Giving Charity Leads to Wealth

There was a case of a man who had two sons, one who did many charitable acts and another who did not give charity at all. The one who regularly did charitable acts sold his house and everything that he had in order to give charity. Once, on Hoshanah Rabbah [the seventh day of Sukkot], his wife gave him ten polarin [small coins] and said to him, “Go and purchase something from the marketplace for your children.” When he went out to the marketplace, the charity collectors met him, and they said, “Here is the charitable man!” They came to him and said, “Give your portion for this cause that we are collecting, to purchase a garment for a certain poor orphan.” He took the money that he had and gave it to them. He was embarrassed to return to his wife.

So what did he do? He went to the synagogue and saw there some of the citrons that children use on Hoshanah Rabbah. (As was taught there [m. Sukkah 4:7]: Immediately [after using them on Hoshanah Rabbah], the children would toss their palm branches and eat their citrons.) He took some of [the citrons], filled his sack, and went out to sea until he reached a distant land. It happened at that time that the king [in that land] had pains in his stomach. The doctors told him, “If you had even a single citron from those which the Jews use on Hoshanah Rabbah, you could eat it and be healed.”

Immediately, they went out to search [for citrons] in all the provinces and in all the ports, but they did not find any. They went and found the man hauling his sack. They said to him, “Do you have something to sell?” He said to them, “I am a poor man, and I have nothing.” They opened his sack and found it full of citrons. They asked him, “Where are these from?” He said to them, “They are the ones the Jews use during prayer on Hoshanah Rabbah.” They took him with them and brought him to the king. The king ate from the citrons and was healed. He said, “Empty his sack and fill it with dinars!” and they did so. The king said to [the man], “Ask for something, and I will do it for you.” [The man] said, “I desire that my property [which I sold] be restored to me and that everyone come out to meet me [when I return home].” They did this for him.

When he reached [his home] port, a public announcer went out before him, and everyone gathered to greet him. [The man’s uncharitable] brother and his [brother’s] sons went out to greet him. When [the brother and his sons] traversed a river [to get there], a wave carried them away. In the end, the man returned home, regained his property, and inherited the property of his brother. This fulfills the verse that says: For He pays a man according to his actions, [and provides for him according to his conduct] (Job 34:11, NJPS).

Translated by Matthew Goldstone.