Mishnayos Shekalim Perek 5 Mishnah 3
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שקלים פרק ה׳ משנה ג׳
This mishna provides details of the functions performed by Yoḥanan ben Pineḥas and Aḥiyya, the officials mentioned in the first mishna of this chapter, which concerns the seals and libations. There were four seals in the Temple that confirmed that the bearer had paid for the libations that accompanied his offering. And one of the following inscriptions was written on them: Calf; male, i.e., a ram; kid; and sinner, i.e., a leper, as leprosy is a punishment for one of seven sins (see Arakhin 16a). Conversely, ben Azzai says: There were five seals, and the following was written upon them in Aramaic, not Hebrew: Calf, male, kid, poor sinner, and rich sinner. The mishna explains the significance of each of the four aforementioned seals. The calf seal serves as a payment receipt for libations of cattle offerings, whether they are large or small, male or female, as all offerings from the cow family are accompanied by the same libation. The kid seal serves for libations of sheep or goat offerings, whether large or small, male or female, except for those of rams aged thirteen months and older. The ram seal, which was earlier called the male seal, serves exclusively for ram libations. The sinner seal serves for libations of the three animal offerings of a leper, for the completion of his purification.
אַרְבָּעָה חוֹתָמוֹת הָיוּ בַּמִּקְדָּשׁ, וְכָתוּב עֲלֵיהֶן, עֵגֶל, זָכָר, גְּדִי, חוֹטֵא. בֶּן עַזַּאי אוֹמֵר, חֲמִשָּׁה הָיוּ, וַאֲרָמִית כָּתוּב עֲלֵיהֶן, עֵגֶל, זָכָר, גְּדִי, חוֹטֵא דַּל, וְחוֹטֵא עָשִׁיר. עֵגֶל מְשַׁמֵּשׁ עִם נִסְכֵּי בָּקָר גְּדוֹלִים וּקְטַנִּים, זְכָרִים וּנְקֵבוֹת. גְּדִי מְשַׁמֵּשׁ עִם נִסְכֵּי צֹאן גְּדוֹלִים וּקְטַנִּים, זְכָרִים וּנְקֵבוֹת, חוּץ מִשֶּׁל אֵילִים. זָכָר מְשַׁמֵּשׁ עִם נִסְכֵּי אֵילִים בִּלְבָד. חוֹטֵא מְשַׁמֵּשׁ עִם נִסְכֵּי שָׁלשׁ בְּהֵמוֹת שֶׁל מְצוֹרָעִין:
Bartenura
ד׳ חותמות היו במקדש. ג׳ חותמות לג׳ נסכין חלוקים של בהמות. חותם ראשון לנסכי בקר, והן ג׳ עשרונים סולת בלול בחצי ההין שמן, ויין לנסך חצי ההין, וחותמן עגל. והב׳ זכר לנסכי איל, שתרגום איל דכרא, ונסכיו שתי עשרונים סולת בלול בשמן שלישית ההין, ויין לנסך שלישית ההין. והג׳ גדי, לנסכי כבש בן שנתו, והן עשרון סולת בלול ברביעית ההין שמן, ויין לנסך רביעית ההין. והד׳ חוטא, והם נסכיו של מצורע עשיר שמביא ג׳ בהמות וצריך עשרה לוגין שמן, ט׳ לג׳ כבשים ואחד למתן תנוך ובהונות. וקרי ליה חוטא משום דאמרינן בערכין על שבעה דברים נגעים באין:
חמשה היו. שני חותמות היו למצורע:
חוטא דל וחוטא עשיר. לפי שמצורע עני אינו מביא אלא בהמה אחת. ואם לא היה למצורע אלא חותם אחד היו נותנים למצורע עני שלשה עשרונות. ות״ק סבר למצורע עני נותנים לו חותם גדי. והלכה כתנא קמא:
וארמית כתוב עליהן. שרוב דיבורם בלשון ארמי היה:
זכרים ונקבות. בין לנסכי עולות שאינן באות אלא זכרים בין לנסכי שלמים שבאים זכרים או נקבות. ועולות ושלמים הן שטעונין נסכים כדכתיב (במדבר ט״ו:ג׳) עולה או זבח:
ד' חותמות היו במקדש – three seals for three libations [connected with animal sacrifices] that are divided with the cattle . The first seal was for libations for cattle and they are three-tenths of an Ephah of fine flour mingled with one-half a Hin of oil and one-half a Hin of wine for libation and their seal was an עגל/calf. And the second was a ram for libations of a ram – as the Aramaic translation of איל/ram isדכרא /ram and its libation is two-tenths of a fine flour mingled in one-third a Hin of oil and one-third a Hin of wine for libation. And the third was a kid for libations of a sheep one-year old and they were one Issaron (i.e., one-tenth of an Ephah) of fine flour mingled with one-quarter of a Hin of oil and one-quarter of a Hin of wine for libation. And the fourth was “sinner,” and they were libations of the rich leper that would bring three cattle and it requires ten Log of pure oil for the three sheep and to place on the earlobe and the thumbs, and they call it "חוטא" /”sinner” because we state in Tractate Arakhin (16a): “For seven things plagues come: [gossip, murder, false oaths, illicit sexual behavior; haughtiness, theft, and selfishness].”
חמשה היו – to seals were for the leper.
חוטא דל וחוטא עשיר – because a poor leper is unable to bring other than one cow, and if there was only one seal for a leper, they would give to the poor leper three-tenths, but the first Tanna/teacher held that the for the poor leper, they would give him the seal of the “kid,”/"גדי" and the Halakha is according to the first Tanna.
וארמית כתוב עליהן – for most of their speech was in the Aramaic language.
זכרים ונקבות – whether for libations of burnt offerings that don’t come other than from males or whether from libations of peace-offerings that come from males or females, for the burnt offerings and and peace offerings are those that require libations, as it is written (Numbers 15:3): “[and would present an offering by fire to the LORD from the herd or from the flock,] be it burnt offering or sacrifice, [in fulfillment of a vow explicitly uttered, or as a freewill offering, or at your fixed occasions, producing an odor pleasing to the LORD].”