{"id":98925,"date":"2022-11-20T04:33:52","date_gmt":"2022-11-20T02:33:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/?p=98925"},"modified":"2022-11-20T04:33:52","modified_gmt":"2022-11-20T02:33:52","slug":"charity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/charity\/","title":{"rendered":"Charity"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cCharity rescues from death\u201d <\/em><\/strong>(Mishlei <\/em>10:2)<\/p>\n

The Gemara expounds (Shabbat<\/em> 156b), \u201cThis does not refer to a strange death, but to death itself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ten difficult things were created in the world\u2026 and death is the most difficult of all. And charity rescues from death (Bava Batra<\/em> 10a).<\/p>\n

\u201cOne who pursues charity and kindness will find life, righteousness, and honor <\/em><\/strong>(Mishlei<\/em> 21:21)<\/p>\n

Metzudat David<\/em> says that one who pursues charity and kindness will receive life, righteousness, and honor from Hashem.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne who salts his money lacks it\u201d (Ketubot<\/em> 66b). Rashi expounds: One who wants to preserve his money should reduce it by giving it to charity. This deduction from his money ensures its endurance.<\/p>\n

Rabbi Chiya bar Abba said in the name of Rabbi Yochanan Rami: The pasuk says, \u201cWealth will not avail in the day of wrath, but charity will rescue from death.\u201d Another pasuk says, \u201cTreasures of wickedness will not avail, but charity rescues from death.\u201d Why is charity mentioned twice? One time refers to rescuing a person from a strange death, and the other time refers to rescuing a person from Gehinnom (Bava Batra<\/em> 10a).<\/p>\n

King Munbaz emptied his treasure-houses during the years of famine. His relatives gathered before him and accused him, \u201cYour fathers stored away huge sums of money, and here you go and waste it all!\u201d<\/p>\n

To which he replied, \u201cMy fathers stored their wealth down below, whereas I am storing them Above, as the verse states, \u2018Truth will sprout from the earth, and charity will peer from heaven.\u2019 My fathers stored their assets in a place where people can get to them, but I stored mine in a place inaccessible to human beings, as we are further told, \u2018Charity and justice are Your throne\u2019s foundation.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cMy fathers stored that which does not accrue interest, whereas I accrued that which produces interest, as the Navi<\/em> Yeshayahu says, \u2018Tell [each] righteous man that it is good, for they shall eat the fruit of their deeds.\u2019 My fathers stored treasures of money, whereas I stored treasures of souls, as it says, \u2018The fruit of a righteous one is a tree of life, and a wise man acquires souls.\u2019 My fathers stored for others after them, whereas I stored for myself, as we are told, \u2018For you it will be an act of righteousness.\u2019 My fathers stored for this world, while I stored for the World to Come, as we read, \u2018You righteous deed will precede you and the glory of Hashem will gather you in\u2019\u201d (Bava Batra<\/em> 11a).<\/p>\n

The Gemara (Bava Batra<\/em> 11a) relates an inspiring narrative: Binyamin HaTzaddik was the manager of the charity fund. During a drought, a woman tearfully approached him, asking for his financial support. He replied that the funds were dry. She said, \u201cMy master, if you do not provide for me, a woman and her seven children will perish.\u201d He gave her of his own money.<\/p>\n

Sometime later, he fell ill and was on the verge of death. The administering angels came before Hashem with a grievance, \u201cRibbono shel Olam<\/em>! You said that whoever sustains a Jewish soul is considered as sustaining an entire world. How can Binyamin HaTzaddik, who supported a woman and her seven children, die so shortly afterward?\u201d<\/p>\n

The decree of death was immediately rescinded, and twenty-two years were added to his life.<\/p>\n

Rabbeinu Bachya (Bereishit<\/em> 47) explains that charity means giving of one\u2019s own to those in need. There are various levels of charity. The lowest level is offering a coin to a gentile pauper. The next level is to give money to a Jew in a different city. A higher level is to give money to a poor person in one\u2019s own town. A greater level is giving to a poor relative. An even greater level is supporting one\u2019s children. And the highest form of tzedakah<\/em> is supporting one\u2019s parents, for this contains an element of honoring one\u2019s father and mother. There is no greater tzedakah<\/em> than this, and its reward is long life.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cCharity rescues from death\u201d (Mishlei 10:2) The Gemara expounds (Shabbat 156b), \u201cThis does not refer to a strange death, but to death itself.\u201d Ten difficult things were created in the world\u2026 and death is the most difficult of all. And charity rescues from death (Bava Batra 10a). \u201cOne who pursues charity and kindness will find […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":30862,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1096],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-charity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98925\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rdpinto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}