Tzedakah is so great that even the Holy One is praised about it, as it is written, The Holy God will be sanctified through tzedakah-justice (Yeshaya 5:16). Tzedakah also protects a person from death, as it is written, but charity rescues from death (Mishlei 10:2). This follows the principle of “measure-for-measure” — when someone gives money to a poor person, and his intent is to help the man live and not die, so, too, Heaven has mercy on the giver and help him that he may live and not die.
Tzedakah is so great that it extends a person’s days in this World, as it is written, for He is your life and the length of your days (Devarim 30:20), and it leads the person the life of the World to Come. Tzedakah is so great that it quickens the coming of Moshiach and the Redemption, as it is written, Observe justice and perform righteousness, for My salvation is soon to come and My righteousness to be revealed (Yeshaya 56:1).
