Wealth, Poverty, and Charity in Jewish AntiquityCharity is central to the Jewish tradition. In this formative study, Gregg E. Gardner takes on this concept to examine the beginnings of Jewish thought on care for the poor. Focusing on writings of the earliest rabbis from the third century c.e., Gardner shows how the ancient rabbis saw the problem of poverty primarily as questions related to wealth—how it is gained and lost, how it distinguishes rich from poor, and how to convince people to part with their wealth. Contributing to our understanding of the history of religions, Wealth, Poverty, and Charity in Jewish Antiquity demonstrates that a focus on wealth can provide us with a fuller understanding of charity in Jewish thought and the larger world from which Judaism and Christianity emerged. |
Contents
The Wealth of the Early Rabbis | 21 |
Harvest Allocations for the Poor | 38 |
Charity Laws | 58 |
Giving Mammon Wealth | 76 |
Pay for the Giver | 95 |
Charity as an Investment | 117 |
Poverty Relief and the Anxiety of Wealth | 140 |
Early Christian and Later | 161 |
Notes | 181 |
Bibliography | 243 |
| 269 | |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
alms almsgiving Amoraic Amoraim ancient attitudes towards wealth Avot Bava Metzi’a Ben Sira benefactor biblical Brill Cambridge University Press chapter Clement of Alexandria commandments concept context contrast denars Deuteronomy discussions divine early Christian Early Rabbinic Civil early rabbinic literature earthly economic Edited euergetism forgotten produce Gardner gemilut hasadim Gift give charity giver Greco-Roman Halberstam harvest allocations Hebrew Bible Hezser Horovitz and Rabin householder human Israel Jerusalem Jewish Jews Josephus justice Lapin late antique Leiden lemma mammon material Mechilta Mekilta metaphors Midrash Mishnah Mohr Siebeck motivations Munbaz NRSV one’s Organized Charity Origins of Organized passage Pe'ah perot poor individuals poverty relief Qiddushin Rabbinic Civil Law Rabbinic Judaism rabbinic movement recompense rewards rich righteous Roman Palestine sakhar Satlow saved treasures scholars Second Temple Sifra Sifre Sifre Deut social socioeconomic sources Talmud Tannaim Tannaitic literature Tannaitic texts Torah study Tosefta Translation tsedaqah understanding Wealth and Poverty well-off writes Yerushalmi