March 18, 2008

Press Release Israel Antiquities Authority

A Silver Coin That Was Used To Pay The Half Shekel Head-Tax To The Temple
Was Found In The Main Drainage Channel Of Jerusalem From The Second Temple
Period

"A reminder of the half shekel" is also paid today as a donation
to the poor, before reading the Scroll of Esther at Purim

This coming Thursday, before reading the Scroll of Esther, all devote Jews
will contribute a sum of money - "a reminder of the half shekel" - which is
a tradition that took root in the wake of the ancient virtuous deed of
paying a tax of one half shekel to the Temple. This sum, which was used in
the past for the purpose of establishing and maintaining the temple, is
translated into a contemporary amount and donated to the needy

In an archaeological excavation that is being conducted in the main drainage
channel of Jerusalem from the time of the Second Temple, in the City of
David, in the Walls around Jerusalem National Park, an ancient rare silver
coin was recently discovered. This coin is a shekel denomination that was
customarily used to pay a half shekel head-tax in the Second Temple period.
The excavations, directed by Eli Shukron of the Israel Antiquities Authority
and Professor Ronny Reich of the University of Haifa, are being conducted on
behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, the Nature and Parks Authority
and the 'Ir David Foundation.

Archaeologist Eli Shukron estimates that, "Just like today when coins
sometimes fall from our pockets and roll into drainage openings at the side
of the street, that's how it was some two thousand years ago - a man was on
his way to the Temple and the shekel which he intended to use for paying the
half shekel head-tax found its way into the drainage channel".

The origin of the commandment to pay the half shekel head-tax to the Temple
is in the weekly Biblical reading "Ki Tisa", in the Book of Exodus: "When
you take the census of the people of Israel, then each shall give a ransom
for himself to the Lord when you number them.half a shekel.the rich shall
not give more, and the poor shall not give less.and you shall take the
atonement money from the people of Israel and shall appoint it for the
service of the tent of meeting; that it may bring the people of Israel to
remembrance before the Lord, so as to make atonement for yourselves".

At the time of the temple's construction, every Jew was commanded to make an
obligatory donation of a half shekel to the edifice. This modest sum allowed
all Jews, of all economic levels, to participate in the building the Temple.
After the construction was completed, they continued to collect the tax from
every Jew for the purpose of purchasing the public sacrifices and renewing
the furnishings of the Temple. The collection occurred every year on the
first day of the month of Adar when the "heralding of the shekelim" took
place, that is to say the beginning of the collection of the money and it
ended on the first day of the month of Nissan, when 'there is a new budget'
in the temple and the purchase of public sacrifices was renewed.

It was most likely a sheqel of Tyre that Jesus and Peter used to pay the
Temple head tax (a half sheqel each): "Go thou to the sea, and cast an hook,
and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his
mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money. That take, and give unto them for
me and thee" (Matthew 17:27). Moreover, Tyrian silver coins probably
comprised the infamous payment to Judas Iscariot, when "they covenanted with
him for thirty pieces of silver" (Matthew 26:15).

The annual half shekel head-tax was donated in shekels and half shekels from
the Tyre mint where they were struck from the year 125 BCE until the
outbreak of the Great Revolt in 66 CE. At the time of the uprising, the tax
was paid using Jerusalem shekelim, which were specifically struck for this
purpose. In the rabbinic sources, the Tosefta (Ketubot 13:20) states "Silver
mentioned in the Pentateuch is always Tyrian silver: What is Tyrian silver?
It is Jerusalemite." Many have interpreted this to mean that only Tyrian
shekels could be used to pay the half shekel head-tax at the Jerusalem
temple.

The shekel that was found in the excavation weighs 13 grams, bears the head
of Melqart, the chief deity of the city of Tyre on the obverse (equivalent
to the Semitic god Baal) and an eagle upon a ship's prow on the reverse. The
coin was struck in the year 22 CE.

Despite the importance of the half-shekel head-tax for the economy of
Jerusalem in the Second Temple period, only seven other Tyrian shekels and
half shekels were heretofore found in the excavations in Jerusalem.