Tzedakah with mesirut nefesh

The Ben Ish Chai zt’l told the following
story:
Once, there was a poor but generous
woman who baked four loaves of bread each
day. She gave three loaves to the poor and
kept one for her family.
One morning, after distributing the three
loaves, a destitute man came to her door
begging for food. He said he hadn't eaten for
a few days. She had mercy on him and gave
him the fourth bread.
"I'll bake another one for my family," she
thought.
She took a bag of wheat kernels and went
to the shore, where the communal mill stood.
After grinding her wheat into flour, she
filled her bag with flour, flung it over her
shoulder, and headed back home to bake
bread for her family. Just then, a powerful
gust of wind snatched the bag out of her
hands and tossed it into the sea. She cried,
"Why do I deserve this punishment? Is this
my reward for giving tzedakah?"
There was a yeshiva near the shore, and
she went inside and asked the rosh yeshiva
for an explanation. "I gave extra tzedakah
today. I even gave away my family's bread.
Is this my reward for the tzedakah I gave?"
The rosh yeshiva agreed that logically he
didn't understand why this happened to
her. Nevertheless, he encouraged her to
believe that it was bashert, and for a good
reason.
Just then, two merchants came in carrying
two jugs filled with gold coins. "These are
for the yeshiva," they said.
The rosh yeshiva was shocked, and he
asked them why they were donating this
large sum.
"We have just returned from a business
venture overseas," they explained. "The
water was stormy, and the ship crashed into
a large boulder. Water came pouring into
the ship, and our lives were in danger. We
vowed that if we survive, we will give
tzedakah to the first yeshiva we find. As soon
as we made this pledge, something
miraculously plugged the hole in the ship.
That's why we're bringing you these jars
filled with gold."
"Do you know what sealed the hole of
the ship?" the rosh yeshiva asked.
"Yes, we know. When we got off the boat,
we looked to see what saved our lives. We
were surprised to see that it was a sack of
flour! The flour became dough in the sea
and glued the bag onto the ship, exactly in
the right place to save our lives. It was
clearly a miracle!"
The poor woman was astonished when
she heard this story. The rosh yeshiva told
her, "Now you have the answer to your
question. You wondered why your bag flew
out of your hands and why you were
punished after giving tzedakah with mesirus
nefesh. It wasn't a punishment at all. It was a
reward. Because of your tzedakah, Hashem
enabled you to earn an even greater merit.
You saved the lives of all the people on the
ship. This is your reward for giving tzedakah
with mesirus nefesh."

(Torah Wellsprings, Pikudei 5782, Rabbi Elimelech Biderman, shlita)

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