“If your brother will become poor, and his means fail in proximity to you; you shall support him, stranger or resident alien, and he shall live with you” (Leviticus 25:35). “If your brother will become poor” – that is what is written: “Happy is one who attends to the indigent; the Lord will deliver him on a day of evil” (Psalms 41:2).1The midrash is based on the conclusion of the verse: “He shall live with you.”
The point being made is that the individual providing the assistance will himself benefit along with the individual he is helping. Abba bar Yimeya said in the name of Rabbi Meir: This is one who crowns the good inclination over the evil inclination. Isi said: This is one who gives a peruta to the poor. Rabbi Yoḥanan said: This is one who buries an unattended corpse.
The Rabbis say: This is one who extricates himself from the tyrants.2He refuses a position of authority in a tyrannical regime that would have caused him to persecute others. Some commentaries assert that the text should not include the word “himself,” in which case the meaning would be: one who assists another in escaping persecution from tyrants (Etz Yosef). Rav Huna said: This is one who visits the ill, as Rav Huna said: Anyone who visits the ill, they subtract one-sixtieth of his illness.
They raised an objection to Rav Huna: ‘If so, let sixty enter and he will descend with them to the marketplace.’ He said to them: ‘Sixty [would relieve him of his illness], provided that they love him as themselves; but in any case, they benefit him.’ According to the opinion of Abba bar Yimeya, who said in the name of Rabbi Meir: This is one who crowns the good inclination over the evil inclination, [the proof is] as it is written: “The Lord will protect him” (Psalms 41:3) – from the evil inclination.
According to the opinion of Isi, who said: This is one who gives a peruta to the poor, [the proof is] as it is written: “And will sustain him” (Psalms 41:3). According to the opinion of Rabbi Yoḥanan, who said: This is one who buries an unattended corpse, it is as it is written: “He will be made happy in the earth” (Psalms 41:3). According to the opinion of the Rabbis, who said: This is one who extricates himself from the tyrants, it is as it is written: “You will not submit him to the will of his enemies” (Psalms 41:3).
According to the opinion of Rav Huna, who said: This is one who visits the ill, it is as it is written: “The Lord will support him on a sickbed” (Psalms 41:4). Rabbi Yona said: “Happy is one who gives to the indigent” is not written here, but rather, “happy is one who attends to the indigent” – look at him [in order to ascertain] how to benefit him. Rabbi Yona, when he would see a well-born individual who became impoverished, and was ashamed to take [charity], he would go to him and say to him: ‘Because I heard that an inheritance has come to you overseas, here is this object; when your financial situation eases, you will give it back to me.’
When he would come to give it back to him, he would say to him: ‘I gave it to you as a gift.’ Rabbi Levi said in the name of Rabbi Ḥama bar Rabbi Ḥanina: Twenty-two times it is written: “Happy [ashrei].” And of them all, only this one receives a reward. What reward does he receive? “The Lord will deliver him” (Psalms 41:2). Therefore, Moses cautions them: “If your brother will become poor.”