Philanthropic institutions were not invented in the nineteenth century but were already known in antiquity. Most ancient people displayed sentiments of love or pity for the unfortunate and expressed those feelings in organized ways, though different cultures followed various methods. Invariably, these concerns for others were at first on a person-to-person basis, but in time voluntary organizations arose to provide such services. At a still later date, community agencies began to supplement or replace these voluntary efforts. The chronology of this evolution usually remained imprecise, even elusive, but such a process did occur almost everywhere. The development of services for poor travelers permits a test of the general hypothesis that philanthropic institutions evolved from individual concern, that the initiation of voluntary organizations followed, and that an acceptance of communal responsibility for the welfare of various dependent groups came still later. The evolution of services for migrants and other poor travelers in Judea is traced during a thousand-year period from circa 800 B.C.E. to 200 C.E.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Ben-Zvi, Izhak.(1933). Kotevet aramit m'tkfufat ha-talmud b'ramat naftali (An Aramaic inscription from the Talmudic period in Ramat Naftali). Zion, 5,89–93.
2.
Bolkestein, Hendrik.(1939). Wohltatigkeit und Armenpflege im vorchristlichen Altertum (Philanthropy and charity organization in pre-Christian antiquity). Utrecht: Osthoek.
3.
Constantelos, Demetrios J.(1991). Byzantine philanthropy and social welfare. (Rev.ed.) New Rochelle, NY: Caratzas.
4.
Danby, H. (Ed. and Trans.). (1933). The Mishnah. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
5.
DeGeus C. H. J. (1982). Review of Johan Maier, Jesus von Nazareth in der talmudischen Uberlieferung (Jesus of Nazareth in the Talmudic literature). Journal of Economic and Social History of the Orient, 25,380–382.
Fensham, F. Charles.(1962). Widow, orphan, and the poor in ancient Near Eastern legal and wisdom literature. Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 21,129–139.
8.
FitzGerald, Gerald M.(1921). The Theodotus inscription. Palestine Exploration Fund Quarterly, 11,175–181.
9.
Gapp K. S. (1935). The universal famine under Claudius. Harvard Theological Review, 28,258–265.
10.
Garnsey, Peter.(1988). Famine and food supply in the Greco-Roman world. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
11.
Ginzberg, Louis.(1955). On Jewish law and lore. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America.
12.
Hamel, Gildas H.(1990). Poverty and charity in Roman Palestine, first three centuries. Berkeley: University of California Press.
13.
Hands, Arthur R.(1968). Charities and social aid in Greece and Rome. London: Camelot Press.
14.
Havice, Harriet K. (1978). The concern for the widow and the fatherless in the ancient Near East. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Yale University.
15.
Hengel, Martin.(1973). Judentum und Hellenismus: Studien zu ihrer Begegnung in Palestine bis zur Mitte des 2. Jahrhundert v. Chr. (Judaism and Hellenism: Studies on their interaction in Palestine until the middle of the second century a.d.). Tubingen: Mohr.
16.
Herzog, Jacob D. (Ed.). (1947). The Mishnah: Pe'ah. New York: Bloch.
17.
Ilan, Zvi.(1991). Ancient synagogues in Israel. Tel Aviv: Misrad Habitahon.
18.
Josephus, Flavius. (n.d.) The life and works of Elavius Josephus (William Whiston, Trans.). New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
19.
Julian the Apostate.(1959). The works of Emperor Julian (W. C. Wright, Trans.). 3 vols. London: William Heineman.
20.
Koenig J. (1985). New Testament hospitality: Partnership with strangers as promise and mission. Philadelphia: Fortress Press.
21.
Loewenberg, Frank M.(1992). Ideology or pragmatism: Further reflections on voluntary and public sector relations in the nineteenth century. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 21,119–133.
22.
Neusner, Jacob.(1982). Talmud of the Land of Israel. 34 vols. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
23.
Nussbaum, Daniel. (1978). Social justice and social policy in the Jewish tradition. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Brandeis University.
24.
Peyer, Hans C.(1987). Von der Gastfreundschaft zum Gasthaus (From home hospitality to commercial inns). Hannover: Hahnsche Buchhandlung.
25.
Pliny the Elder (Plinius Caius Secundus).(1958). Natural History (H. Rackham, Trans.). 10 vols. London: William Heinemann.
26.
Pritchard, James Bennet. (Ed.). (1955). Ancient Near-Eastern texts relating to the Old Testament. (2nd ed.) Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
27.
Rickett C. E. F. (1979). Charitable giving in English and Roman law: a comparison of methods. Cambridge Law Journal, 38(1),118–147.
28.
Rosenthal, Franz.(1950-51). Sedakah, Charily. College Annual, 23 (Pan 1), 411–430.
29.
Safrai, Zeev.(1981). Hatafkidim hak'hilati'im shel bet ha'knesset b'Eretz Yisrael bitkufat hamish-nah v'hatalmud (The community functions of the Palestinian synagogue during the period of the Mishnah and Talmud). In Zeev Safrai (Ed.), Bet ha-henesset bitkufat hamishna v'hatalmud (The synagogue during the period of the Mishnah and Talmud). Jerusalem: Merkaz Zalman Shazar.
30.
Seccombe, David.(1978). Was there organized charity in Jerusalem before the Christians?Journal of Theological Studies, 29, 140–143.
31.
Sperber, Daniel.(1991). Roman Palestine, 200–400: Crisis and change in agricultural society as reflected in rabbinic sources. Ramat-Gan: Bar-Han Press.
32.
Strack, Herman. L.(1945). Introduction to the Talmud and Midrash. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America.
33.
Tarn, William W.(1969). Hellenistic civilization. (3rd ed.) Cleveland: World.
34.
Tcherikover, Victor A.(1959). Hellenistic civilization and the Jews. Jerusalem: Magnes Press.
35.
Tcherikover, Victor A., and Fuks, Alexander. (Eds.). (1957). Corpus papyrorum Judaicarum. 3 vols. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
36.
Urbach, Efraim E.(1951). Megamot dati'ot v'hevrati'ot b'torat hatzedakah shel haza'l (Political and social tendencies in Talmudic concepts of charity). Zion, 17(3–4),1–27.
37.
Vaux, Roland de.(1961). Ancient Israel. Vol. 1: Social institutions. New York: McGraw-Hill.
38.
Vermes, Geza.(1987). The Dead Sea Scrolls in English. (3rd ed.) Baltimore, MD: Penguin Books.
39.
Waldow, H. Eberhard.(1970). Social responsibility and social structure in early Israel. Catholic Biblical Quarterly, 32,182–204.
40.
Widroof, Jerome S. (1987). Medieval Jenish social welfare institutions. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Wurzweiler School of Social Work, Yeshiva University.
