203. The Tanna Reb Yitzchok Is Saved In The Zchus Of Tzedaka

00:15 Kinderlech, I want to tell you an amazing story in the Zohar, the Zohar HaKodesh written by Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, a story that he tells about the Tana Rebbe Yitzchak. The Tana Rebbe Yitzchak was once-- was very poor. He lived in Eretz Yisrael, and one day a man knocked on his door, a very poor man, and he said to him, "Rebbe, give me something to eat. Me, my wife, and kids have nothing to eat. We're starving. We're really starving, and we need something, something, something to revive ourselves, to eat something." Rebbe Yitzchak said to him, "What can I give you? I only have a half a coin, a half a shekel in my pocket." So the poor man says, "I also only have a half a shekel. If you give me your half, I'll have a whole shekel, and I'll be able to buy something so that we wouldn't die from starvation." And Rebbe Yitzchak reached into his pocket and gave him that half a shekel, and the man went home and bought themselves a, a little bit of food, and so they wouldn't starve too much. That night, Rebbe Yitzchak saw in his dream that he was walking by the side of the shore of the o-- of the sea. There was a big sea right next to him, and he was walking next to it, maybe on the boardwalk right next to the ocean. And then he felt that somebody's trying to push him into the water, and he became terrified. He was

01:59 afraid somebody's trying to push him in the water and make him drown. He got very, very scared. And then he felt that the guy actually pushed him, and he fell into the water. He fell into the water, and he was drowning, and he was crying. And then he sees Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. He sees the image of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, who's reaching his hand from the air. He sees him coming down and reaching his hand, trying to pull him out, but he can't reach. The hand of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai was too high, too high above. So he was crying and trying to reach the hand, but he couldn't. Suddenly he sees how the poor man that he earlier in the day gave that half a shekel and helped him buy some food, comes there and pulls the hand of Rebbe Yitzchak, bringing it closer to Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai's hand, and Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai was able then to pull Rebbe Yitzchak out of the water and saves his life. All of that Rebbe Yitzchak saw in his dream. When he woke up in the morning and he remembered the whole dream, he realized that this dream was telling him a very important message. Sometimes you give away everything you have to another poor person, even though it's very hard for you because you also only have one half a shekel. You're also very poor, but he did it for someone else. He sacrificed for someone else. So Hashem said, "I'm gonna save

03:38 his life." And even though it was only in a dream, but it, it taught him that great-- how great the, the mitzvah of tzedakah is. Especially when you do tzedakah when it's hard, it can save your life. And he brought a pasuk in Tehillim which says, "Ashrei maskil el dal ohrim rrah yimaltehu" that Hashem sees that somebody's being nice to a poor man, then when something dangerous comes to that person who gave the tzedakah, Hashem saves that man in the zechus of his tzedakah.