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Why does the Baal HaTurim note that "venasnu" reads the same forwards and backwards—you give, you get back? The shiur develops a chiddush that tzedakah isn't just rewarded charity but creates actual creditor status. When you give tzedakah, you become a shareholder in that community and a creditor to Hashem (ה׳) ("Malveh Hashem chonein dal"), with practical halachic implications for eligibility to receive local tzedakah later.
Rabbi Zweig analyzes a famous Baal HaTurim on the word "venasnu" in Parshas Ki Sisa, which many mistakenly attribute to Chassidic sources. The Baal HaTurim observes that the word venasnu (vav-nun-tof-nun-vav) reads identically forwards and backwards, teaching that when a person gives tzedakah, it comes back to him. The shiur asks: what exactly does this mean? This doesn't seem to describe the standard reward for tzedakah. The principle of "aser b'shvil shetisasher" promises wealth—potentially ten times or a hundred times what you gave—not merely getting back what you put in. What kind of reward is it to get back exactly what you gave? Rabbi Zweig proposes an innovative understanding: the Baal HaTurim is not describing a reward at all, but rather an immediate ownership interest. When you give tzedakah, you don't give away money—you acquire a share. You become a creditor. If you give $100, you receive back a $100 ownership stake. The difference is between spending money and purchasing an asset. This is not a future reward but an immediate transaction: you give and simultaneously receive ownership.
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Shemos (Ki Sisa) 30:12 - venasnu ish kofer nafsho
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