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those who relied entirely on the community and on individual charity for
their livelihood. They included the elderly, the “weak,” and others unable
to provide for themselves.^18
Understandings of Poverty
In order to grasp the role of charity in the array of concerns preoccupying
Meknes’s leaders, one must understand whom they considered to be poor.
How did communal leaders view this sector of society and, by extension,
their responsibilities toward them?
Although explicit definitions of poverty in the taqanot of Meknes are
rare—generally the term poor ( ̔aniyim) is used without further specifica-
tion—other sources from the period give us an idea of how the Jewish
communal leaders of Meknes defined “the poor.” They most commonly
used the term poor to refer to members of the community who regularly
received communal charity. Among those who could expect charity on a
weekly basis (the evening preceding the Sabbath) were “widows, orphans,
and the extremely poor,” a category that undoubtedly included the elderly
and others unable to provide for themselves.^19 A separate distribution for
sages (or religious scholars) was called the haluqat ha-hakhamim.^20 Mi-
grant beggars traveling from city to city also merited the label “poor,”
and though they were only passing through, Meknes’s Jewish leaders were
responsible for them during their stay.^21
A note of clarification concerning the inclusion of “sages” is in order.
Bridging the distinction between the “middling sorts” and the absolute
poor were scholars, or men of religion, often included in the category of
“poor” by Jews as well as Muslims.^22 The ̔ulamā’ (Muslim scholars) were
considered poor because it was assumed that members of this group de-
voted their days to religious pursuits and therefore did not have time to
earn a living.^23 Social histories of charity in Islamic contexts reveal that
a significant portion of pious endowments were dedicated to the ̔ulamā’
throughout the Middle East.^24 Likewise, Jewish communities considered
it their duty to provide for their scholars.^25 This included donations to
scholars abroad, especially in Palestine, from whence messengers arrived
on a regular basis seeking contributions to be distributed in the four holy
cities (Jerusalem, Hebron, Safed, and Tiberias). But neither among Jews
nor Muslims did the association of religious scholars with the “poor”
mean that these recipients of charity were necessarily indigent. In fact,