On the first of Adar they proclaim about [the payment of] the shekalim and about kilayim.  On the fifteenth of Adar they read the Megillah in the walled cities, they [commence] to repair the roads, the town squares, and the accumulations of wa-ter, they attend to all of the public needs, they mark the graves, and they also go out [to inspect the fields] for kilayim.

Said R’ Yehudah: At first they would uproot and throw [the kilayim] before them. When the number of transgressors in-creased, they would uproot and throw [the kilayim] upon the roads. [Finally,] they instituted that they declare the entire field ownerless.

On the fifteenth of Adar money changers would sit in the province. On the twenty-fifth they sat in the Temple. From the time they sat in the Temple, they would commence to seize collateral. From whom did they seize collateral? [From] Leviim and Yisraelim, proselytes and freed slaves, but not from women, slaves, nor minors; [however, in the case of] a minor whose fa-ther has commenced to contribute the half shekel on his behalf, [the father] should not cease to do so. For the sake of peace, they do not seize collateral from the Kohanim.

Said R’ Yehudah: Ben Buchri testified in Yavneh that any Kohen who contributes [the half shekel] has not sinned. Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai replied to Ben Buchri: It is not so! Rather, any Kohen who does not contribute [the half shekel] has sinned; but the Kohanim interpret the following verse for their own benefit: Every meal-offering of a Kohen shall be entirely burnt; it may not be eaten (Leviticus 6:16). [If] the Omer-offering, the Two Loaves, and the Panim Bread are ours, how may they be eaten?