‘state within a state’ as was the case for almost two thousand years, it would certainly have followed the model which worked so well with the problem of poverty.
For us as part of the larger community and committed to it, the changing Jewish efforts through the centuries provide a good test of how to reach goals which are necessary, but sometimes appear impossible. Individual efforts cannot provide solutions for some problems, but the community together may succeed.
Notes
1. Such requirements represented an ideal that no state easily tolerated, as we see in the case of King Asa(I K. 15:22), who permitted no exemptions; something probably done by other Jewish rulers as well. This historical record, however, indicated that the biblical injunction was widely known and had to be taken seriously, even if not followed.
2. The question of priority, that is which life shall be saved, naturally arose and was put vividly through an anecdote of a stitutation in which it was not possible to save two lives. This well- known talmudic tale described the dilemma faced by two traveling merchants lost in the desert with sufficient water for the survival of only one. In the discussion one of the scholars, Ben Petura, stated that they should share the water and face common death. R. Akivah, however, rejected that conclusion and stated that each party was obligated to struggle to survive(B.M. 62a). Although no decision was reached in this discussion, it became clear that one death was preferable to two.
3. The tractate, Peah, which was concerned with the problem of poverty began with ethical encouragement, then continued in a practical vein with specifics. The farmer was liable for at least 1/60 of his crop, although there was no limit and all depended on the size of the field, the number of the poor, and his generosity(Peah 1.2).“Everything which is food, stored, and grows from the ground(excluding mushrooms, for example) and gathered at the same time(so that figs and olives which were harvested at various times were excluded), and placed into storage (greens are exempt) and grains as well as pulse(beans and peas) were subject to these laws”(Peah 1:4). The law included trees and enumerated“carob, nuts, almonds, vines, pomegranates, olives, date palms”(Peah 1:5). What could be