required to present an audit(B.B.. 9a). Those who did not contribute were subject to fines, whipping, or the ban.
Other specifics were also included so the itinerant who could not store anything must be given a loaf of bread(defined by the value of a Roman coin), a place to sleep or funds to rent one, and three meals if he stayed over shabbat. Anyone who had enough for two meals could not qualify for tamhui distributed each evening(for the non-local poor); if he had enough for fourteen meals, he could not collect the next distribution of kupa, which took care of the local poor.(Peah 8:1). It was collected on a weekly, monthly, or twice annual basis. Those too proud to receive it could be forced, ina nice way, to take it. Everyone was obligated to give and should also give small amounts when a poor person appeared at the door."
The Mishnah tried to deal separately with the special circumstance of the fallen rich who had sunk to the level of poverty. They were not to be shamed. and some effort was made to sustain the m at their former level. This demonstrated concern for the psychology of the poor, a thought stressed in the Talmud Jerushalmi and in the later Code literature.
This Mishnah defined poverty as possessing less than 200 zuzim in money or property. The discussions indicated that the details of this eligibility test had been well worked out. If these funds were pledged to a creditor, for example, or represented a wife’s marriage contract, the man was eligible. The poor person was not compelled to sell his house or his clothing; if he received an expensive gift of pottery after he had been accepted as poor, he remained eligible. He was also not considered poor if he had 50 zuzim in working capital.(Peah 8:8 and 9). These sums dealt with a single individual, not a family unit. This legislation had no foundation of any kind in the biblical legal sections although buttressed by strong moral injunctions.