A poor man should take pride in the fact that if he is able to, he should eat bread earned by the sweat of his brow, and he should not be embarrassed or shy of doing even the most denigrated work in order to support himself. One who supports himself with his own work is great, as it says in Psalms “When you eat from the toil of your palms, you are fortunate and you have goodness!”. He should not rush to throw himself onto the congregation to receive charity. Instead, he should pressurize himself, as Chazal said that “Make your Shabbos like a weekday rather than having to recourse to taking help from other people!”, and they said further that “Anyone who should really take from charity and pushes himself not to take, will not die from old age until he becomes rich and can support others from his own wealth!”. He should not complain about the wealthy nor criticize them. Instead, he should request what he needs from He who owns all wealth and belongings, and he should believe with complete trust that the key to sustenance is in the hands of Hashem, and that it is He who gives strength to perform, and He puts the thoughts in the mind of the rich man and prepares sustenance for the pauper through him, and Hashem has many messengers.
It follows that he should not pressurize the rich man to fulfil his request, nor should he find it difficult if the rich man sends him away from his house emptyhanded. Instead, he should feel like one who approaches the treasurer of the king and asks him if the king has sent his portion and food through the treasurer, and if the treasurer tells him that the king did not, he will not become angry with the treasurer. Instead, he will say that the treasurer did not have the merit that the king would wish to use him for such an important job; to be a messenger to perform a good deed, and trust that the king will definitely send his sustenance through somebody else, as the king does not lack possible messengers in his house. Our case is identical to this, as the sustenance of a person is fixed for him at Rosh Hashanah (The New Year).
