A person never loses from giving tzedakah or helping others. On the contrary, one who does chesed receives many benefits for himself. Rav Shlomo of Zhvil zy”a would say, “With every step one takes for another Jew, he saves 500 steps for himself.”
This point is illustrated with the following story:
There once was a Jewish tailor who lived in the city of Lemberg. This man made his living by sewing garments for the wealthy non-Jewish landowners and ministers. After spending a lot of time with them, he started to become lax in his observance of Torah and mitzvos. It was rumored that he did many terrible aveiros, and people began to stay away from him so as not to become influenced by his sinful ways.
The tailor made a good living from his work. He lived in a nice home and put away a decent amount of money for his old age. His one source of sadness was the fact that he and his wife had no children. They had been married for many years and had already despaired of ever having any offspring.
One day, he was walking home from work when he came across a poor Jewish man dressed in rags. The man had collapsed due to the freezing cold and his weakened state, and his body was frozen solid. The tailor realized that the man was near death and he felt sorry for him. He took off his fancy, warm overcoat and draped it over the poor man. He then carried him to the nearby bathhouse and warmed him by immersing him in hot water. Once the man was revived, the tailor gave him his warm clothing to wear and he put on the pauper’s rags. The poor man thanked him from the bottom of his heart for saving his life and gave him a bracha for much goodness.
The two men then parted ways. The poor man went on his way while the tailor hurried home. It was a long walk to his house and he was dressed in thin rags. He was freezing and he began to run to get home quickly. Just then, the shuls in town had finished Maariv and many men were in the streets as they walked home. They were stunned to see the wealthy tailor running through the streets in ragged clothing, with his teeth chattering from the cold. Since he wasn’t used to such uncomfortable clothing, he kept tripping and falling in the mud. Since the Jews of the city didn’t like this man in any case, they began to laugh at him. They all thought that he had lost his mind.
The tailor finally got home. He was cold, embarrassed, dirty, and degraded. He began to feel sick and he fell down on his bed. In his heart, however, he was at peace. He was proud of himself for having saved a life and he knew it was worth all of the shame, discomfort and humiliation he experienced.
The tailor’s act of self-sacrifice created a major upheaval in the Upper Realms. The poor man he saved was a big talmid chochom and hidden tzadik, and his brachos were taken very seriously. The good angels argued that the blessings must be fulfilled, and he should be granted a son who would grow to be a big talmid chochom. The prosecuting angels disagreed and said that although he deserved some reward, it was unthinkable that a man like him should be granted a tzadik for a son.
A decision was reached to give the tailor a son who would become a talmid chochom. However, he would first have to be cleansed from all of his sins so that his son would be born from a good and pure man. Therefore, it was decreed that he would have a long illness so that his body could be purified and made clean of sin.
The next morning, the tailor was unable to get out of bed. He had a very high fever and all of his bones hurt. He was no longer able to go to work for the landowners. He was sick in bed for a few years and, during that time, he did full teshuva. He spent his days saying Tehillim with a broken heart. Finally, he began to feel better and ultimately recovered completely. He now was a changed man.
He still had a considerable amount of savings and he dedicated the rest of his life to serving Hashem and helping others. At this time, his gave birth to a son. The boy grew and was clearly very smart. His father sent him to the best melamdim and he excelled in his studies. Over time, he became a great scholar and a tzadik, and he became a close student of the Magid of Mezheritch zy”a.
