Midrash su Deuteronomio 15:4

GEMARA: Whence is this deduced? Said R. Juda in the name of Rab: "The passage says (Deut. 15, 4) Howbeit there shall be no needy. This means that yours has the preference always." R. Juda said further in the name of Rab: "Nevertheless, he who always acts accordingly [prefers himself to others], will finally need the support of others."

Ilpha and R. Jochanan studied the Torah together. They were in very poor circumstances and even in want of food. So they said: "Let us rise and go unto business, thereby maintaining what is written (Deut. 15, 4) Indeed, there should be no needy man among thee." They betook themselves and sat down beneath an unsafe wall and ate their meal. Soon two angels appeared, and R. Jochanan heard one of them say to the other: "Let us throw the wall down upon them and kill them, for they are about to neglect eternal life (study), and busy themselves with temporary life (business)." But the other angel replied: "Let them alone; for there is one of them whom the time will succor and who will shortly become great." R. Jochanan heard this, but Ilpha did not, and the former asked: "Did the master hear anything?" "Nay, I heard nothing," replied Ilpha. So R. Jochanan thought: "Because I heard it and Ilpha did not, in all probability I am the one to whom the time will succor." And he said to Ilpha: "I have considered it and will return to continue the study of the Torah, thus fulfilling another passage (Ib. 11) For the needy will not cease out of the land." Thus R. Jochanan returned to his studies and Ilpha engaged himself in business. By the time Ilpha returned [from a business trip] R. Jochanan had become the chief of the college. The scholars afterwards said to Ilpha: "If thou hadst stayed here with us, [and had continued the study of the Torah], we would have made thee the chief of the college." [To prove that he is still the great scholar] he went, hung himself upon the mast of a ship, and said: "Let any one ask me a law from any of the Baraithas of R. Chiya and R. Oshiya, and if I do not show the Mishnaic origin of that law, I shall fall down from the mast of the ship into the water." An old scholar thereupon came and asked him, etc.

(Exodus, Ibid.) "in the mountain of Your inheritance": in the mountain that You promised us, viz. (Ezekiel 20:40) "on My holy mountain, the mountain of the heights of Israel (i.e., the Temple), etc." Four are called "inheritance": the Temple — viz. "in the mountain of Your inheritance." Eretz Yisrael — viz. (Devarim 15:4) "in the land which the L rd Your G d gives You as an inheritance." Torah — viz. (Numbers 21:19) "And from Matanah ('the gift' [of Torah]) Nachaliel ('the inheritance of the L rd'"). Israel — viz. (Yoel 4:2) "My people and My inheritance, Israel." The Holy One Blessed be He said: Let Israel, who are called "inheritance," come to Eretz Yisrael, which is called "inheritance," and build the Temple, which is called "inheritance," in the merit of Torah, which is called "inheritance." Thus — "in the mountain of Your inheritance." (Ibid.) (the sanctuary ["which You have wrought, O L rd"]): Beloved is the Temple by Him who spoke and brought the world into being. For when the Holy One Blessed be He created the world, He did so by pronouncement, viz. (Psalms 33:6) "By the word of the L rd the heavens were made," but the creation of the Temple was by act, viz.

(Devarim 15:4) "But there shall not be in you a poor man.": And elsewhere it is written (Ibid. 11) "For a poor man shall not cease from the midst of the land!" — When you do the L-rd's will, the poor will be among the gentiles, and when you do not do His will, the poor will be among you.