ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at several themes that may help illuminate the evolutionary process. It examines the change in poor relief from individual to communal responsibility. The Bible viewed the extended family as the basic unit of social support. In ancient Judaism support of the poor was the responsibility of the individual and of the extended family. Eventually communal responsibility for the support of the poor did evolve, and communal philanthropic institutions for their support did emerge. These institutions evolved in response to far-reaching basic changes in Judean society and in the economy of the country. Evolution, Supplementation, and Abandonment played a role in the gradual emergence of communal poor-support institutions in Judea. The chapter focuses on developments in Judea during the time of the Bible and the Talmud, though occasionally it introduces material that deals with these relationships in other parts of the Roman Empire in order to better understand what occurred in the Roman province of Judea.
