[Avodah] half shekel

[Richard Wolpoe]

On Thu, Mar 20, 2008 at 6:51 AM, Eli Turkel <eliturkel at gmail.com> wrote:

>
>
> Now the Rabbanim in the year 19/18 BCE had a serious problem. On the
> one hand, the giving of the Holy Half-Shekel is a Torah Commandment.
> The problem arises with the motif of the Tyrian Shekel. On the obverse
> appears the image of Melkhart, known to us as Hercules, the god of the
> Phoenicians. On the reverse, appears an eagle on the bow of a ship
> with the legend: "Tyre the Holy and City of Refuge", and the date of
> issue.
> Reverse side of the the Tyrian shekel from the Second Temple period.
> The Half shekel coin had the same motif The obverse and reverse of the
> Tyrian half shekel from the time of the Second Temple in Jerusalem,
> used for the mitva of the Holy Half-shekel
>
> Both images, a foreign god (or any likeness of man) and an eagle, are
> Torah prohibitions. And yet the Rabbanim decided that the importance
> of the giving of the Holy Half-Shekel superceded the violations
> incurred in using the Tyrian motif. ...
>
> --
> Eli Turkel
>

I'm still stumped how Hazal permitted Tammuz [the name of a Babylonian
deity] as the name of a Jweish month.  After all "Sheim elohim Achaeirim lo
sazkiru".  How  did Tammuz get in the mix?   couldn't they at least change
it a bit [e.g. Gammuz  etc.]

-- 
Kol Tuv / Best Regards,
RabbiRichWolpoe at Gmail.com
see: http://nishmablog.blogspot.com/
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