A wicked man lay on his deathbed. He had lived a long life of greed. He had never given charity. He had never sent food to a poor neighbor. His door had remained closed against every hand that reached for his. Now, dying, he was too weak to eat. He asked his family to boil an egg for him.
The egg was brought. As it was being prepared, a poor man came to the door asking for food. The wicked man, for reasons even he did not entirely understand, told his family to take the egg and give it to the poor man. It was the only charitable act of his life.
He died. His sons buried him. Some time after the burial, the wicked man appeared to one of his sons in a dream. The Exempla preserves the scene from the Ben Attar collection. The dead father had an urgent message. "Give charity," he told his son. "Do not wait. Give constantly. Do not think a small gift is worth nothing."
The son asked why his father spoke with such urgency. The father explained. When he had come before the heavenly court after death, his sins were piled on one side of the scale. They were many, and they were heavy. His merits were piled on the other side. They were almost nothing. The scale tilted toward Gehinnom. And then an angel brought a single egg and placed it on the side of merit. The egg was the one he had given to the poor man on his deathbed. It was enough. The scale tipped. He had been given a place in Paradise.
"Give," the father told his son from the far side of the dream. "One egg was enough for me. Imagine what you could send ahead by giving more." The story teaches what the sages insisted on in every generation. Charity tips the scale. The smallest gift, honestly given, may be the one that decides.