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Mar Ukba became upset. He feared that he was not providentially protected from the heat of the furnace because he was not as worthy of divine protection as his wife.
“Fear not,” she said to him. “I have greater merit because I am usually at home and the poor have greater access to me and my benefactions are direct. I usually give them food and gifts, which are direct, while you are usually inaccessible and you give money that first has to be exchanged for food, which is therefore indirect.”
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The Gemara asks why they made such an effort to escape from the poor man. Rabi Yochanan said in the name of Rabi Shimon ben Yochai, “Better that a person should throw himself into a fiery furnace than publicly put his neighbor to shame.”
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