Bidspirit auction | Silver-Plated Charity Box. Hungary, 19th

Silver-Plated Charity Box. Hungary, 19th Century - 'Tzeddakah Pushke' for collecting mobey for charity with a Hebrew engraving from the period with the Hebrew words 'Tomech Dalim'.  The Sages instituted that in every city with a Jewish community, charity collectors (Gabbai Tzeddakah) should be appointed to collect charity from the community members and keep it in a special box, from which the money collected would be distributed according to the regulations they set. This regulation received the satatus of a Halacha, and the Sages also stated that a Talmid Chacham may not reside in a city that does not have a charity fund. For many generations, charity boxes were only public, placed in synagogues and Batei Midrash, and the charity collectors would gather the money collected and keep it in the central charity box of the city. The Sages listed the virtues of giving charity, with the highest form of charity being dropping a coin into the charity box, where the giver does not know to whom they gave, thus fulfilling the commandment for its own sake, and the poor not knowing from whom they received, thus preventing shame for the poor. Hallmark on the bottom of the box. Apparently silver-plated.