ABSTRACT
Rabbinic Judaism and early Christianity diverge in their attitudes toward the poor. Poverty was from the start part of the fabric of Christianity. Jesus, a poor man, penniless, with 'nowhere to lay his head', starts his ministry in a Nazareth synagogue reading from the section of the book of Isaiah which describes the hope of return of the Babylonian exiles after the destruction of the kingdom of Judah and the conquest of Babylonia by the Persians. Jesus' views on poverty as the gateway to holiness are similar to those of the 1st-century bce ascetic Jewish sect, the Essenes: 'Like the Essenes, Jesus regarded all possessions as a threat to true piety and held poverty, humility, purity of heart, and simplicity to be the essential religious virtues'. The hungry are consoled that spiritual food is best. By responding to the needs of the poor, the rich unlock the gates of salvation.
