Introduction Part 2 – So Much Chesed in the Torah!

Rabbi Jack Abramowitz

The Gemara tells us (Sotah 14a) that the Torah both starts and ends with kindness: it starts with kindness when Hashem clothes Adam and Chava, and it ends with kindness when He buries Moshe. From the fact that the Torah starts and ends with kindness, we can easily infer the importance of chesed. But those aren’t the only two acts of chesed in the Torah – there are many more acts of kindness in between them!

The Chofetz Chaim tells us that it’s important to dispel a common misconception, i.e., that chesed is just about lending money to those who need it. Rather, chesed is any kindness that one person might be able to extend to another. It could be by lending money or some object, but it could also involve expending effort, either to the living – such as through hosting guests, gladdening newlyweds, visiting the sick, etc. – or to the deceased, such as by providing funereal needs, escorting the casket, eulogizing, et al. All of these fulfill the obligation of loving one’s fellow as oneself (Leviticus 19:18), since these are all things a person would like done for himself.

So, where do we see that the Torah is replete with acts of chesed? The Chofetz Chaim provides numerous examples:

  1. Hashem acted as Adam’s “best man” [not only that, He acted as his shadchan!];
  2. Noach’s sons covered their father’s nudity;
  3. Avraham rescued Lot from captivity;
  4. Hashem visited Avraham when he was recuperating from his bris;
  5. Avraham hosted guests;
  6. Avraham interceded on behalf of Sodom (from which we see that rotten people deserve chesed, too);
  7. Lot hosted guests;
  8. Avraham established an inn for travelers;
  9. Avraham buried Sarah and eulogized her;
  10. Rivka gave water to Eliezer and his camels;
  11. Yitzchak and Yishmael buried Avraham;
  12. Hashem paid a “shiva call” to Yitzchak;
  13. Yaakov committed to giving tzedakah;
  14. Yaakov buried Devorah the nurse;
  15. Yaakov buried Rachel and set up a headstone;
  16. Yaakov and Eisav buried Yitzchak;
  17. Yaakov’s children tried to console him when he was mourning;
  18. Reuven and Yehuda worked to save Yosef from death;
  19. Tamar was willing to sacrifice herself rather than shame Yehuda;
  20. Pharaoh’s butler (eventually) remembered Yosef to Pharaoh;
  21. Yosef had his brothers given food for their journey;
  22. Yosef sustained the people of Egypt;
  23. Yaakov was buried, mourned, eulogized and escorted.

And that’s just Sefer Bereishis! In Sefer Shemos, the midwives saved the baby boys, Moshe commiserated with his enslaved brethren, he saved the Jew from the taskmaster’s beating, he saved Yisro’s daughters from the shepherds, he drew water for them, the Jewish overseers allowed themselves to be beaten rather than increase their brothers’ burden, Moshe took Yosef’s remains out of Egypt, he went out to greet Yisro and waited on him….

Seriously, did you ever realize just how many acts of chesed there are in the Torah? And that’s just in the narrative portion! Let us consider the mitzvos! Among the many acts of chesed we are commanded are extending loans, giving charity, redeeming captives, giving someone a job, giving portions of one’s crops to the needy, leaving crops unguarded (and therefore free for all) during shemittah, returning lost items, helping to load and unload an animal, and many more. The Chofetz Chaim says that he invested a lot of thought and came to the conclusion that there is no limit to the topics of chesed in the Torah!

(The rest of this introduction deals with the obligation to lend to others, which is the subject of the first volume of Ahavas Chesed. We’re going to start with volume 2, so we’ll circle back to the rest of this introduction when we return to volume 1, IY”H.)

Get handy, colorful chesed "cheat sheets" in A Universe of Chesed!