Charity Printed with permission from "The Chesed Boomerang" by Jack Doueck www.judaicapress.com The sage Abba Hilkiyah and his wife, both prayed for rain. Soon, the rains came. But the other Sages noticed that the clouds which brought the rain were above the wife. In other words, her prayers were stronger. They asked Abba Hilkiyah for the reason. He answered: she is always home. She gives bread to the poor. I only give money. Also, I prayed that the evil people should die. She prayed that they repent (which they did). The Talmud promises: "Whoever gives a coin to the poor earns six blessings, while one who reassures the poor with speech earns eleven blessings." Poor, again, can be interpreted to mean any one of the four interpretations we mentioned above (impoverished, sick, agnostic or uneducated). Similarly, the Midrash (Leviticus Rabah 34:15) quotes Isaiah (58:10): "If you draw out your soul to the hungry..." Notice that the prophet does not say, "If you draw out your bread to the hungry!" This teaches us that if you can't do chesed with your money (or your material possessions) then at least you can do chesed with your words. You can console the poor with kind words, sympathetic words, words that show you have "drawn out your soul" to him in a sincere and caring way. The message of this interesting Midrash is very clear. Man was created to do good, to do chesed. This is a major component of our mission in life. Return to 'Our Tradition' Menu