In Parshat Behar it states, “If your brother becomes impoverished and his means falter in your proximity, you shall strengthen him—proselyte or resident—so that he can live with you.” The midrash (Vayikra Rabbah 34:2) on this pasuk quotes the pasuk in Mishlei which states, “One who is gracious to the poor is lending to Hashem, and He will pay him his reward.” The Midrash elaborates on how Hashem pays reward to the person who is gracious to the poor by quoting R’ Pinchas who said in the name of R’ Reuven: “Whoever gives a perutah (coin) to a poor person, would one think that Hashem gives him back a perutah? After all, does the benefactor merely give the poor person a perutah? Why, he gives him nothing other than his very life! How so? If a loaf of bread costs 10 perutot, and a poor person was standing in the marketplace with only nine perutot in his hand, and a benefactor came and gave him one more perutah, and he bought the loaf and ate it, thus calming his soul, Hashem says to him: ‘You, too, when your soul is screaming in pain to exit your body, I will return it to you.’”
The Dubno Maggid (see Ohel Yaakov, Behar) seems to explain this midrash as follows: As is known, Hashem pays a person back middah k’neged middah (measure for measure). Now, granted that by giving the poor person a perutah the benefactor has essentially given him life, yet, how much life did he already give him? After all, how much longer can this poor person now live after consuming that loaf of bread? Only a few more hours! If so, the benefactor deserves to receive the same number of hours of prolonged life himself. However, not all hours of life are created equal, as some hours can be worth years. This can be explained as follows: Let’s say a person was ill to the point of being close to death. This patient asks his doctor if he can ascertain whether he will recover from the illness or not. The doctor responds by telling him that if the night passes and he is still alive, it’s guaranteed that he will recover, and will even live a long life. Hence, those hours that the benefactor gained from enabling the poor person to live longer, Hashem stores and saves them for him to be used in such a situation. Thus, these number of hours are worth years (and it emerges that Hashem essentially pays the benefactor back with years in place of hours).
We can perhaps learn from here that when we help those in need Hashem pays us back with more than what we have given up. Additionally, we also perhaps learn from here that we might not receive the rewards for these deeds immediately, but rather, Hashem may reserve them and pay us back at a much later time in our lives— when it is most needed and where the most benefit would be reaped from them.
Binyamin is a graduate of Yeshivas Rabbeinu Yitzchak Elchanan, and Wurzweiler School of Social Work.
