Talmud su Ester 3:9

To what does the foregoing apply? To fasting in private, but it is forbidden to proclaim a public fast until Nisan has passed.
On the first day of Adar a public proclamation is made regarding the shekels.¹⁴Every adult had the obligation to give one half-shekel as a contribution to the Temple. Why on the first of Adar? Because it was foreseen, revealed and known before Him Who spoke and the world came into being that Haman would in time to come weigh [shekels] against Israel.¹⁵Cf. Esth. 3, 9. He, therefore, forestalled him and instructed Moses that the shekels of Israel should precede Haman’s. It is required that Israel shall give their shekels before [43b] the Sabbath of Remember;¹⁶The Sabbath before Purim when the mafṭir reads the passage beginning Remember (Deut. 25, 17-19). and it is forbidden to say of them¹⁷The half-shekels. that they are ‘for a ransom’ [but must be given] for a freewill-offering. From the proceeds water and food should be supplied for their poor brethren on account of a sacrifice¹⁸Reading ḳorban with GRA. V has ‘on account of complaints’ (ḳoblin). [M has ḳislin which Krauss, Lehnwörter, p. 531, renders ‘feast’.] and gifts to the poor.¹⁹Cf. Esth. 9, 22. Some supply bread and wine, others supply bread and fish; in any event not less than two gifts²⁰Since Esth. loc. cit. speaks of gifts, in the plural, which indicates not less than two. should be given, although they consist only of wheat and beans.