Once there was a pious man who regularly kept the mitzvah of tzedakah. One time he traveled abroad on a ship. A storm came, and his ship sank at sea. Rabbi Akiva saw this happen and came to testify at the Beis Din that the pious man had died, so that the man’s wife would be permitted to remarry. Before he had a chance to testify, the pious man himself came and stood before him! Rabbi Akiva said to the man, “Are you not the man whose ship sank at sea?”
The man replied, “I am.”
“So, who,” asked Rabbi Akiva, “is the one who pulled you up from the sea?”
“The tzedakah I performed,” answered the man. “When I descended to the depths, I heard a great, loud noise from the waves of the sea saying to each other, ‘Run! Let us pull up this man from the sea, for he has done tzedakah all his life’” (Avos D’Rabi Nosson 3:9).
And in the merit of tzedakah blessing comes to one’s home, as it is written, For because of this Hashem, your God, will bless you (Devarim 15:10). Therefore, one should arouse himself at all times to keep this mitzvah, and he will thereby bring blessing to his home — aside from the reward that will be set aside for him for eternity.
