The obvious answer is yes, because of Medrashim that refer to various coinages in the time of the avos, and the halacha that Pidyon of Maaser sheini can only be done with minted coins, Kesef Tzura.
This is inconsistent with the archeological record, which indicates that the minting of coins only began at the earliest eight hundred years before the common era. No coins have been found that predate that time, not in China, not in Europe, not in the Middle East. Matan Torah was around 1300 BCE.
So I found it interesting to see this comment from Reb Yisrael Isserl of Ponevezh, who learned by Reb Chaim Volozhener as a young person. This is from his Sefer מנוחה וקדושה, which has contemporary haskamos from the Netziv, the Pischei Teshuva, and Reb Betzalel HaKohen. It also has a modern haskama from Rav Shmuel Auerbach. So it's kosher.
This is from the end of the sefer. In the 1964 print, it got left out of the end and was printed on the second page and is titled
-בבא מציעא (מז ע"ב): "רבי ישמעאל מאי היא – דתניא: (דברים יד) וצרת הכסף בידך – לרבות כל דבר הנצרר ביד, דברי רבי ישמעאל. רבי עקיבא אומר: לרבות כל דבר שיש עליו צורה".
-מעשר שני (פ"א מ"ב): "אין מחללין מעשר שני על אסימון ולא על המטבע שאינו יוצא ולא על המעות שאינן ברשותו".
-מאירי (ב"מ מז ע"ב): "מעשר שני אין מחללין אותו על אסימון אלא בכסף מפותח או בצורה או בכתב ואם פדה באסימון לא עשה כלום שנאמר: וצרת הכסף – כסף שיש עליו צורה. והאסימון הוא כסף שאינו טבוע לא בצורה ולא בכתב ונקרא בלשון תלמוד פולסא ואע"פ שבמסכת שבת פרק במה אשה אמרו אי משום צורתא ליבעי פולסא לא שתהא צורה בפולסא אלא פירוש הדברים ליבעי פולסא שיעשה בה צורה ויש מפרשים שיש בו צורה שוקעת כמו שביארנו במשנה".
So I found it interesting to see this comment from Reb Yisrael Isserl of Ponevezh, who learned by Reb Chaim Volozhener as a young person. This is from his Sefer מנוחה וקדושה, which has contemporary haskamos from the Netziv, the Pischei Teshuva, and Reb Betzalel HaKohen. It also has a modern haskama from Rav Shmuel Auerbach. So it's kosher.
This is from the end of the sefer. In the 1964 print, it got left out of the end and was printed on the second page and is titled
השמטות מחלק שני השייכים לסוף הספר
כא כספנו במשקלו (שם מ"ג כ"א) בימים ההם עדיין לא היו בעולם מטבעות. וכל מסחרם היה או בנסכא של כסף או בכלי כסף. ומזה ב' ראיות שזהו כספם. (א' כספנו) פי' אנו מכירים אותו בטביעות עין. ב' (במשקלו) שמשקלו שוה עם הכסף והאיש אשר על בית יוסף השיב להם. הכסף אשר הורדנו להם אני קבצתי התבואה מהרבה בע"ב ולאחד היה הכסף טמון בתבואתו וכבר נתיאשו הבעלים. ומזליכם גרם שבא המטמון הלז באמתחותיכם וזכיתם מן ^ ההפקר. מה תאמרו. אין השכל מסכים ששלש אלה יזדמנו יחד תמונה שוה, משקל שוה, עוד שלישיה שלא ירגישו בו המודדים, הלא ע"כ צריך לתלות בנס, כי אני יודע בודאי ובברור (כספכס בא אלי) והנחתים באוצרותי. בכן אין לתמוה אף שהנס למעלה מהשכל כי (אלהיכם ואלהי אביכם) הוא כל יכול לעשות בזכותכם וזכות אביכם (נתן לכם מטמון) השוה לכספכם והיה טמון באותה התבואה שנים הרבה ואח״ז בא (באמחחותיכם) ולא הרגישו המודדים.
I don't know how he deals with the evidence in Chazal to the contrary.
I had hana'ah from Reb Micha Berger's comment:
He is suggesting that this is why Moshe Rabbeinu had to be shown the "matbei'a shel eish." Until that point, the concept of a uniform currency simply did not exist, and Hashem showed Moshe Rabbeinu that currency means that you take a certain weight of metal and you shape it and stamp it with an image that is unusual but reproducible, such that seeing the coin ensures that it is official, meaning that it reliably contains a specific weight of a particular metal.
So it could very well be that davka then was the first time mankind was introduced to the concept of a minted, standardized, currency.
There are still statements in Chazal about earlier coinage, such as in BK 97b,
I had hana'ah from Reb Micha Berger's comment:
Or maybe coinage was invented in parashas Sheqalim, which is why HQBH needed to show Moshe what He meant visually.(Sheqalim 1:6, vilna 6a)
The mitzvah is simpler if Moshe could count half-coins, and not weigh random pieces of silver. But that doesn't mean that HQBH's revelation of the idea became commonplace for money.
Perhaps it wasn't until the idea of coinage or even of medallions kindled a lamp over some Lydian's head that the coin became a commonplace way of standardizing money.
He is suggesting that this is why Moshe Rabbeinu had to be shown the "matbei'a shel eish." Until that point, the concept of a uniform currency simply did not exist, and Hashem showed Moshe Rabbeinu that currency means that you take a certain weight of metal and you shape it and stamp it with an image that is unusual but reproducible, such that seeing the coin ensures that it is official, meaning that it reliably contains a specific weight of a particular metal.
So it could very well be that davka then was the first time mankind was introduced to the concept of a minted, standardized, currency.
There are still statements in Chazal about earlier coinage, such as in BK 97b,
ואיזהו מטבע של אברהם אבינו, זקן וזקינה מצד אחד ובחור ובתולה מצד אחר
But it's possible that this was a medallion, not currency. After all, it was not produced by a government.
2 comments:
I am glad you liked my theory.
When I wrote "medallion" I was thinking of the "matbeia shel Avraham" (BQ 97b). Since none of his neighbors had use for coinage, what was the point of Avraham having a coin? Although in the past I argued the name of the coin is because of who was on it, and says nothing about the era in which it was made.
Still, it could have been a medallion, stamped to be a commemorative, rather than for money. And still have been in Avraham's day.
Notice that Avraham buys Me'aras haMachpeilah with sheqalim that were "oveir lasokheir". This argues against a standard coinage being in existence in the area yet. Thus there were better sheqalim and less accepted ones.
Rabbi Yishma'el could be understood similarly to "oveir lasokheir" when he says that pidyon maaser sheini requires "kol davar hanitzrar beyad". But if Rabbi Aqiva held that the need for a stamped coin with a tzurah was deOraisa...
Maybe Rabbi Aqiva required that coin as religious item that I suggested was invented for machatzis hasheqel, rather than money. Or maybe R Aqiva just held that we need the most sure method possible to know the silver has value, and therefore derabbanan they required stamped coins now that such things exist. Which would maan that R Aqiva uses the pasuq as an asmachta.
Exactly, and I put that in to the post as well at the end.
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