DEUT696 The tzedaka priorities listed above, such as donating to the poor of our city or those of another city, do not specify the religion of those in need, but Jewish law legislates that charity is to be dispensed both to Jews and non-Jews. Thus, the biblical verses that speak of helping the needy specify "the stranger [that is, the non-Israelite], the fatherless and the widow" (this verse; and also see Deuteronomy 26:12). In line with this, the Talmud ruled that "We provide financial support to the Gentile poor along with the Jewish poor…) (Gittin 61a) [Maimonides (twelfth-century) ruled that it is forbidden to turn away a beggar, Jewish or Gentile, empty-handed ("Laws of Gifts to the Poor" 7:7).] This ruling was issued a time when the non-Jews among whom the Jews lived were usually idolaters with values antithetical and often hostile to Judaism. That Jews were instructed to help needy idolaters underscores the even greater applicability of this ruling in contemporary times, when non-Jews and Jews in societies such as the United States generally live together harmoniously.