Halakhah do Hioba 34:39

It is a positive commandment to give charity to poor Jewish people, as it is said "Open your hand to him."¹Deuteronomy 15:8. And it is said: "That your brother may live with you."²Leviticus 25:36. Anyone who sees a poor person seeking help and ignores him, and does not give him charity, transgresses a prohibitive commandment, as it is said: "Do not harden your heart nor shut your hand from your brother in need."³Numbers 15:7. [Giving] charity is a characteristic of the descendants of Abraham, as it is said: "For I have a special love for him because he commands his children and his household after him [to preserve the way of Hashem] doing charity and justice."⁴Genesis 18:19. And the throne of Israel will be established and the religion of truth confirmed only through charity, as it is said: "Through charity will you be reestablished."⁵Isaiah 54:14. Greater is he who performs acts of charity than [one who brings] all the sacrifices, as it is said: "Performing acts of charity and justice is more desirable to Hashem than sacrifices."⁶Proverbs 21:3. The Jewish people will be redeemed only through [the merit of] charity, as it is said: "Zion will be redeemed through justice and its captives through acts of charity."⁷Isaiah 1:27. A person never becomes poor through giving charity, nor will any evil or harm befall him because of his giving charity, as it is said: Through acts of charity, there will be peace."⁸Isaiah 32:17. Whoever is merciful with others will be treated with mercy [from Heaven], as it is said: "He [God] will show you mercy; and have compassion upon you and multiply you."⁹Deuteronomy 13:18. Anyone who is cruel, causes his lineage to be suspect.¹⁰The descendants of Abraham are known for their kindness and generosity. One who does not possess this attitude causes his lineage to be doubtful. The Holy One blessed is He, is near to the cry of the poor, as it is said: "He will hear the cry of the poor."¹¹Job 34:28. Therefore one must beware of their anguished cry, for a covenant was made with them, as it is said: "When he cries out to me I will listen, for I am compassionate."¹²Exodus 22:26. The Jerusalem Talmud says: The door that doesn't open for the poor will open for the doctor. A person should consider, that he continually requests his sustenance from the Holy One blessed is He; and just as he requests that the Holy One blessed is He, listen to his cry and prayer, so should he listen to the cry of the poor. A person should also consider that [fortune] is a wheel that revolves in the world, and in the end he or his children or his children's children might [have to] accept charity. Let no man think: "Why should I diminish my wealth by giving it to the poor?" For he should know that the money is not his, but rather [it was given to him as] a trust, with which to do the will of the One Who entrusted the funds to him. And this [charity giving] will be his real share from all his toils in this world, As it is written:¹³Isaiah 58:8. "Your acts of charity shall preceed you [into the World to Come]. Charity voids evil decrees and prolongs life.

It is from the roots of the commandment to fix in our hearts that the providence of God, blessed be He, is individualized upon everyone among people, and that His eyes are observing all of their ways, as it is written (Job 34:21), 'For His eyes are upon a man’s ways; all of his steps He sees." And therefore, he warned us to put our [minds] to this bad illness, and to think that it is sin that caused it - and as they, may their memory be blessed, said (Arakhin 16b) that it generally comes from evil speech, and we should not take it [as being] by way of happenstance. And we need to come to the priest, who is the one that is ready [to effect] the atonement of sinners. And in the company of the one who atones, maybe he will contemplate repentance. And he is put in quarantine for a few days, in order that he put his matters into his heart with deliberation, and examine his deeds (Berakhot 5a). And sometimes he is put into two [consecutive] quarantines, lest he contemplated repentance, but not complete full repentance. It is as if you would say by way of illustration, that he thought to return half of his robbery; and then God, blessed be He, renewed some of the signs that he should be quarantined a second time - perhaps he will complete his repentance and purify himself completely.

