“A man’s giving expands him [and guides him among the great]” (Proverbs 18:16). There was an incident involving Rabbi Eliezer, Rabbi Yehoshua, and Rabbi Akiva, who went to the environs of Antioch to engage in collecting charity for the Sages. There was a certain person there whose name was Abba Yudan, and he would generously provide support. One time, he had become impoverished, and when he saw our rabbis there he turned pale.
He went to his wife. His wife said to him: ‘Why is your face sickly?’ He said to her: ‘My rabbis are here and I do not know what to do.’ His wife, who was more righteous than he, said to him: ‘All that remains for us is such and such field.
Go and sell half of it and give it to them.’ He sold half of it and gave it to them. They prayed on his behalf and said: ‘May the Holy One blessed be He restore what you have lost.’ Sometime later, he went to plow his half field.
As he was plowing, the earth opened before him and his cow fell there and its leg was broken. He descended to take it up, and the Holy One blessed be He illuminated his eyes and he found buried treasure there. He said: ‘My cow’s leg was broken for my benefit.’ When the rabbis returned there, they asked about him and said: ‘How is Abba Yudan doing?’
They said to him: ‘He is Abba Yudan with the slaves, Abba Yudan with the goats, Abba Yudan with the camels, Abba Yudan with the oxen. Who is able to see the face of Abba Yudan?’ When he heard [that they had come], he went out to greet them. They said to him: ‘How is Abba Yudan doing?’
He said: ‘Your prayer bore fruit and the fruit bore fruit.’ They said to him: ‘As you live, even though others gave more than you, we wrote you at the head [of the list].’ They took him and seated him in their midst, and they read this verse in his regard: “A man’s giving expands him.” Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish went to Basra.
There was a certain person there whose name was Abba Yudan Ramai. Not that, Heaven forbid, he was a swindler [ramai], but rather because he would employ cunning [meramei] in mitzvot. When all the people would pledge donations, he would pledge corresponding to them all.12At first he would abstain from making any pledge, leading others to think he would not participate. Therefore they would pledge more money so that the charity collection would meet its goals.
Only afterward would he pledge as much as everyone else put together. Alternatively, the people would know that he would match their donations and therefore they would pledge more, knowing that their donation would lead to even greater gain for the charity. Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish took him and seated him next to him and read this verse in his regard: “A man’s giving expands him.” Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba conducted a fundraising campaign to donate to the study hall in Tiberias.
There was a certain person there, a resident of Silkha, who pledged one liter of gold. Rabbi Ḥiyya took him and seated him next to him and read this verse in his regard: “A man’s giving expands him.” Rabbi Abahu said: It is written: “Beware, lest you forsake the Levite” (Deuteronomy 12:19), and it is written thereafter: “When the Lord your God will expand your border” (Deuteronomy 12:20). What does one matter have to do with the other?
It is that the Holy One blessed be He said: In accordance with your gifts, [God] will expand your [wealth]. Rabbi Aḥa in the name of Rabbi Hoshaya: If a servant brings a bull and his master brings a bull, the servant precedes his master, as it is taught there: If the bull of the anointed priest and the bull of the congregation are pending, the bull of the anointed priest precedes the bull of the congregation in all actions done to it.13Mishna Horayot 3:6.