Shekalim 10: Dessert for the Altar

Chapter 4! What is the machatzit ha-shekel used for? A clear list of public korbanot. Also to pay the guards who protected the extra growing grain during a Shemitah year. But whether those guards need to be paid or can volunteer is a matter of dispute. Which leads to a discussion of several families that donated the wood to the Temple. Plus, other things funded with the shekalim, including the parah adumah, the scapegoat of Yom Kippur, and even the red string from Yom Kippur. Great care was taken with the parah adumah, for example, so all of that needed to be paid for. The leftover funds went to purchases that could be resold a d give the new profit to hekdesh (except that R. Akiva disagrees; he does agree that it can be used to keep korbanot on the altar when none might be offered otherwise). (4 key opinions here) Plus: An aside on the archeological find of a shekel likely used for machatzit ha-shekel.