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Chapter 2 - Poverty
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From Poverty by James Platt
Page 20
is by honest and thrifty toil men must live; and if poverty is a
clog, it is also a spur. To the right-minded man it is as a goad
that is incessantly piercing him, and thus impelling him onward.
The struggle may be hailed, it is hard, but is intended to develop
within us a steady, dogged persistence. The climbing up a steep
hill is not easy, but is possible, and the labour is lightened to
those who go through it earnestly, doing their daily work from a
sense of duty, and having faith in God, humanity, and themselves.
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Poverty is not a modern disease -
the product of civilization, caused by its antithesis, wealth
- as some writers would have us believe. At a meeting of the Society
of Biblical Archaeology, April 3rd, 1883, Dr. Louis read a very
interesting paper on "The Poor Laws of the Ancient Jews,"
which he elucidated by means of Bible, Mischna, and Talmud. The
term "poor," from a legal point of view, was the state
of poverty to which a man must have sunk to he entitled to the
provision made for paupers. The Poor Laws, referring to the produce
of the land, were based upon Leviticus xix. 9 and 10; not a field
was to be harvested, nor the fruit of a tree to he gathered, without
leaving a portion of it for the poor. The minimum quantity to
be so left is fixed in the Mischna at the sixtieth part: and the
law applies to all kinds of cereals and of pulse to the produce
of the vineyard, the olive plantation, and nearly all other fruit
trees. Besides the so-called "corners," the poor were
entitled to the gleanings, and to any portion inadvertently left
behind in the field. The non-Israelite poor were admitted, equally
with the Israelites, to participate in these gifts. This law is
laid down by Maimonides (" Gifts for the Poor ").
"An important provision, too, was the tithe for the poor,
which was levied as a second tithe every third year, or, more
accurately, in the third and sixth year in each cycle of seven
years. It amounted to about 9 per cent. of the who1e produce of
the land, and in its distribution some liberty of action was conceded
to the proprietor. During the seventh or Sabbatical year, when
there was to be no sowing or reaping, the spontaneous
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© Peter Smith 2008
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