Nahum of Gamzu — the sage whose name became a proverb, because to every misfortune he would say "Gam zu l'tovah," "This too is for the good" — learned the cost of delayed charity through a personal catastrophe that haunted him for the rest of his life.
The Talmud (Taanit 21a) records what happened. Nahum was traveling with three donkeys loaded with food, drink, and delicacies, bringing them as a gift. Along the road, a poor man stopped him. "Rabbi, give me something to eat," the man begged.
"Wait until I unload the donkey," Nahum replied. It was not a refusal. It was a delay — a small, reasonable delay. He would feed the man. He simply wanted to unpack properly first.
But before Nahum could finish unloading, the poor man collapsed and died. The food arrived moments too late. A life that could have been saved by a handful of bread was lost because of a few minutes of delay.
Nahum threw himself upon the man's body and cried out: "Let my eyes, which had no pity on your eyes, go blind. Let my hands, which did not hurry to feed you, be cut off. Let my legs, which did not run to you, be broken." And every curse he spoke upon himself came true. He lost his sight, lost his hands, lost the use of his legs.
His students wept when they saw him. "Woe to us that we see you like this!" they cried. But Nahum replied: "Woe to you if you did not see me like this." His suffering was his atonement — and his warning to every person who thinks that charity can wait until tomorrow.