The Jug of Oil for Ovadiah's Sons
After Ovadiah passed away in debt for the prophets' sake, his widow cried out to Elisha, and a single jug of oil saved her sons.
Ovadiah passed away, and the debt he had taken on to feed the prophets remained. Rashi teaches that the creditor was Yehoram son of Achav, who had lent the money at interest, and now he was coming to take Ovadiah's two sons as slaves.
His widow went to Elisha and cried out: your servant, my husband, is dead, and you know that he feared Hashem. The Targum fills in her words: you know how he hid a hundred prophets, fifty in each cave, and borrowed to feed them so as not to feed them from Achav's goods. Now the creditor has come to take my two sons.
What do you have in the house? Elisha asked. Nothing, she said, except a jug of oil. Borrow empty vessels from all your neighbors, he told her, and not too few. Then shut the door behind you and your sons and pour. She poured, and her sons brought vessel after vessel, until there were no vessels left; only then did the oil stop. Sell the oil, Elisha told her, pay the debt, and live on the rest.
Rav Mani taught that the merit of Ovadiah's wife protected all Israel at that time. The man who had fed the prophets of Hashem did not leave his family unprotected: in the end, a prophet of Hashem fed them.
Source: Melachim II 4:1–7; Rashi on Melachim II 4:1; Targum Yonasan on Melachim II 4:1; Midrash Tanchuma, Ki Sisa 5; Midrash Shemos Rabbah 31:4. English: The JPS Tanakh (Gender-Sensitive Edition); The Metsudah Tanach; Midrash Tanhuma-Yelammedenu, trans. Samuel A. Berman.
Ovadiah gave everything for others, and after he was gone his family was left in need. Think of someone who gave much to your community and has since passed away: a rebbi, a gabbai, a neighbor who always helped. This week, reach out to the family. Call the widow, invite the children for a Shabbos meal, or tell them one thing their father did for you. Kindness returned to a giver's family keeps his chessed alive.