[Avodah] Sheqel Kesef

[Micha Berger]

On Wed, Sep 21, 2022 at 10:56:04PM +0300, Danny Schoemann wrote:
> If coins didn't exist when the Torah was given, and for many centuries
> thereafter, how do we explain the Halocho of Chilul Maaser Sheini?

> It needs a coin for Chilul. Even an Asimon (a blank coin) doesn't qualify.

At the time I wondered if the need for a coin was a din deOraisa, just
because the basic mitzvah is. Like having a specific text fo bentching.
(And there is a dad joke in there, because a specific text is also called
a matbeia.)

On the other hand, I thougt it was more likely that the medrash about
Hashem needing to show Moshe a machatzis hasheqel makes the most sense
if coins weren't a thing yet, that even a prince of Egypt and king of
Kush would be familiar with the idea. And that perhaps even coinage
started with our minting them for machatzis hasheqel.

(And then I got lost in the question of "what is money?" Where in the spectrum
from barter goods to money does kesef=silver differ from kesef=money? But
to get back to why I am reopening the discussion...

There is news on that front. This came in on my JNS feed this morning
https://www.jns.org/israeli-researchers-uncover-earliest-silver-used-as-currency-in-levant/
Full text attached below.

Apparently when these pieces of silver were made, over 3,600 years ago --
or in the Seder Olam's timeline, around contemary with Avraham avinu -
coins weren't a thing yet, but precut silver sheqalim were.

Which fits my guess that Avraham paying with sheqalim that were "over
lasocher" refers to pieces of unstamped silver needing to be tested for
purity and weighed -- unless they were obviously beyond the minima and
acceptable to anyone.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 Rescue me from the desire to win every
http://www.aishdas.org/asp   argument and to always be right.
Author: Widen Your Tent                 - Rav Nassan of Breslav
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF                 Likutei Tefilos 94:964


[Title and subtitle]
Israeli researchers uncover earliest silver used as currency in Levant
The hoards date back more than 3,600 years -- to the Middle Bronze
Age -- or about 500 years before prior estimates.

[Image and caption omitted]

(January 8, 2023 / JNS) Israeli archaeologists announced on Sunday the
discovery of the earliest evidence of silver used as currency in the
Levant, an area including present-day Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria
and most of Turkey.

It is believed the silver relics, known hacksilber, a German term
indicating they were cut to specific weights, originated in ancient
Anatolia.

The silver hoards were unearthed during excavations in Israel's Shiloh,
Megiddo and Gezer, as well as Tel el-`Ajjul in the Gaza Strip, and date
back more than 3,600 years -- to the Middle Bronze Age -- or about 500
years before prior estimates, according to researchers from the University
of Haifa and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

To identify their source, an isotopic test was performed and the results
compared to the composition of ores of known origin, as well as to other
silver objects.

That the pieces of silver were unpolished -- suggesting that they were
not used as jewelry or ornamental objects -- and generally found together
wrapped in cloth and kept in pottery, indicates they were used as a form
of payment.

The discovery shows that cities across the Middle East engaged in more
extensive trade than previously thought, paying for large purchases such
as for land with silver.

One shekel is believed to have been equal to approximately 16 grams
of silver.

The findings were published in the Journal of Archaeological Science.
Jewish News Syndicate