That which we have written on the prohibition of the diviner and the soothsayer (Sefer HaChinukh 249) is from the roots of this commandment. And [it is] since all of these nullities cause a person to leave the true fundamental religion and faith in God, may He be blessed; and to turn to emptiness and think that everything that happens to him, happens by way of circumstance; and that it is in his hand to better himself and remove all injury from him with those questions and nullities that he will do. And all of this is not worth it for him, since everything is decreed by the Master of the World. And according to the proper deed or the sin that a person does, do things occur to him - whether good or whether bad - and as it is written (Job 34:11), "For the action of a man does He pay to him." And upon this it is fitting for a person to order all of his thoughts and to prepare all of his ways. And this is the thought of every person of the good Children of Israel. And also, as there is a tinge of idolatry in this matter of ov and yidaaoni. The details of the commandment are in the seventh chapter of Sanhedrin (see Mishneh Torah, Laws of Foreign Worship and Customs of the Nations 6).

It is from the roots of this commandment [that it is] to put into our hearts that the providence of God, may He be blessed, is upon all of His creatures - with the human species individually, as it is written (Job 34:21), "For His eyes are upon a man’s ways, etc."; and upon the other species of animals generally, meaning to say that His desire, may He be blessed, is towards the existence of the [particular] species. And therefore, no species will ever become extinct from all of the species of creatures, as it is due to the providence of the Living and Existing forever, may He be blessed, that their existence is found. And when a man places his mind to this, he understands the ways of God and he will see that the continuous preservation of the species in the world - that not one of all of them became extinct and lost from the day they were created, 'from the lice's eggs to the antelope's horns' - is all from His statement and His will about this. And so too, will a man know that when he observes the commandments of his Creator and straightens all of his ways and be of clean hands and a pure heart, that the providence of God will be upon him and preserve his body for much time in this world, and his soul forever in the world to come. And like this did they, may their memory be blessed, say (Sotah 8a) [that] it is [payment] measure for measure; since when this person places his mind to that which existence and good are with God's providence over things - and not from another cause - he too merits that God should turn to him for the good and make him exist. And about the reward for the existence and the ability [given] since he believed in the Creator about this matter, they, may their memory be blessed, said in the Midrash (Devarim Rabbah 80:5 on Ki Tetzeh) that a person merits children as a reward for this commandment, which is to say that his existence will continue - as children are the existence of a person and his memory. And they extrapolated this apparently from its stating, "you shall surely send away the mother and the young (banim) you shall take for you," meaning to say, children (banim) take for yourself. As it could have stated, "you shall surely send away the mother" [only] and not [also] "and the young you shall take for you." And about this root, they, may their memory be blessed, said (Berakhot 33b) that we silence one who says in his prayer, "Have mercy upon us, as You are the Merciful One, since Your mercies extend to the bird's nest." As the matter is not [one of] mercy, but rather it is in order to bring us merit in the way I have mentioned. And they said about this reason in the Gemara there, "It is because he makes the attributes of God into mercy, and they are [actually] only decrees." And the matter is not to say that the Holy One, blessed be He, does not have mercy, God forbid - as behold, He is called the Merciful One; and they, may their memory be blessed, said (Shabbat 133b) [that] just like the Holy One, blessed be He, is merciful, you too have mercy." Rather, their intention is to say that there is no trait of mercy in Him, God forbid - like with people, [such] that the mercy in them is forced by their nature that the Creator, blessed be He, placed in them. But mercy for Him is from His simple desire - that His wisdom loves to have mercy, because it is a good trait, and all good traits are found with Him. And they said [that] in His commanding us about this, it was not by force of the trait of mercy that He commanded us in the thing; as behold, He permitted their slaughter, since all the species are created for the needs of man. But [rather] the command about this and about 'it and its son,' which is like it, and many other commandments are only like a decree in front of Him, since He decreed about it with His simple desire. And if He had wanted the opposite of this, nothing would force Him [to do otherwise] and no cause would prevent Him, God forbid. [This is,] as opposed to us, who are built with the power of [our] natures, [such] that the trait of mercy impedes us from destroying, or sometimes forces us to do good. This is the matter of their saying [that] they are only decrees, and it is from the root of the thing of that which we mentioned.