The Origins of Organized Charity in Rabbinic Judaism by Gregg Gardner focuses on the intersection of several fields of study—early rabbinic law, the sociology of power, and late antique history. Gardner’s central arguments—that organized charity in Judaism began after the destruction of the Second Temple and that, unlike later rabbis, the tannaim created charitable organizations in order to maintain the dignity of the poor—are the product of extensive study and the innovative use of sociological and economic theory.

Following Peter Brown’s book on Poverty and Leadership in the Later Roman Empire, more scholars have begun to explore the issues of poverty and charitable giving in the Classical and post-Classical world. While many of these works have focused on poverty and charity in pagan or Christian settings, Gardner is among a small number of scholars looking at the issue in early rabbinic Judaism. The Origins of Organized Charity in Rabbinic Judaism represents a welcome addition and correction to the field.

Early in the book, Gardner recognizes that the most widespread form of charity in antiquity must have been direct charity—that is, charity given by one individual directly to another individual. Gardner argues that rabbinic discomfort with the social diminution of receivers of direct charity (beggars) led the rabbis to create organized forms of charity that did not directly indebt any particular poor person to any particular donor. Anonymous donors gave to communal institutions, and the poor were provided for from communal resources, thus insuring the “dignity of the poor.” Unlike later periods, the charity of the tannaim was not aimed at supporting synagogues or rabbis but rather just the poor. The focus on tannaitic evidence is a particular strength of the book since it speaks to activities in the late second and early third centuries CE, a period that has not received as much attention from scholars focusing on Christian and pagan charity.

Throughout the book, Gardner carefully explores the language of giving in order to distinguish between charity, on the one hand, and euergetism, religious patronage, and hospitality, on the other. Gardner frames early rabbinic practices within the context of Roman social norms, noting both their conformation to those norms and their divergences.