The world will be built by Chesed
The Omer, which begin on the second night of Passover, count the days towards the holiday of Shavuot. For seven weeks we prepare ourselves for revelation, receiving the Torah once more.
These weeks are focused on self-relfection, and preparedness for the future. Each week we focus on another middah, aspect of self. We begin with Chesed. After all, Paslms teaches "The world will be built by Chesed."
On Shavuot, we will read not only the Ten Commandments, but also the story of Ruth. It is a tale which uses one word repeatedly throughout it. That word is Chesed.
(טז) וַתֹּ֤אמֶר רוּת֙ אַל־תִּפְגְּעִי־בִ֔י לְעָזְבֵ֖ךְ לָשׁ֣וּב מֵאַחֲרָ֑יִךְ כִּ֠י אֶל־אֲשֶׁ֨ר תֵּלְכִ֜י אֵלֵ֗ךְ וּבַאֲשֶׁ֤ר תָּלִ֙ינִי֙ אָלִ֔ין עַמֵּ֣ךְ עַמִּ֔י וֵאלֹקַ֖יִךְ אֱלֹקָֽי׃
(16) But Ruth replied, “Do not urge me to leave you, to turn back and not follow you. For wherever you go, I will go; wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God.
(י) וַיֹּ֗אמֶר בְּרוּכָ֨ה אַ֤תְּ לַֽיי בִּתִּ֔י הֵיטַ֛בְתְּ חַסְדֵּ֥ךְ הָאַחֲר֖וֹן מִן־הָרִאשׁ֑וֹן לְבִלְתִּי־לֶ֗כֶת אַחֲרֵי֙ הַבַּ֣חוּרִ֔ים אִם־דַּ֖ל וְאִם־עָשִֽׁיר׃
(10) And he (Boaz) said: ‘Blessed be you of Adonai, my daughter; you have shown more kindness in the end than at the beginning, inasmuch as you did not follow the young men, whether poor or rich.
(יד) יעשה יי עמכם חסד ר' חנינא בר אדא אמר: יעשה כתיב. כאשר עשיתם עם המתים שנטפלתם בתכריכיהון. ועמדי שויתרו לה כתובותיהן. אמר רבי זעירא מגילה זו אין בה לא טומאה ולא טהרה, ולא איסור ולא היתר. ולמה נכתבה? ללמדך כמה שכר טוב לגומלי חסדים.
(Talmud Ruth Rabbah) (14) "God will deal kindly with you(Ruth 1:8)" . . . . Rabbi Zeira says, "This scroll does not have anything in it concerned with impurity or purity nor what is forbidden and what is permitted. So why is it written? To teach us the greatness of the reward for acts of lovingkindness."
What is so important about Chesed?
על גמ"ח כיצד הרי הוא אומר (הושע ו) כי חסד חפצתי ולא זבח. העולם מתחלה לא נברא אלא בחסד שנאמר (תהלים פט) כי אמרתי עולם חסד יבנה שמים תכין אמונתך בהם. פעם אחת היה רבן יוחנן בן זכאי יוצא מירושלים והיה רבי יהושע הולך אחריו וראה בית המקדש חרב [אר"י אוי לנו על זה שהוא חרב] מקום שמכפרים בו עונותיהם של ישראל. א"ל בני אל ירע לך יש לנו כפרה אחת שהיא כמותה ואיזה זה גמ"ח שנאמר כי חסד חפצתי ולא זבח.
Avot D'Rabbi Natan 4:7
How do we know the significance of acts of chesed? As the Prophet Hosea said: "For I desire acts of chesed, and not sacrifice." The world began only with covenantal love, as it says in Psalms: "the world was built upon chesed."
One time it happened that Rabban Yohannan ben Zakkai was leaving Jeruslaem, and Rabbi Joshua was walking after him. He saw the ruins of Solomon's Temple.
Rabbi Joshua said: "Oy! What a devastation for us that the place where Israel atoned for our sins has been destroyed."
Rabbi Yohannan replied: "My son, do not fear. We have another form of atonement that is just as effective."
What is it? Acts of chesed.
This is what the verse from Hosea means when it says:
"For I desire acts of chesed, and not sacrifice."
The Sages taught that acts of kindness are superior to charity in three respects: Charity can be performed only with one’s money, while acts of kindness can be performed both with his person and with his money. Charity is given to the poor, while acts of kindness are performed both for the poor and for the rich. Charity is given to the living, while acts of kindness are performed both for the living and for the dead.
