One Who Has Emunah Will Not Lose Out:
The Zohar Hakadosh (110B) explains this pasuk as follows: “Rav Yehuda began to explain by citing the verse (Tehillim 37:3): ‘Trust in Hashem and do good. Dwell in the land and be nourished by emunah.’ A person should always be careful with his Master and connect his heart with lofty emunah so that he should be one with his Master. For when one is one with Him, no one in this world can harm him.
Look and see! Bnei emunah conduct themselves this way every day. Who are bnei emunah? These are those people who arouse this goodness to themselves and do not worry about what they have. They know that Hashem will give them more, as is stated (Mishlei 11:24): ‘There are those who give away but have more added to what they have.’ They don’t say: If I give away what I have now to others, what will I do tomorrow?’ Rather, Hashem grants them blessings until it is more than enough.”
The Zohar notes that when Hashem promises to provide enough food in the sixth year to last for three years, the pasuk says “v’asisa es hatevuah l’shalosh shanim”, with the word “v’asisa” written without a “hei” at the end. It explains that a letter is removed from the word to hint that even if a person rests on the seventh year and removes all his work, he still will receive this blessing.
The Zohar then relates a story to illustrate this point: Rav Chiya and Rav Yosi were walking on a road and came to a mountain. They noticed two men coming towards them. As they watched, the two men were approached by another man who said to them, “Please give me some bread to eat. It has been two days since I have had any food!”
One of them took out the food and drink he had prepared for his journey and gave it to him. His friend asked him, “Now what will you do? You won’t have enough food!”
He ignored him and sat next to the poor man as he ate and drank his fill. He then gave the man the rest of his bread for later and went on his way.
After witnessing this exchange, Rav Chiya sadly said to Rav Yosi, “Why didn’t Hashem want this mitzvah to be offered to us?”
Rav Yosi replied, “Perhaps a decree had been issued against this person and Hashem wanted to give him a chance to do a mitzvah to avert the decree.”
They soon saw that this was, in fact, the case. They saw the man grow tired and weak. His friend told him, “Didn’t I warn you not to give away your bread!”
Rav Chiya then told Rav Yosi, “We have some bread with us. Should we give it to him?”
Rav Yosi said, “Do you want to take away his zechus? I can tell that death was decreed upon this man. Hashem certainly wanted to present him with this zechus in order to save him.”
The man sat down under a tree and dozed off. His friend left him alone and went to sit down some distance away. Rav Yosi then said to Rav Chiya, “Let’s sit down and see what miracle Hashem will perform for him.”
They saw a venomous wild animal approaching and Rav Chiya declared, “Woe for that man! He is about to die!”
Rav Yosi said, “No. That man is fortunate because Hashem will perform a miracle for him!”
Suddenly, a snake dropped out of a tree and slithered towards the man to kill him. The wild animal ran over and killed the snake and then ran off. Rav Yosi said to Rav Chiya, “Didn’t I tell you that Hashem wanted to perform a miracle for him and that his zechus would save him.’
The man woke up and arose to continue his journey. Rav Chiya and Rav Yosi ran over to him and gave him some food to eat. After he ate, they showed him the dead snake and told him about the miracle that occurred.
Rav Yosi proclaimed, “’Trust in Hashem and do good. Dwell in the land and be nourished by emunah.’ Fortunate is the man who did good with what he had because goodness is aroused for the assemblage of Yisroel through the power of tzedakah. Regarding this it is said (Mishlei 11:4): ‘Tzedakah saves from death.’ This is because tzedakah is a tree of life. It takes people who are already in the grasp of the tree of death and saves them.”
