LEADER 04887nam 22008174a 450 001 9910808318303321 005 20200520144314.0 010 $a1-282-08783-5 010 $a9786612087837 010 $a1-4008-2678-0 024 7 $a10.1515/9781400826780 035 $a(CKB)1000000000773388 035 $a(EBL)445464 035 $a(OCoLC)496285699 035 $a(SSID)ssj0000341674 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)11264912 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000341674 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)10395467 035 $a(PQKB)10881282 035 $a(MdBmJHUP)muse36198 035 $a(DE-B1597)446507 035 $a(OCoLC)979744901 035 $a(DE-B1597)9781400826780 035 $a(Au-PeEL)EBL445464 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebr10284021 035 $a(CaONFJC)MIL208783 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC445464 035 $a(EXLCZ)991000000000773388 100 $a20041025d2005 uy 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aur|n|---||||| 181 $ctxt 182 $cc 183 $acr 200 10$aPoverty and charity in the Jewish community of medieval Egypt$b[electronic resource] /$fMark R. Cohen 205 $aCourse Book 210 $aPrinceton $cPrinceton University Press$dc2005 215 $a1 online resource (304 p.) 225 1 $aJews, Christians, and Muslims from the ancient to the modern world 300 $aComplemented by the author's collection of primary sources in translation, The voice of the poor in the Middle Ages: an anthology of documents from the Cairo Geniza, on which the research is based. 311 $a0-691-09272-9 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references (p. [253]-269) and indexes. 327 $t Frontmatter -- $tContents -- $tAcknowledgments -- $tNote -- $tIntroduction -- $tChapter 1. A Taxonomy of the Poor -- $tChapter 2. The Foreign Poor -- $tChapter 3. Captives, Refugees, and Proselytes -- $tChapter 4. Debt and the Poll Tax -- $tChapter 5. Women and Poverty -- $tChapter 6. "Naked and Starving," the Sick and Disabled -- $tChapter 7. Beggars or Petitioners? -- $tChapter 8. Charity -- $tChapter 9. Conclusion: Poverty and Charity, Continuity and Acculturation -- $tBibliography -- $tIndex of Geniza Texts -- $tGeneral Index 330 $aWhat was it like to be poor in the Middle Ages? In the past, the answer to this question came only from institutions and individuals who gave relief to the less fortunate. This book, by one of the top scholars in the field, is the first comprehensive book to study poverty in a premodern Jewish community--from the viewpoint of both the poor and those who provided for them. Mark Cohen mines the richest body of documents available on the matter: the papers of the Cairo Geniza. These documents, located in the Geniza, a hidden chamber for discarded papers situated in a medieval synagogue in Old Cairo, were preserved largely unharmed for more than nine centuries due to an ancient custom in Judaism that prohibited the destruction of pages of sacred writing. Based on these papers, the book provides abundant testimony about how one large and important medieval Jewish community dealt with the constant presence of poverty in its midst. Building on S. D. Goitein's Mediterranean Society and inspired also by research on poverty and charity in medieval and early modern Europe, it provides a clear window onto the daily lives of the poor. It also illuminates private charity, a subject that has long been elusive to the medieval historian. In addition, Cohen's work functions as a detailed case study of an important phenomenon in human history. Cohen concludes that the relatively narrow gap between the poor and rich, and the precariousness of wealth in general, combined to make charity "one of the major agglutinates of Jewish associational life" during the medieval period. 410 0$aJews, Christians, and Muslims from the ancient to the modern world. 606 $aJews$zEgypt$xCharities$xHistory 606 $aPoverty$xReligious aspects$xJudaism 606 $aJudaism$xCharities$xHistory 606 $aJews$zEgypt$xSocial conditions 606 $aPoor$zEgypt$xHistory 606 $aJudaism$xRelations$xIslam 606 $aIslam$xRelations$xJudaism 606 $aCairo Genizah 615 0$aJews$xCharities$xHistory. 615 0$aPoverty$xReligious aspects$xJudaism. 615 0$aJudaism$xCharities$xHistory. 615 0$aJews$xSocial conditions. 615 0$aPoor$xHistory. 615 0$aJudaism$xRelations$xIslam. 615 0$aIslam$xRelations$xJudaism. 615 0$aCairo Genizah. 676 $a362.5/089/924062 686 $a15.75$2bcl 700 $aCohen$b Mark R.$f1943-$0193309 801 0$bMiAaPQ 801 1$bMiAaPQ 801 2$bMiAaPQ 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910808318303321 996 $aPoverty and charity in the Jewish community of medieval Egypt$94044553 997 $aUNINA