Adapted from: Aleinu L’shabei’ach by Rabbi Yitzchok Zilberstein

וְיִקְחוּ לִי תְּרוּמָה — And let them take for Me a portion (Shemos 25:2)

With regard to all of the mitzvos, there is a principle that a person is not rewarded in this world, but rather in the Next World. With regard to tzedakah, however, Hashem declares, Test Me, if you will, with this (Malachi 3:10), implying that the mitzvah of tzedakah is rewarded not only in the Next World, but in this world as well. Similarly, our Sages teach that a person who tithes his produce will become rich — “Aser bishvil she’tisasher” (Taanis 9a).

The Satmar Rebbe asks: Why is the mitzvah of tzedakah and supporting talmidei chachamim different in this way from all other mitzvos?

His answer is based on the halachah that a worker in a vineyard may not eat from the owner’s grapes, except during the time that he is working with them. Rashi explains that the worker is permitted to eat the grapes only when he is harvesting them and putting them into the owner’s vessels; when he is performing other types of work in the field, he is not permitted to eat the grapes.

When a person is giving tzedakah and supporting poor talmidei chachamim, says the Satmar Rebbe, he is similar to the worker who is harvesting fruits and putting them into the owner’s vessels, for poor talmidei chachamim are Hashem’s “vessels.” And when a person is putting something into the vessels of the Owner of the world, he is entitled to take some for himself as well. That is why we are rewarded for tzedakah in this world.

The Satmar Rebbe was renowned as a magnanimous baal tzedakah, and all of the money that passed through his hands was distributed to the poor on the same day. Once, a pauper came to him and poured out his tale of woe, begging for the Rebbe’s assistance. He cried to the Rebbe that he had lost his wife, and was left alone to care for his orphaned children. In addition, his leg had been amputated.

The Rebbe gave him a handsome contribution, as he did to everyone who came to him for charity.

Several minutes later, the Rebbe’s gabbai entered his chamber, very distraught. “What happened?” the Rebbe asked.

“The pauper who was just here — the one who said that his leg was amputated — is not missing a leg. I saw him leave from here and walk on two feet like a regular person,” the gabbai said indignantly.

When the Rebbe heard this, he rose from his seat, visibly stirred. The gabbai was sure that the Rebbe would tell him to run after the pauper and ask him to return the money he had received from the Rebbe. He was surprised, however, when he heard the Rebbe let out a sigh of relief and say, “What joy your words have brought me! Thank Heaven, the pauper was not lame!”

Several minutes later, the gabbai came into the Rebbe’s chamber once again, this time to inform the Rebbe that the pauper was not a widower, either. “I saw his wife outside,” he told the Rebbe.

Again, the Rebbe expressed his great joy at the news that the pauper had not been widowed after all.

A Jewish leader desires only good for Hashem’s children.