Sefer Toros V’Uvdos M’Beis Raboseinu (page 104) relates that in the city of Satmar, the Satmar Rov zy”a would distribute money to the poor townspeople every week. Many of the people who he gave money to were not his chasidim, and some of them were even misnagdim who spoke disrespectfully about the Rov.
A chasid once asked the Rov why he gave funds to men who disrespected him. He replied, “Nu, why do their wives and children deserve to die of hunger because of the things that they say?”
He then quoted the Rashi that says that kindness done to the dead is chesed shel emes because one does not expect to receive any payment for this and explained that when one does chesed for a living person, it can occur that the recipient will be a bad person who will repay the good with bad. The dead, however, will definitely not repay kindness with bad, so only one who does chesed with the dead can be sure that he won’t suffer as a result of his kindness.
