Tzedakah Creates Miracles:
A source for this idea that through tzedakah one merit supernatural salvations is found in Rav Chaim Palagi zy”a’s Sefer Birchas Moadecha. He quotes the Zohar Hakadosh (Parshas Shemos 5:1) that explains the pasuk in Yeshaya (32:20): “Fortunate are you who plant by all waters.” The Zohar says: “Yisroel is fortunate because they plant with tzedakah. And one who plants with tzedakah merits the words of the pasuk (Tehillim 108:5): ‘For Your kindness is great above the Heavens.’”
Rav Palagi explains that tzedakah can raise a person “above the Heavens” – meaning that he can have miracles performed for him.
This is also clearly seen from a story related in the Zohar (Parshas Behar 110:2) about a person who was traveling and came across a poor man. He gave the man all the food he had with him. Rav Chanina and Rav Yosi witnessed the story and they both said, “It is certain that Hashem will perform a miracle for this man in the merit of his tzedakah.”
That night, the man was sleeping under a tree. The tree suddenly was struck by lightning and caught on fire. At that moment, a venomous snake came out of the tree and wanted to bite the man, but it got burnt from the fire and the man was saved.
The Zohar concludes: “What caused the tree to catch on fire? The charity he gave went above the Heavens and served to miraculously save him.”
It is stated in Tanna D’Bei Eliyahu (Rabbah 24) that when Klal Yisroel left Egypt, they made a pact to do chesed to each other. At that time, the nation had no mitzvos or merits to make them worthy of leaving Egypt besides for this. In order to get out of Mitzrayim, they needed a miracle that was beyond nature. When they chose to do chesed to each other, Hashem said that He would perform this miracle for them.
