Against Poverty- From the Torah to Secular Judaism 7
considerable talmudic discussion about how such funds were to be used.
In the biblical period, the tithe remained a solid way of helping the poor and was one of the primary methods of dealing with this problem. Later, as we shall see, it was replaced as an effective tool by more assertive methods.
More realistic, successful, and less ambitious was the practical legislation that left the corner of the field and the gleanings for the poor and the stranger(Lev. 19:9-10; 23:22; Deut. 24:19-21; amplified in Jud. 8.2; Is. 17:5-6; 24:13; Jer. 49:9; Mic. 7:1; Ruth 2:3, where we also see that this demand was followed). This simple system alleviated poverty and was psychologically effective because it was not a dole; the crops had to be harvested by the poor and the stranger. Furthermore, these statements were an entitlement backed by the demand that each farmer take the appropriate action and were therefore far reaching. The system seems to have been effective in a simple agricultural setting and solved the problem for the rural villagers. It depended, of course upon the vagaries of the weather and the problems of grain storage. Hunger was endemic in the ancient world, and everyone lived close to poverty.’
The success of this system along with the need to deal with numerous details can be seen in the legislation of the later Mishnah and the two Talmuds . Much of what has been spelled out there must already have existed as law or custom earlier, as the simple biblical statements provide few definitions.