The Month of Adar: Clearing the Table

by Rav Aviad Gadot, an IDF Captain (reserves) and former Head of the Combat Engineering Training Base, yeshiva.org.il, translated by Hillel Fendel.

A little-known tractate in the Talmud is Shekalim, right after the tractate of Pesachim (though in the Jerusalem Talmud it follows Megillah). It begins by discussing all the tasks that must be done in the public space in the month of Adar:

"On the first day of Adar, the Beit Din (court) announces regarding the collection of shekels [the annual half-shekel obligatory contribution to the Temple treasury], and also regarding the obligation to uproot kil'ayim [forbidden mixtures of crops in gardens and fields]. And on the 15^th of Adar, the Scroll of Esther is read in the cities [that had been surrounded by walls from the time of Joshua bin Nun]. They also repair the roads and streets that were damaged in the winter, and the cisterns, and they do whatever is needed for the public welfare, and they mark the Jewish gravesites anew; and the court's agents would even go out regarding kil'ayim [see explanation below]."

The obligation to give half-shekalim to the Holy Temple is of Biblical origin, as we read in the Torah this past Shabbat from a passage in Parashat Ki Tisa. The Torah does not note, however, the exact time for the collection of the coins.

The Rambam writes: "It is a Torah commandment for every Israelite man to donate a half-shekel every year. This includes even a poor man who is supported by charity… The Torah states, 'The wealthy shall not give more [than a half-shekel] and the poor shall not give less' … It shall be given all at once, and not in installments."

The mitzvah is a personal one upon each individual. This is why initially, the Beit Din simply "announces" this law, as a reminder that each person must fulfill his obligation to give a half-shekel.

The Gemara in Tractate Megillah explains that the purpose of this mitzvah has to do with an additional, general obligation to offer "new" sacrifices on Rosh Chodesh Nissan, right after Adar. That is, on this day we start to purchase the public sacrifices from the new annual collection of shekalim, and therefore the court announces the obligation a month earlier to give enough time to collect the contributions. As the new year [of months] begins in Nissan, the service of G-d in the Temple will be performed on the basis of a renewed national dedication.

The second mitzvah that we recall on Rosh Chodesh Adar is the prohibition to mix certain type of grain and fruit, known as kil'ayim. This is a Biblical obligation in the Land of Israel.

That is, at this time we direct not only our hearts and minds to the Holy Mount in Jerusalem via the half-shekalim, but also to our careful fulfillment of the details of the law regarding what we raise in the fields of the Holy Land in general. The land has awakened from its winter sleep, when weeds and other growths proliferated wildly, and we now begin to plant in an intentional, mindful manner.

Rav Shimshon Raphael Hirsch (1808-1888) explains in his commentary on the Torah: "On the first of Adar the Court would announce regarding kil'ayim; this is the time when the grains have sprouted all over, and emissaries of the Beit Din would even go out to warn the field-owners to clean their fields of kil'ayim. They would say: 'Keep in mind that this is the land of the Torah, and the rules of G-d's Torah apply here.'"

This helps us understand the continuation of the Mishna, which states that in Adar the emissaries of the Sages and the Beit Din also begin to take care of "all the needs of the many." This includes the preparations for the masses of Israelites who are about to fulfill the Biblical obligation to ascend to Jerusalem to "see the face of G-d" [based on Sh'mot 23,15 and other verses]. The roads are widened, and the mikvaot are refurbished so that they can purify themselves as required. What else is included in "all the needs of the many?"

The Jerusalem Talmud elaborates (Shekalim 1,1): "Judging monetary cases, and cases that involve capital punishment and lashes, and receiving dedicated donations to the Temple, and dealing with the Sotah, and burning the Red Heifer, and judging eglah arufah, eved ivri, metzora…"

Essentially, what we see is that when the month of Adar begins, the courts are very busy with cases that may have piled up over the year, in a drive to "clear the table," on both the communal and individual planes. These important "fixes" are of course not limited to Adar or Nissan. Rather, the Mishna is apparently telling us that these Biblical mitzvot of Shekalim and kil'ayim are stepping-stones to a rectification of all aspects of life. It can be likened to the pulses of the heart that send the blood streaming to the entire body.  

Perhaps this explains why when we give our half-shekalim on the day before Purim nowadays, the money is not used only for the needs of the poor, but towards any cause that helps increase the proliferation of Torah in the Jewish community (see Rav Ovadiah Yosef's responsum in Yechaveh Daat I, 86).

May G-d bless us that we see the rebuilding of the Holy Temple, with Priests serving there, Levites making music, and the other Israelites at their stations as well.