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Chapter 2 - Poverty
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From Poverty by James Platt
Page 21
productions of earth and trees were free to every
one, rich and poor alike. Another boon conferred upon the poor by
the Sabbatical year was the cancelling of debts. According to The
Mosaic Law, money - lending, as a profitable business, was
rendered an impossibility. The law enjoins the lending of money
to those who are in need as an act of benevolence, and the Rabbi's
declare, ' Greater is he who lends than he who gives alms.' It was,
however, found in the course of time that the law
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of cancelling debts exercised a paralyzing
influence on commercial transactions, and a remedy was introduced
by Hibel. 'From very early times regular organizations for the
relief of the poor existed in Jewish communities. They appointed
well-known and trusty men who were charged with the collection
and distribution of charitable gifts. There was a daily collection
of eatables, and there was a weekly collection of money. The contributions
were not always voluntary, but in many communities the members
were assessed, and the payment of poor-rates was then enforced.
The obligation of maintaining the needy extended to the non -
Israelite poor [Gittin, 61, a.).
"It was one of the most essential conditions insisted on
in - alms - giving that it should not he done in public. The leading
idea in the Rabbinical injunctions is a tender regard for the
feelings of the recipient, as it is considered sinful to put a
man to shame in public. The most delicate consideration was exhibited
in the ease of men who had been in good circumstances, but had
become reduced. In the Temple at Jerusalem there was a-room set
apart, called the "Chamber of the Silent," where pious
persons deposited money for charitable purposes, and where descendants
of good families, who had become reduced in circumstances, secretly
obtained relief (Shekalim, v, 6]. - Jewish World, April 13, 1883.
The last-named practice is one worthy of adoption in our day.
We hear much of the misery and privation of the poor, the poorest;
but the greatest sufferers are those who have seen better days,
and whose self-respect makes them hide
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© Peter Smith 2008
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