You shall surely give him, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him [Re'eh 15:10]
A poor person appeared before he tzaddik R' Mendel of Rimanov. He poured his heart out before R' Mendel, sparing no detail of his difficult situation. The Rebbe gave the man a substantial sum of money. Then, as the man turned to leave, the Rebbe presented him with yet another coin.
''Why did the Rebbe give the man tzedakah twice?'' asked the Rebbe's family.
He answered: ''The first time I gave him it was out of sympathy, as I was very saddened by the severity of his predicament. The second time, however, was purely for the sake of fulfilling the mitzvah of tzedakah.''
''We find an allusion to this in Scripture'', concluded R' Mendel. ''For when the Torah tell us to give charity, it uses a repetitive expression ''Natan titein lo''. This is to teach us that we should ''give and give again''.
''The first time we give charity, it should be for the sake of ''lo yeira le vavecha'' - that our hearts should not be wicked against our friends. We must learn to feel compassion in our hearts, then Heaven will have compassion toward us.
''The second time we give, however, we should do so purely for the sake of the mitzvah of giving - ''be titcha lo''.
Source: Rabbi Yisrael Bronstein
Source: Rabbi Yisrael Bronstein
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