Schnorrer

Schnorrers begged for themselves, for the dowries of poor brides (Yiddish: הכנסת-כלה, romanized: hakhnóses-kale), or for the restoration of a house that had burned down.

[3] Milton Hindus, commenting on the picaresque novel The King of Schnorrers, wrote that the Jews did not regard outcasts as failures, and assumed social responsibility for them.

"Properly exploited by a fertile intelligence like Menasseh’s, this attitude enables the ostensible mendicant to become the actual master in the eleemosynary relationship.

The truth that lies behind is that the Schnorrer, who in his thoughts treats the rich man’s money as his own, has actually, according to the sacred ordinances of the Jews, almost a right to make this confusion.

This joke employs the technique of absurdity since it makes the Schnorrer assert that the Baron gives him nothing at the very moment at which he is preparing to beg him for a gift.