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Bestseller
BestsellerE-book
Author Gardner, Gregg, 1976- author.

Title The origins of organized charity in rabbinic Judaism / Gregg E. Gardner.

Publication Info. New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2015.

Item Status

Description 1 online resource (xvi, 235 pages)
Physical Medium polychrome
Description text file
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references (pages 193-218) and indexes.
Contents 1. Introduction -- 2. The poor and poverty in Roman Palestine -- 3. From vessels to institutions -- 4. Tamhui, the soup kitchen -- 5. Quppa, the charity fund -- 6. Charity with dignity -- 7. The charity supervisor -- 8. Conclusion: after the Tannaim.
Summary This book examines the origins of communal and institutional almsgiving in rabbinic Judaism. It undertakes a close reading of foundational rabbinic texts (Mishnah, Tosefta, Tannaitic Midrashim) and places their discourses on organized giving in their second to third century CE contexts. Gregg E. Gardner finds that Tannaim promoted giving through the soup kitchen (tamhui) and charity fund (quppa), which enabled anonymous and collective support for the poor. This protected the dignity of the poor and provided an alternative to begging, which benefited the community as a whole - poor and non-poor alike. By contrast, later Jewish and Christian writings (from the fourth to fifth centuries) would see organized charity as a means to promote their own religious authority. This book contributes to the study of Jews and Judaism, history of religions, biblical studies, and ethics.
Local Note eBooks on EBSCOhost EBSCO eBook Subscription Academic Collection - North America
Subject Charity laws and legislation (Jewish law)
Charity laws and legislation (Jewish law)
Jews -- Charities.
Jews -- Charities.
Genre/Form Electronic books.
Other Form: Print version: 9781107095434
ISBN 9781316155110 (electronic book)
1316155110 (electronic book)
9781316320525 (electronic book)
1316320529 (electronic book)
9781107095434 (hardback)
9781107479289 (paperback)