The fourth of the Ten Sefirot -- chesed -- precedes all others because it is the only one that is unconditional and unmotivated.
An act of chesed act is that which is not recycled back, like an anonymous gift to charity.
1. Who are the players in this text – seen and unseen?
2. What is an act of loving kindness? How is it unique compared to any good deed?
3. What social justice themes emerge from this text?
Rabbi Akiva taught: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’ (Leviticus 19:18). This is the most important rule in the Torah. (Jerusalem Talmud Nedarim 30b)
Without love, it’s impossible to treat others as they deserve. Each person is likened to an entire world in Judaism. Remembering this helps us to see the value in each and every person we come across, and can help us remember the key Torah commandment to be kind.
Our Sages taught: Gemilut chasadim (acts of loving kindness) is greater than tzedakah in three ways: Acts of tzedakah involve only one's money -- gemilut chasadim can involve both money or one's personal service. Tzedakah can be given only to the poor -- gemilut chasadim can be done both for the rich and for the poor. Tzedakah can be given only to the living -- gemilut chasadim can be done both for the living and the dead.
אָמַר רַבִּי סִימוֹן, בְּשָׁעָה שֶׁבָּא הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא לִבְרֹאת אֶת אָדָם הָרִאשׁוֹן, נַעֲשׂוּ מַלְאֲכֵי הַשָּׁרֵת כִּתִּים כִּתִּים, וַחֲבוּרוֹת חֲבוּרוֹת, מֵהֶם אוֹמְרִים אַל יִבָּרֵא, וּמֵהֶם אוֹמְרִים יִבָּרֵא, הֲדָא הוּא דִכְתִיב (תהלים פה, יא): חֶסֶד וֶאֱמֶת נִפְגָּשׁוּ צֶדֶק וְשָׁלוֹם נָשָׁקוּ. חֶסֶד אוֹמֵר יִבָּרֵא, שֶׁהוּא גּוֹמֵל חֲסָדִים. וֶאֱמֶת אוֹמֵר אַל יִבָּרֵא, שֶׁכֻּלּוֹ שְׁקָרִים. צֶדֶק אוֹמֵר יִבָּרֵא, שֶׁהוּא עוֹשֶׂה צְדָקוֹת. שָׁלוֹם אוֹמֵר אַל יִבָּרֵא, דְּכוּלֵיהּ קְטָטָה.
R. Simon said: When the Holy One, blessed be God, came to create Adam, the ministering angels formed themselves into groups and parties, some of them saying, 'Let him be created,' while others urged, 'Let him not be created.' As it is written, "Lovingkindness and truth met, justice and peace kissed." (Psalms 85:11): Lovingkindness said, 'Let him be created, because he will dispense acts of lovingkindness'; Truth said, 'Let him not be created, because he is full of lies'; Justice said, 'Let him be created, because he will perform acts of justice'; Peace said, 'Let him not be created, because he is full of strife.'
Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, To Heal a Fractured World
The beauty of justice is that it belongs to a world of order constructed out of universal rules through which each of us stands equally before the law. Hessed, by contrast, is intrinsically personal. We cannot care for the sick, bring comfort to the distressed or welcome a visitor impersonally. If we do so, it merely shows that we have not understood what these activities are. Justice demand disengagement...Hessed is an act of engagement. Justice is best administered without emotion. Hessed exists only in virtue of emotion, empath and sympathy, feeling-with and feeling-for. We act with kindness because we know what it feels like to be in need of kindness. We comfort the mourners because we know what it is to mourn. Hessed requires not detached rationality but emotional intelligence.
What would look different in our world if we we enhanced our life of Torah (or study), our life of service (or prayer), and our life of Hesed?
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.
––Rabbi Abraham Yachnes