Against Poverty- From the Torah to Secular Judaism 5

THE JUBILEE YEAR

A much more idealistic and original way of dealing with the long-term effects of poverty was the Jubilee Year , a great social leveling mechanism (Lev. 25:10ff). After fifty years, all rural property was to be returned to its original owner and all those who sold themselves into bondage and their descendants were freed(Lev. 25.10). The urban property was excluded. This verse proclaims the famous words:“Proclaim liberty throughout the land, unto all the peoples thereof,” which we in the United States quote but forget the next section. The fundamental principle undergirding this concept is that the land was inalienable- it belonged to God . This is highly idealistic and was probably never observed. Yet the Book of Jubilees (200 B.C.E—~100 C.E.) attempted to recreate the history of the patriarchal period by reorganizing it in fifty-year periods. Jubilees was not included in the canon and remained forgotten until the nineteenth century, when one complete manuscript along with some fragments were discovered.

There were some discussions in the talmudic and midrashic literature, but of a purely theoretical nature. This fascinating absolute communism would have done little for the immediate plight of the poor, but would have solved the long-range social problem. It takes little imagination to understand the resistance to this notion and its rejection.

THE TITHE

Even if carried out, neither the Sabbatical Year nor the Jubilee legislation would have any immediate effect on poverty. It would have provided long-term hope, but would have done nothing to prevent immediate starvation. Several immediate remedies were legislated. The tithe was one of them. It was intended initially as a