)
A cautious estimate would be that gifts for the poor constituted between three and four percent of the harvest (and a little more of the grape harvest). In the past, when agricultural produce made up over 90 percent of the economy, these gifts could have supported, if minimally, the five percent or so of the population who were so poor as to be short of food. Nowadays, thanks to the tremendous decrease in food prices and the increase in the standard of living, agricultural produce is only about one percent of Israel’s total GDP. It is no longer worth it for the poor to gather the five gifts, and consequently the field owners may harvest all their produce. Nevertheless, we can derive principles from these mitzvot which can shed light on appropriate ways to help the poor nowadays as well.