(ב) שִׁמְעוֹן הַצַּדִּיק הָיָה מִשְּׁיָרֵי כְנֶסֶת הַגְּדוֹלָה. הוּא הָיָה אוֹמֵר, עַל שְׁלשָׁה דְבָרִים הָעוֹלָם עוֹמֵד, עַל הַתּוֹרָה וְעַל הָעֲבוֹדָה וְעַל גְּמִילוּת חֲסָדִים:
(2) Shimon the Righteous was from the remnants of the Great Assembly. He would say, "On three things the world stands: on the Torah, on the service and on acts chesed."
In the image of God
(6) YHVH passed before him [Moses] and proclaimed: “YHVH! YHVH! G!d compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, rav chesed and faithfulness, (7) extending kindness to the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin ---- yet She does not remit all punishment, but visits the iniquity of parents upon children and children’s children, upon the third and fourth generations.”
ספרי פרשת עקב
מה הקב"ה נקרא צדיק שנ' תהלים קמה צדיק יקוק בכל דרכיו וחסיד בכל מעשיו אף אתה הוי צדיק.הקב"ה נקרא חסיד שנאמ' וחסיד בכל מעשיו אף אתה הוי חסיד.
Midrash Sifrei, Eikev 49
As The Blessed Holy One is called just, so should you be just [tzadik]...
As The Blessed Holy One is called [chasid], so should you be chasid.
What exactly is chesed?
Rabbi Abraham Yachnes
If you are walking down the street and someone is walking beside you carrying carrying a large box, and you offer to help the person carry the box, that’s not chesed. You’d simply be a terrible person not to help someone in that situation. What counts as chesed is when you are walking the opposite way from someone carrying a burden and you turn around to help carry that load in the direction he or she is going. That’s chesed.
Limitations to Chesed
אמר רב יהודה החסידה זו דיה לבנה למה נקרא שמה חסידה שעושה חסידות עם חברותיה
“And the ḥasida, and the anafa after its kinds” are nonkosher birds (Leviticus 11:19), Rav Yehuda says: As for the ḥasida, this is the white stork. And why is it called ḥasida? Since it performs charity [ḥasidut] for its fellows, giving them from its own food.
If the stork is kind, and full of chesed, why do you think it isn't kosher?
Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle. – Philo, Jewish philosopher
Alan Morinis, Mussar Institute Teaching for the 6th Day of the Omer, 2022
The Torah says a confounding thing when it refers to brother-sister incest as chesed. In Guide for the Perplexed (3:53), Rambam addresses what this means, especially in light of the more common use of the word chesed to refer to lovingkindness:
We have explained the expression chesed as denoting an excess [emphasis added]. It is especially used of extraordinary kindness. Lovingkindness is performed in two ways. First, we show kindness to those who have no claim whatsoever upon us. Secondly, we are kind to those to whom it is due in a greater measure than is due to them.
From the Rambam we learn two different lessons. One is that the root notion of chesed is excess. The Torah may be saying that brother-sister relations are over the top. That excess is evaluated negatively. We get corroboration for this idea right in the early blessings of the Amidah, which is the core of the Jewish prayer service. In the second blessing, we praise God as, “One who does good acts of kindness” [Barukh gomel chasadim tovim]. If acts of kindness are by definition in and of themselves good, why put the word “good” in front of these words? Isn't the word “good” redundant? No, it isn’t, because the essence of chesed is excess, and that can be excess for good or negative.
Let Love by Alden Solovy
Let love wash over your face,
Caress your eyes,
Brush your lips.
Let love pulse through your heart,
Warm your lungs,
Fill your chest.
Let love strengthen your bones,
Ignite your nerves,
Awaken your flesh.
For love is in the air and in the wind,
The current and the waters,
The flow of gifts from G-d’s creation,
Divine bounty and grace,
Calling out to you dear sisters and brothers:
‘Awake you slumberers!
Awake you who walk warily into the day and dejected into the night.
Have you forgotten
My gifts and treasures?
Have you forsaken the beauty around you?
Have you surrendered your joy and passion?’
This, then, is G-d’s command:
Let love wash over you,
Pulse through you,
Pour strength into you.
Let love carry you into luminous days
And radiant nights.
Sing and dance,
Laugh and play,
Lifting your life with passion and hope.
Let love be your messenger and your message.
Blessed are You, G-d of love.