunny day kohen will still have a complaint that the rainy day kohen benefited more than he did from the communal funds?!
HaRav Henoch Leibowitz, zt”l, would frequently say that the root cause of jealousy is the feeling that someone took something that belonged to us (See Chiddushei HaLev Breishis 48,15). It isn’t simply that a person is jealous that another person has more. People ascribe their lacking to the prosperity of others. This feeling often isn’t based on logic. It’s often based on a fantasy. The sunny day kohen feels that he is losing out when he sees the rainy day kohen getting a larger share of the communal funds. But it isn’t logical. He profited more from private korbanos, and whether or not the rainy day kohen brings more communal korbanos will not affect his share one iota. Chizkiya says that the solution to illustrate this point is to have a different collection box for each day. On Tuesday, funds will only be drawn from the Tuesday box. On Wednesday, funds will only be drawn from the Wednesday box. When the Tuesday Kohen sees the Wednesday Kohen bringing more communal korbanos, he will not be jealous. No one touched his Tuesday box. He sees a vivid illustration that the Wednesday Kohen took nothing from him. Although, for those on the highest level, this trick would not be necessary, Chizkiya says it was necessary for some kohanim.
The lesson for us in our daily lives is that we should try and learn the lesson of the six collection boxes. Whatever good fortune someone else has does not take away from us even one iota of goodness. Hashem has a box for everyone. When one prospers, he does so from his own box.
Maggid shiur and Rebbe at Yeshiva Ateres Shimon in Far Rockaway. He leads the Daf Yomi chaburah at Eitz Chayim of Dogwood Park in West Hempstead, and writes “Delving into the Daf” each week for The Jewish Home.
