WALTER JACOB

Small groups have followed more ascetic paths, usually influenced by the surrounding cultures. They have been duly recorded but never made normative. Furthermore, they did so as a matter of personal choice. We know of the Nazarites of Biblical times, among others.” The Essenes and the Qumran sect in the first century isolated themselves, did not marry, and led a very simple life far removed from most of the pleasures of the remainder of the community.* In the Middle Ages, the Hassidim of Germany were ascetic and engaged in the same kind of practices as some of the neighboring Christian communities. Various days were set aside for fasting as well as for abstinence from sexual relations; among some, a simple life of poverty was advocated. Those patterns occurred at various other times in Jewish history as well, mainly connected with mysticism and the yearning for a union with God or a deeper understanding of the essence of the commandments. The renunciation of much that was this worldly was a way of gaining quality of life in"the other" world of the totally spiritual.

It is interesting to note that although these paths existed and gained some followers in virtually every generation, they have only occasionally attracted the masses, as for example immediately after the destruction of the Temple in 70 C.E. and following the Crusades in the eleventh century.” Generally the normative halakhah has added such practices as footnotes or as the path of the very pious, not recommended for the ordinary individual. A good, religious, and happy life which sought God , observed the mitzvot, cared for the welfare of everyone in the community, and assured a reasonable standard of living, was the goal continually emphasized.

Charitable efforts, therefore, were not aimed solely at alleviating utter poverty and total depravation but also at elevating people’s status. The primary effort was to provide employment so that the poor could lift themselves out of poverty and did not lose their dignity and hope for the future. Under some circumstances, loans were encouraged in place of outright gifts. Everyone in each community was charged with these

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