We all have our favorite charities we support. People of my generation remember how dedicated Jerry Lewis was to raise funds for muscular dystrophy with his Labor Day telethon. The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation fights poverty, disease, and inequity around the world. Synagogues have prayerbook funds, scholarship funds, library funds amongst many others because they want to maximize the different opportunities to donate. The Temple in Jerusalem was no different. The Mishna on today’s daf TY Shekalim 18 enumerates the 13 different opportunities a person could make a donation supporting the Temple and its sacrificial cult. The collection box is called a shofar because it was wide on the bottom and narrow at the top like a shofar to prevent unscrupulous people from reaching in and stealing the donated funds.
Mishna:There were 13 collection chests in the Temple and upon them was written: New Shekalim (this year’s shekalim used to purchase the communal sacrifices-gg), Old Shekalim (last year’s past due shekalim used to pay for the maintenance of the walls and towers of Jerusalem and for other city needs as taught on daf 10b-gg), Bird-pairs, Young Olah Birds, Wood (for the fire on the altar-), Levonah (frankincense, the spice mixture that was part of the minkha offering), and “Gold for the Service Vessels”. The six remaining chests were for voluntary communal offerings. What would they do with this money which was designated for voluntary offerings? They would buy olah offerings with it and the meat would go to God and the hides would go to the Kohanim. (Art Scroll translation)
I have directed much of my tzedakah funds to fight food insecurity during this pandemic. What has your tzedaka money supported?
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