Zechusamזכותם
Teaching

Tzedakah Returns in the Opposite Direction

Tzedakah & chesed

A teaching ofRav Menachem Azaria of Fanoהרב מנחם עזריה בן יצחק ברכיה מפאנו

Rav Menachem Azaria pointed out that the word tzedakah, spelled tzadi, dalet, kuf, hey, becomes the very same word in reverse when it is changed by the Atbash cipher. In Atbash each letter is exchanged for the letter in the matching place counted from the other end of the alphabet, so aleph becomes tav and beis becomes shin. Applied to tzedakah, it gives hey, kuf, dalet, tzadi. This may teach that whatever charity a person gives comes back to him from the opposite direction, as charity from Hashem. Give tzedakah, and Hashem will guard your wealth.

Source: Attributed to the Rama MiFano; the sefer is not named in the sources

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