Abba Umana was a physician. Treatment in those days often meant letting blood. When people fell ill, they came to him.
There was an odd thing hanging at his house. A box, outside the door.
When a treatment was finished he did not name a price. The patient put money in the box on the way out.
What He Chose Not to See
Those who could put something in did. Those who could not simply walked past.
Abba Umana did not watch this happen. That is why the box hung outside the door rather than inside it.
Inside, your eyes meet. And when eyes meet, a person who cannot pay has to say something. By hanging it outside, he removed that moment.
Treatment With No Price Named
When a poor person came, he treated them exactly the same. He did not ask about their circumstances and never offered to reduce the fee.
An offer to reduce contains a judgment that the other person is poor. The moment that judgment is said aloud, the help is help and a mark at the same time.
He chose not to name a price at all.
A Greeting From Heaven
It is told that a greeting came down to him from Heaven every day.
For famous rabbis it is said to have come every Sabbath. For some, once a year.
People asked why. There were several who surpassed him in learning.
A Work Beyond Comparison
The answer that came back was not about his learning.
It was that nobody else could bear the work he did. Seeing another person’s circumstances every day and acting as though he had not.
וּצְדָקָה תַּצִּיל מִמָּוֶת (utzedakah tatzil mimavet) Charity saves from death. (Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 156b, translated directly)
A Different Face Hidden
This series has one other person who hid a face. Mar Ukva, who left coins in a door crack and never showed himself (chapter 14).
Both kept their anonymity. And the face each hid is the opposite of the other.
Mar Ukva hid the face of the giver. Abba Umana hid the face of the person who could not pay.
Today, Where Eligibility Is Asked
When we design help we ask first who qualifies. That question produces accurate distribution.
It produces one more thing at the same time. A position in which you have to prove your own circumstances. That is what a single application form is actually asking for.
Abba Umana chose to lose a little accuracy. In exchange he removed the position. By hanging one box outside his door.