The Rambam and Korban Haeda explain that first they take three buckets of 9 Sain. 3 times during the year they take 3 smaller buckets of 3 Sain each, and take one small bucket from each of the large buckets. At one point I also remember seeing that Shekalim come in from distant points later, and in fact the last buckets was the richest having the Darkonos from outside of Israel. How does this work? The 3 large buckets are taken initially?!!! So whatever comes later just gets dumped on the floor? It never can end up in the large buckets, so it surely can't get in the small ones.
Simon Kahn, Jerusalem, Israel
The Gemara you refer to that states that the third bucket was the richest is on 9b. The Mishnas Eliyahu on 8b explains at length that there are two opinions as to how the Terumas ha'Lishkah was arranged. The basis of the Machlokes is if the Terumah is considered to have been taken from Shekalim that have not yet been given. Rebbi Meir held that the Terumah is considered to have been taken from Shekalim that have not yet been given and therefore all the Kupos could be filled at the beginning of the year and this would not mean that those who sent their Shekalim at a later date were excluded from the Terumah. According to this Shitah, there was not enough money on the first of Nissan to last for the whole year, since people would send their Shekalim on the first of Nissan, but those from far afield would take a long time to arrive, hence the need for three Terumos. The Gemara that says the third Trumah was the richest goes according to this opinion. However Rebbi Yossi held that the Terumah could not include those whose Shekalim were only sent after the Terumah was taken, and in order to be included in the Terumah everyone would need to ensure that his Shekalim arrived before the first of Nissan. According to this Shitah, the three times for Terumas ha'Lishkah were only to publicize the Terumah (see Gemara 2b).
Dov Freedman.
Now I am really confused - if according to Reb Yossi everyone has to get their Shekalim in by the first of Nissan, they should start the process off in Kislev!
Simon
True. Indeed the Mishnas Eliyahu states explicitly that this is necessary according to Rebbi Yossi, and explains the Gemara on 2b (top) as such.
Dov Freedman