Chesed — Deeds of Kindness (חסד — גמילות חסדים)

Core definition

Gemilus chasadim — deeds of loving-kindness — is one of the three pillars upon which the world stands: "Upon three things the world stands: upon the Torah, and upon the avodah, and upon gemilus chasadim" (Avos 1:2). In the corpus's exposition, kindness-deeds are the "water" element of avodah: "fortunate are you, sowing upon all waters" (Yeshayahu 32:20) — "גמ״ח and tzedakah likened to waters: as the waters descending from a high place to a low place, so the level of tzedakah and gemilus chasadim, to vivify the lowly's spirit — to who has nothing of his own" [15893/maamar_019 :: עב׳ 574–576]. Where Torah is the mediating middle line and avodah (prayer/sacrifice) is "fire" — the ratzu from below to above — gemilus chasadim is the drawing from above to below, bringing life to the lowly [15893/maamar_019 :: עב׳ 582–584].

How the Rebbeim develop it

One of the three pillars. The Shavuos maamar expounds the Mishnah at length: why does the world stand specifically on these three — Torah, avodah, and gemilus chasadim? The preface draws the Sefer Yetzirah's 22 letters; the conclusion: "drawing the אמ״ר through avodah in its example: Torah, avodah, gemilus chasadim — אמ״ר from below to above." Yet the Torah-pillar is primary — "the world is sustained only through the schoolchildren's breath" — and "all who say: I have only Torah — even Torah he has not": all three are needed [15893/maamar_019 :: §42, tail]. The three are mapped onto the three kavim (lines): "the two Kavim are avodah and gemilus chasadim, the Torah being the middle" — fire and water with Torah as mediator [15893/maamar_019 :: note on phrase 738].

Kindness as the water's drawing. The deeds of kindness belong to the water-level — "Chesed and tzedakah, to vivify the lowly's spirit": the fire-level (tefillah, the korbanos' "a fire, a pleasing scent") ascends from below to above — the soul separating from pleasures, delighting over Hashem alone — while the water-level descends: "to be the drawing from above to below in the level of tzedakah and gemilus chasadim, to vivify the lowly's spirit" [15893/maamar_019 :: עב׳ 575, §1908]. The Torah mediates between them — "to be above and below equal" — so that the love's ascent and the kindness's descent are joined [15893/maamar_019 :: עב׳ 581–584].

Yackov, the pillar of kindness. Yackov's essential middah is chesed: "The middah of Chesed said: all the days Yackov was in the world, I did not need to do my work... Thus Yackov's middah is the middah of Chesed" [31685/maamar_011_kol_hamerachem :: §137–143]. And the reward-promise: "the Holy One, blessed be He, flows him abundant good in the middah of rachamim (mercy), which is without limit" — for "kol hamerachem al habriyos" (whoever has mercy on creatures) [31685/maamar_011_kol_hamerachem :: §17].

Kindness and the world's standing. In the three-pillars framework, gemilus chasadim is not charity alone but the cosmic drawing-down that sustains the world: "until even the two Kavim's drawing of fire and water (as the korbanos... and tzedakah and gemilus chasadim and the like — the drawing, etc.) — all through the level of the Torah's middle Kav specifically" [15893/maamar_019 :: §1905]. Tzedakah and gemilus chasadim together form the water's level — tzedakah being the obligatory giving, gemilus chasadim the beyond-obligation kindness (done with one's body as well as one's means).

Key distinctions

Gemilus chasadim vs. tzedakah. Both are the water's drawing — "גמ״ח and tzedakah likened to waters" — but they stand side by side as the two forms of giving: tzedakah (righteous giving, especially monetary) and gemilus chasadim (kindness-deeds, given also with the body and beyond measure) [15893/maamar_019 :: עב׳ 574–576].

Kindness (water) vs. avodah (fire) vs. Torah (middle). Fire = ratzu from below to above (tefillah, the korbanos' ascending flame); water = the drawing from above to below (chesed, tzedakah, to vivify the lowly's spirit); Torah = the mediating middle kav, making "above and below equal" [15893/maamar_019 :: עב׳ 577–584, §1908].

Chesed vs. rachamim. Chesed is Yackov's middah — the boundless giving; rachamim (mercy) is Yackov's middah — Tiferes, "agreeing with din yet flowing from the giver's side" — the decider that leans toward chesed [31685/maamar_011_kol_hamerachem :: §8, §86–92].

Related concepts

Tzedakah (righteous giving); Torah and Avodah (the other two pillars); Chesed (the sefirah of kindness); Rachamim (mercy); Yackov (the pillar of chesed); Ahavah (love — the fire's level; kindness — the water's).

Sources