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Translated by Avi Weinstein for the Samuel Bronfman Foundation “Why Be Jewish” Gathering
In the Book of Proverbs “With Compassion and truth sin will be atoned.” (Proverbs
16:6). King Solomon wishes to say that it is reasonable for anyone who performs
acts of lovingkindness to people, shall deserve for God to perform an act of
lovingkindness by atoning his sins, and He will not scrutinize the severity of one’s
sins. For just as the individual has gone beyond the letter of the law, God, too, will
do the same for him. Furthermore, we will explain that this is a unique quality of
Chesed, that when one performs acts of lovingkindness and does favors for
humanity, God, too, will do this in kind, and favor him and give atonement for his
sins. Furthermore, Chasidut (piety, the root of the word is Chesed) is defined as
when one goes beyond the letter of the law, and has internalized this way of
doing things…
The Sages, however explain this verse by saying that one who is a master of
lovingkindness is deserving of having his sins atoned, for such a person is a master
of absolute good because he makes good for others. Such a person has the merit
from the material, but he is not absolutely involved in the material realm. For the
absolutely material does not have impact on others, but is constantly taking. The
sages alluded to this in Pirkei Avot, An ignoramous cannot be a Chasid. For an
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ignoramous is immersed in the material does not have this quality of Chasidut to
perform favors for another, for the material cannot influence others, but only
receive (for himself). Therefore, those who are masters of loving kindness are not
material, but nevertheless gain merit from the material. It is through this process
that his body and material being is purified from sin, for they represent the
defects of the material. Thus the Midrash says on the verse: “For compassion I
desired, and not sacrifices…” The Holy One said: Chesed is more beloved to me
when you perform acts of lovingkindness toward one another than all the
sacrifices that King Solomon performed before Me; one thousand sacrifices that
he ordered all at one time. Rabbi Yochanan Ben Zakai was walking in Jerusalem
and Rabbi Yehoshua was following him. He said: How hard it is for us that our
House (the Temple) has been destroyed. It was the place where our sins used to
be atoned. He answered: My son, do not despair for we have something that
achieves the same goal, and these are acts of lovingkindness. Thus it is written:
‘For Lovingkindness I desired, and not sacrifices.’ And it is written:’ The world is
built on compassion’
All this is because masters of lovingkindness do not have a material quality, only
the purification of the material, and with this he refines and purifies the body
from sin as we have explained. ..
In the first chapter of Sotah (14a) Rabbi Acha said: What does the verse, ‘Walk
after the Lord your God’ mean? Can a person literally walk after the Divine
presence? Is it not written: ‘For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, and a
jealous God.’? Rather, it means to emulate His qualities. Just as He clothes the
naked…so should you clothe the naked. Just as thE Holy One visits the sick, so
should you…Just as He buries the dead so should you…and just as He consoles the
mourner, so should you…
Why is it that this is the singular quality by which a human can truly emulate his
Creator? Because these are the activities that a person does of his own volition.
For one cannot say that when one engages in judgment that he is walking in the
ways of God, because the walker is walking by his own initiative, and performs
these deeds by his own will, and his own awareness, and that is what is required
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to walk in the ways of the Lord, because he does it only because he feels like it.
Justice, however, is an obligation, and cannot be considered walking in the ways
of God. Only when he goes beyond the letter of the law, and does it willingly and
voluntarily is he considered to have walked in the ways of the Holy One. Even
Tzedaka is not on this level for when one sees a poor person in great distress, and
he supports him, it is possible that if the distress was not evident that he would
not rise to his aid. This too, is not walking in the ways of God. It is only when he
does an act of lovingkindness, just because he wants to…