שכר המחיה את העני
וַיֹּאמֶר אֶל בְּנֹּתָיו וְּאַיוֹ לָמָה זֶה עֲזַבְּתֶן אֶת הָאִישׁ קִרְּאֶן לוֹ וְּיֹּאכַל לָחֶם: (ב:כ)
He said to his daughters, “Then where is he? Why is it that you left the man? Summon him and let him eat bread.” (2:20)
It says in the Gemara (Sanhedrin 103b-104a), ‘R’ Yochanan said in the name of R’ Yose ben Kisma, “Great is the deed of providing food to travelers and guests, for the failure to do so repulsed two families [nations] from Israel, as it states (Devorim 23:5) 'על דבר אשר לא קדמו אתכם בלחם ובמים' – ‘This is because they [Amon and Moav] did not greet you with bread and water.’” And R’ Yochanan said in his own name, “The failure to show hospitality repulses those who would otherwise be near, while hospitality draws near those who would otherwise be far away and causes the eyes of Hashem to look away from the wicked [from their sins] and causes the Shechina [Divine Spirit] to descend upon the prophets of Baal [genuine prophesies]. Furthermore, one’s inadvertent failure to show hospitality is counted by Hashem as willful failure to do so.”
It repulses those who would otherwise be near – from what happened to Amon and Moav. It draws near those who would otherwise be far away – from what happened to Yisro. As a reward for Yisro saying, “Summon him and let him eat bread”, his descendants merited to sit in the Chamber of Hewn Stone [Lishkas Hagazis] as it says (Divrei Hayamim I 2:55), 'ומשפ חות סופרים ישבי יעבץ תרעתים שמעתים שוכתים המה הקינים הבאים מחמת אבי בית רכב' – ‘The families of scribes, dwellers of Yabetz, the Tirasim, the Shimasim, and the Suchatim, they are Kinim who are descended for Chamas, father of Bais Rechav’, and it says elsewhere (Shoftim 1:16) 'ובני קיני חתן משה עלו מעיר התמרים את בני יהודה מדבר יהודה אשר בנגב ערד וילך וישב את העם' – ‘The children of the Keini, Moshe’s father-in-law, went up out of the city of palm trees with the children of Yehuda into the wilderness of Yehuda, which is south of Arad, they went and dwelt with the people.’”
We know that the trait of HaKadosh Baruch Hu is to conduct Himself with the person midah kineged midah – measure for measure, and this is seen in every matter, particularly in the mitzvah of tzedakah when the person earns broadened reward, as it states (Mishlei 18:16) 'מתן אדם ירחיב לו' – ‘A man’s gift broadens for him’.
This attribute applies in all matters of tzedakah for the needs of the poor, whether given for his food or whether given for any of his other needs, every gift broadens the mind of the poor, however, it is best to give to sustain someone with food and drink, as this strengthens his life. Just as the poor person himself is sustained, so too the good traits instilled in him are sustained. Therefore, it is fitting that the donor will cling to those elevations and good points that are instilled in the essence of the poor man.
We see this in the above-mentioned teaching of Chazal. Amon and Moav refused to supply Israel with bread and water, and they did not merit reviving a large portion of Israel. Therefore, they were not worthy to cling to the traits of Israel themselves. It is not possible for one of their descendants to be proper to enter under the wing of the Shechina. But Yisro who sustained Moshe Rabeinu, who received the Torah from HaKadosh Baruch Hu Himself, and was the father to teach Israel, merited to cling to Moshe’s viewpoint, although based on his essence, could not serve to teach like Moshe, he merited that his descendants would have this trait and would merit to be counted with the judges in the Chamber of Hewn Stone.
I will tell you a story that illustrates our words. This happened about 100 years ago in Yerushalayim. At that time, those in charge of tzedakah saw fit to establish a ‘food pantry’ where they would distribute food quietly to the poor who were good people. This is why some businessmen arose and wandered from Yerushalayim abroad to gather funds and explain to donors about the poor and suffering residents of Yerushalayim, and to donate in order to build a ‘food pantry’ and share in the expenses.
While abroad, they were told of two wealthy brothers names ‘Strauss’, who were not Torah observant, and although they donated to various organizations, in general they refrained from donating to those who keep Torah and mitzvos.
Though the businessmen knew this about the brothers beforehand, they still wanted to try their luck, thinking they had nothing to lose. And so, they went to their office and presented their case about the awful situation in the holy city, and they asked them to donate and support the many people in Yerushalayim.
To their surprise, one of the brothers, Nathan, was moved and decided to break their rule and donate a respectable sum for this mitzvah, but his brother remained in his wickedness and refused to give to those who keep Torah and mitzvos.
When Nathan gave his donation he had one condition, that once the food pantry was set up, he wanted to be invited to Yerushalayim to see with his own eyes the pantry he was donating to, see it in operation, and they gave him their word.
Nathan Strauss’ donation was quite sizeable and covered the lion’s share of the expenses, and they began construction as soon as they got back.
When construction was finished, they immediately began giving out food, and they did not forget their promise to Nathan Strauss, they invited him to Yerushalayim to see the realization of their dream.
Nathan and his brother were already preparing for a trip to Israel, and when the invitation came, Nathan set aside a day for both of them to go to Yerushalayim to see the food pantry and how it ran.
When they came to Yerushalayim they toured the levels of the building to see the results of their investment, and also to observe the distribution process.
While they were standing and observing everything going on, a heavy stone suddenly fell on Nathan’s leg and broke it in several places. The doctors determined that Nathan would not leave the hospital so soon, and he would have to remain hospitalized for several weeks until his leg healed.
The wicked brother found an opening to show his brother that he was suffering because he donated his money to those who keep the Torah, to him, this was a punishment from Heaven... after a few days, the wicked one let his brother know that he would not wait for the leg to heal, and he was going home alone, he does not need to suffer because of his brother’s sin...
With a triumphant cheer, he boarded the ship that would take him home. However, the ship left port, the waves suddenly started to increase, and within hours the ship capsized from the force of the waves, and all the passengers were thrown into the sea.
While Nathan Strauss was still in the hospital, he received the news of the strange death of his haughty brother. Then it was clear that in the merit of the mitzvah judgment was sweetened for him from Above, and HaKadosh Baruch Hu arranged that he would miss that ship with his brother and instead of drowning, he just suffered.
The incident aroused Nathan to do Teshuva and return to the quarry that formed him, and from then on, he observed the word of Hashem and kept the light as well as the difficult.
This story is an obvious illustration of what we have said, since Nathan Strauss revived the elevated people of Yerushalayim, he merited to cling to their good traits, and he himself merited to be counted with the keepers of Torah and mitzvos. But his brother who refused, did not have the merit to revive, and certainly did not live the rest of his life as an observant Jew to the word of Hashem.
