Statement

A large share of the Jewish that community, in medieval Cairo as in other places, lived in deep poverty. In that age the government did not concern itself with welfare, though prominent court members made pious private endowments for the poor, and the community also tried to ease poverty. In the Mishneh Torah Maimonides ruled that the poor should be given what they lack (clothing, furnishings, help to marry); the highest form of charity was to give a fellow Jew an opportunity to earn his own living.

References

1. p. 179

   supports · main text · ch. 6

   Efron, Lehmann and Weitzman. The Jews: A History. 3rd edition. New York and Abingdon: Routledge, 2019.

   Verification anchor recorded · checked against the page text

2. p. 179

   supports · main text · ch. 6

   Efron, Lehmann and Weitzman. The Jews: A History. 3rd edition. New York and Abingdon: Routledge, 2019.

   Verification anchor recorded · checked against the page text