The door which is not opened for charitable purposes will be opened to the physician .

There was a Hebrew proverb current in Jerusalem: "The salt of money is diminution" to the last word of which there is a variant "benevolence" i.e. by spending money in the relief of distress, we earn the Divine protection and blessing.
To the same effect is the English proverb, "Giving to the poor increaseth a man's store." Hospitality and benevolence are the supreme virtues of Orientals, and the Rabbinical sayings on the subject are extremely numerous. "Let thy house be open wide, and let the poor be the members of thy household"
"When a beggar stands at thy door, the Holy One stands at his right hand"
"Even the beggar is not free from the duty of giving alms" "Greater is the alms-giver than the bringer of sacrifices"
The duty of supporting and comforting the poor applies to gentiles as well as to fellow-Israelites