Inflation hits everything. Not just the price of tomatoes, or the price of toilet paper, housing, gas and the like. Everything.
Srugim points out, interestingly enough, that due to the increase in the value of silver, the Sephardim who donate the actual value of 3 silver half shekel coins "zecher (or zeicher) l'machatzit hashekel" on or before Purim. While us Ashkenazim get off easy, as we only give a symbolic 3 current half shekels, Sephardim give the actual value based on he price of silver.
Just like 5 or 6 years go the value of the pruta was worth 4 or 5 agurot and has since risen to a value of about 10 agurot, the value of the machatzit hashekel has also risen. According to low calculations, the price is just under 30 NIS for the symbolic mitzva, and according to more stringent calculations the price a Sephardi would need to pay is about 40 NIS. 5 years ago the cost to a Sephardi paying full value was in the range of 18 NIS.
While it looks like the machatzit hashekel is discriminatory (joke), "discrimination" is not the right word when it is self-imposed. It is interesting that even a symbolic custom will be affected in this way by the economy.
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I talked about this last year.
ReplyDeletehow miuch is Machatzit Hashekel in israel?
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