A thief in his old age, unable to ply his “trade,” was starving. A wealthy man, hearing of his distress, sent him food.

Shortly thereafter, both the rich man and the thief died, on the same day.

The trial of the benefactor occurred first in the Heavenly Court. The verdict? He was found wanting and sentenced to Purgatory. At the entrance, however, an angel came hurrying to recall him back to Court. There he learned that his sentence had been reversed. Why? The thief whom he had aided on earth had stolen the list of his iniquities. (The Yehudi, as told in The Jewish Way of Life and Thought, Abraham Karp [New York: KTAV Publishing House, Inc., 1981], 177.)

Who says charity isn’t its own reward!

The key that unlocks the gates to a New World? Isaiah says it’s a key chain of charity—acts of …