The wife kept herself busy all morning washing clothes. Mid-afternoon, she decided to hang up the clothes, forgetting her husband’s admonitions. Walking outside, she saw that the line that had been attached to the roof of her house was torn.
Poor Man At The Door
Pulling a ladder to the house, she began to climb it. Halfway up, she heard someone knocking at the front door.
“Who is there?” she shouted.
“I am a poor person who has not eaten all day. Could you spare some food?” was the reply.
She thought to herself, “I have more than enough food for myself in the house. Surely I can spare some of it.” She climbed down the ladder, entered her house, and divided the food, giving half to the poor man.
When the man departed, she again began to climb the ladder. Again she heard a knock on the front door. When she climbed down, she saw it was another poor person.
I have not eaten for two days,” he wailed. “Unless you give me something, I’ll faint from hunger.”
“I’m not hungry anyway,” she thought. “I’m so busy all day that I won’t even have time to eat. When my husband comes he’ll bring with him enough food for supper. This poor man needs it more than I do.”
She then gave him the remainder of her food. When he departed, she climbed to the roof, fixed the line, and descended without incident. She then proceeded to hang the wash to dry.
Good Deeds Save The Wife
At the end of the afternoon, her husband returned and was amazed to see all the wash dry and folded.
“How did you manage to hang the wash today?”
“I fixed the line,” she answered. “I climbed to the roof and repaired it.”
“Tell me, what good deed did you do today?” he asked her in amazement at seeing her alive.
She then told him of her experiences with the two poor people.
“Those two good deeds of charity saved your life,” he said to her. He then told her of the terrible forecast about her which had been revealed to him. As it says in Tehillim: “Charity saves from death!”