Ki Tisa: Shekels

In this week's Torah portion, Ki Tisa, God commands the Israelites to give 1/2 shekel for the service of the tabernacle. Incidentally, this is the first mention of a 1/2 shekel in the Bible.

Exodus 30 - 13 This they shall give, every one that passeth among them that are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary--the shekel is twenty gerahs--half a shekel for an offering to the LORD. 14 Every one that passeth among them that are numbered, from twenty years old and upward, shall give the offering of the LORD. 15 The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less, than the half shekel, when they give the offering of the LORD, to make atonement for your souls. 16 And thou shalt take the atonement money from the children of Israel, and shalt appoint it for the service of the tent of meeting, that it may be a memorial for the children of Israel before the LORD, to make atonement for your souls'" (JPS).

Today(2/21/2008) 1 Israeli shekel = 0.27777 U.S. dollars : Exchange rate for the Israeli shekel

The shekel was the predominant silver coin, weighing about 1/5 of an ounce of silver. But there were also gold, brass, and iron shekels. A shekel was the standard form of currency, like the American dollar or the Japanese yen.

The first mention of shekels in the Bible is in Genesis 20 where Sarah earned Abraham quite a take:

Genesis 20:16
To Sarah he said, "I am giving your brother a thousand shekels of silver. This is to cover the offense against you before all who are with you; you are completely vindicated."
Genesis 20:15-17 (in Context) Genesis 20 (Whole Chapter)

But in this Torah portion, God asked for 1/2 shekel--no more, no less. So today, Americans would give 50 cents. Or I guess 13.9 cents if we base it on the current shekel value.

Timeline of the shekel

Half-Shekel introduced by Moses		1289 B.C.E.
Reintroduced by King Yoash		800 B.C.E.
Halted by Nebuchanezer		586 B.C.E.
Reintroduced by Nehemiah		445 B.C.E.
Halted by Titus		70 C.E.
Banned by Hadrian		135 C.E.
Reintroduced after 1,863 years		1998 C.E.

Israeli Shekel to Become Globally Convertible, February 14, 2008

shekel background--above taken from Begedivri.com

shekels in wikipedia