"Charity (righteousness) delivereth from death."
"Charity is the salt of wealth."
"He gives little who gives much with a frown, he gives much who gives little with a smile."
"The truly beneficent seek out the poor."
"He who closes the door on the poor may have to open it to the physician."
"Charity is greater than alms-giving; alms-giving is a duty to the poor only; charity both to rich and poor."
"He who gives charity in secret is greater than Moses."
"A miser is as wicked as an idolater."
"Even he who depends on charity should practise it."
Aben-Judah was the most generous of givers to the needy. But storm and pestilence swept away his wealth. There was left but a single field. In contented faith he maintained his family upon that. He only felt the pangs of poverty when the collectors of the poor called and he had nought to give. Then he and his wife decided to sell half their remaining field and hand the proceeds to the charity collectors. "May the Lord restore thee to thy former prosperity," said they and departed. Turning more assiduously than ever to the plough, that very day he unearthed a treasure. When the collectors called the next year he made up the deficiency of the year preceding. On receiving it they said: "Though many exceeded thy donation then, yet we had placed thee at the top of the list, knowing that thy small gift came from want of means, not from inclination."
King Monobases (the son of Helen of Adiabene, who became a proselyte to Judaism, see p. 139), unlocked his ancestral treasures at a time of famine, and distributed them among the poor. His ministers rebuked him saying, "Thy fathers amassed, thou dost squander." "Nay," said the benevolent king, "they preserved earthly, but I, heavenly treasures; theirs could be stolen, mine are beyond reach; theirs were barren, mine are fruitful; they preserved money, I have preserved lives."
Said R. Akiba to the not very charitable Tarphon: "Let me profitably invest some money for you." Tarphon handed his four thousand golden denars. Akiba distributed them among the poor, with the scriptural explanation, "He hath given to the needy, his righteousness endureth forever" (Ps. cxii, 9).
Humility and Patience.
"Teach thy tongue to say: I do not know."
"Meekness is better than sacrifice."
"God teaches us humility. He chose but a low mount, Sinai, from which to promulgate the Decalogue; in a humble bush He revealed himself to Moses; to Elijah, in a still small voice."
"Greatness flees from him who seeks it, and seeks him who flees it."
"Rather be persecuted than persecutor."
"An aged man, whom Abraham hospitably invited to his tent, refused to join him in prayer to the one spiritual God! Learning that he was a fire-worshipper, Abraham drove him from his door. That night God appeared to Abraham in a vision and said: I have borne with that ignorant man for seventy years; could you not have patiently suffered him one night?"
"Seeking the highest good to bestow on Israel, God found nothing better than affliction." ("Sufferance is the badge of all our tribe,"—Shakespeare.)
Rabbi Joshua always advised patience and submission, even under provocation (see pp. 193, 205.) Once he pointed his advice with the apologue of The Lion and the Crane: While devouring prey, the lion got a bone in his throat. He offered a great reward to whomever would remove it. The crane came forward, inserted his long neck down the lion's throat and extracted the bone. He then demanded his reward. "Reward indeed," said the lion; "was it not sufficient reward that I permitted your neck to escape my sacred jaws?"
Make the application to Israel.
A lover, called from the side of his plighted wife, sent letters to her, faithfully promising to return. Long she waited and many mocked and taunted her. But each time she read her lover's letters, her waning faith was strengthened.
Suffering Israel is the maiden; the unseen God her faithful lover; and the Scriptural promises of redemption are His letters.
(Compare Akiba story p. 209).
Sin.
"Put not yourself in the way of temptation, for even David could not resist it."
"What the sages have forbidden on account of appearances, is forbidden even in one's innermost chamber."
"Commit a sin twice and you will think it sin no more." The first step counts.
"Evil passion is at first like a cobweb, and at last like a rope."
"The only indication of the Messiah's advent will be the disappearance of oppression."
"Beware of evil's small beginnings; Jacob's favoritism towards Joseph led to Israel's Egyptian captivity."
"What is the idol man carries within him—his evil passion."
"Sinful thoughts are worse than sin."
"A sinner is foolish as well as wicked."
"The end does not justify the means."
"He who deceives his neighbor would deceive God."
"He who denies his guilt doubles his guilt."
"Sin begets sin."
"Ill weeds grow apace; neglect is their gardener."
"Slander is a species of murder."
"Arrogance is a kingdom without a crown."
"The usurer will have no share in the future life."
"He who can testify in his neighbor's behalf and does not, is a transgressor."
"It is sinful to hate but noble to forgive."
"Say not 'sin cometh from God.' He giveth free choice of life and death."
"The wicked, even while living, are called dead."
R. Simeon said: The whole community must bear the blame of the individual sinner, emphasizing his lesson with this illustration:—Here is a boat-load of passengers. One proceeds to bore a hole through his seat, saying, "I am only piercing my own place." What happens? (Draw the inference.)
Repentance.
"There is no repentance without reparation."
"Better is an hour in repentance and good deeds in this world than all the world to come; though better is an hour of the world to come than the whole of this world."
"Even when the gates of prayer are closed, the gates of tears are open."
"When a man has turned from sin, reproach him no more."
"One who has sinned and repented stands higher in God's favor than the completely righteous."
"Repent one day before thy death." i.e. repent every day.
"Improve thyself and then improve others."
"Love those that reprove thee, hate those that flatter thee."
"The love that shirks from reproof is no love."
"He who does a worthy deed acquires an advocate."
"As the ocean never freezes, so the gate of repentance is never closed."
"If you wish your fast to be acceptable to God let it be accompanied by acts of charity and good-will." (see Isaiah lviii.)
"He who says 'I will sin and repent, I will sin again and repent again,' will ultimately lose power to repent."
A ship once anchored at a beautiful island waiting for a favorable wind. An opportunity was offered the passengers to go ashore. Some thought it safer not to leave the ship at all; the wind might rise, the anchor be raised and they would be left stranded. Others went to the island for a while to explore it, eat of its fruits and enjoy its beauties and returned to the ship refreshed and enlightened by the experience. A third group lingered rather long and scurried back as the ship was departing; but they lost their choice places on the boat for the rest of the journey. A fourth party indulged so freely in the island's pleasures, that it was hard to stir them when the ship rang its bell. "There is no hurry," so they lingered. Only after the last warning they made a wild rush, and had to clamber up the ship's sides; so they reached it, bruised and maimed; nor were their wounds quite healed at the close of the voyage. There was a fifth group alas, who drank so deeply and reveled so wildly that they heard neither bell nor warning. The ship started without them and at night-fall wild beasts emerged from their lairs and destroyed them.
Develop the analogy as a story of life.