Description: Chapter 1 - 04
Ahavas Chesed
Chapter 1 – 04
The pasuk says, משכיל לאיתן האזרחי חסדי ה' עולם אשירה, the medrash explains, they asked Aisan Ha’ezrachi, what allows the world to continue to exist? He answered, kindness – as it says, ‘והוכן בחסד כסאו’. Chazal continue to give a mashal for this, if you have a chair with four legs, and they aren’t quite positioned properly, so the chair keeps on rocking back and forth. What do you do? You get a little piece of wood and put it under one of the legs to balance it out. That’s what Hashem did – the world wasn’t firmly established – it was unstable, until Hashem balanced it out with kindness – that’s what ‘vi’huchan kiso,’ means - His throne was balanced out – with chessed.
If Hashem would govern the world with judgement, midas hadin, we know the world wouldn’t be capable of withstanding that. The pasuk says, משכיל לאיתן האזרחי חסדי ה' עולם אשירה, the medrash explains, they asked Aisan Ha’ezrachi, what allows the world to continue to exist? He answered, kindness – as it says, ‘והוכן בחסד כסאו’. Chazal continue to give a mashal for this, if you have a chair with four legs, and they aren’t quite positioned properly, so the chair keeps on rocking back and forth. What do you do? You get a little piece of wood and put it under one of the legs to balance it out. That’s what Hashem did – the world wasn’t firmly established – it was unstable, until Hashem balanced it out with kindness – that’s what ‘vi’huchan kiso,’ means - His throne was balanced out – with chessed.
The Chafetz Chaim explains this mashal of Chazal, that the throne of four legs refers to the four olamos, the division of four realms according to Chazal. There are three worlds above our world, Atzilus, Briah, and Yetzirah, those are the worlds of the Malachim and spirits. The fourth world is Asiyah, which is our world. The three worlds, which are compared to three legs of Hashem’s throne, don’t require chessed to exist. The angels can survive through middas hadin as well – they are perfect beings. But the fourth world – our world, was unstable, and incapable of continuing without the support of middas Hachesed, and without our world – the whole throne was unstable! Therefore, Hashem’s throne was stabilized through chesed.
The Maharal in Nesivos Olam explains further that the comparison to a chair which isn’t resting properly on the surface it’s on, means that there isn’t a good connection between the chair and the surface. It isn’t bonding well – it lacks chibur. This is what chessed contributes – chessed creates a connection between Hashem and us. Judgement is not a process which creates a connection, a relationship between us and Hashem – His chessed is.
The point the Chafetz Chaim is making is that, being that the world depends on chessed for its existence, that now depends on us. As much as we practice chessed, is as much as Hashem governs and relates to us with chessed. That’s why chessed is so imperative and central to the whole of creation. That’s why we equate Torah and chessed in Sim Shalom, Klal Yisrael saw that both are integral to the world, when they had clarity of vision on Har Sinai.
Ahavas Chesed
Chapter 1 – 04
The pasuk says, משכיל לאיתן האזרחי חסדי ה' עולם אשירה, the medrash explains, they asked Aisan Ha’ezrachi, what allows the world to continue to exist? He answered, kindness – as it says, ‘והוכן בחסד כסאו’. Chazal continue to give a mashal for this, if you have a chair with four legs, and they aren’t quite positioned properly, so the chair keeps on rocking back and forth. What do you do? You get a little piece of wood and put it under one of the legs to balance it out. That’s what Hashem did – the world wasn’t firmly established – it was unstable, until Hashem balanced it out with kindness – that’s what ‘vi’huchan kiso,’ means - His throne was balanced out – with chessed.
If Hashem would govern the world with judgement, midas hadin, we know the world wouldn’t be capable of withstanding that. The pasuk says, משכיל לאיתן האזרחי חסדי ה' עולם אשירה, the medrash explains, they asked Aisan Ha’ezrachi, what allows the world to continue to exist? He answered, kindness – as it says, ‘והוכן בחסד כסאו’. Chazal continue to give a mashal for this, if you have a chair with four legs, and they aren’t quite positioned properly, so the chair keeps on rocking back and forth. What do you do? You get a little piece of wood and put it under one of the legs to balance it out. That’s what Hashem did – the world wasn’t firmly established – it was unstable, until Hashem balanced it out with kindness – that’s what ‘vi’huchan kiso,’ means - His throne was balanced out – with chessed.
The Chafetz Chaim explains this mashal of Chazal, that the throne of four legs refers to the four olamos, the division of four realms according to Chazal. There are three worlds above our world, Atzilus, Briah, and Yetzirah, those are the worlds of the Malachim and spirits. The fourth world is Asiyah, which is our world. The three worlds, which are compared to three legs of Hashem’s throne, don’t require chessed to exist. The angels can survive through middas hadin as well – they are perfect beings. But the fourth world – our world, was unstable, and incapable of continuing without the support of middas Hachesed, and without our world – the whole throne was unstable! Therefore, Hashem’s throne was stabilized through chesed.
The Maharal in Nesivos Olam explains further that the comparison to a chair which isn’t resting properly on the surface it’s on, means that there isn’t a good connection between the chair and the surface. It isn’t bonding well – it lacks chibur. This is what chessed contributes – chessed creates a connection between Hashem and us. Judgement is not a process which creates a connection, a relationship between us and Hashem – His chessed is.
The point the Chafetz Chaim is making is that, being that the world depends on chessed for its existence, that now depends on us. As much as we practice chessed, is as much as Hashem governs and relates to us with chessed. That’s why chessed is so imperative and central to the whole of creation. That’s why we equate Torah and chessed in Sim Shalom, Klal Yisrael saw that both are integral to the world, when they had clarity of vision on Har Sinai.