Description: Chapter 4 - 02
Ahavas Chesed
Chapter 4 – 02
This is what the pasuk means:
מלפניך משפטי יצא עיניך תחזינה מישרים
This means when my judgement goes before You Hashem, and only You, then Your eyes will see righteousness. In Melachim, the navi relates the story of how Achav was condemned to die by the Beis Din shel Maalah, because (the final stroke,) he killed Nevos to steal his vineyard. The pasuk says Hashem was ki’vayachol sitting on His throne, and all of the heavenly host was standing to the right or the left. Chazal say, Hashem has no physicality – how can there be a right or a left? Chazal answer it means those who are ‘mayminim,’ and ‘masmilim,’ meaning the right ones are the ones who are the defense team – melamaid zchus, and the masmilim, the left ones are the ones who are the prosecution – they are melamaid chovah. When the whole Beis Din Shel Maalah is present, there are always those whose job it is to bring forth the din, and the sins, and the chov of the person being judged. But when Hashem judges alone, it is entirely merciful. That is what the pasuk means when it says, ‘einechah techezenah meisharim,’ Your eyes will find favor, find righteousness.
Hakadosh Baruch Hu will always try to find a zchus, look at someone’s actions through a different lens, of mercy and kindness, and try to explain a person’s justification, while wrong, but not as bad as it seems. But if he is judged by the Beis Din Shel Maalah, he won’t be absolved.
This is what Chazal mean that if a person learns and is involved with Torah exclusively, it is as if he has no God, meaning, that if he does learn Torah and performs Gemilas Chesed, then he strengthens the middah of Chesed in Shamayim, and Hashem will judge him exclusively. Therefore, he will be judged with extreme mercy and kindness, and certainly be given a positive judgement. But if he only learnt Torah and didn’t do chesed as he should have, then it will appear as if his God abandoned him, because he is judged by the Beis Din Shel Maalah, and the middas hadin plays a role. Hashem won’t protect him in his time of need from the forces of Din, since he abandoned the holy attributes of chesed himself.
The Gemarah in Bava Kamah says a similar thing:
כל העוסק בתורה ובגמילות חסדים אויביו נופלים לפניו כיוסף
Whoever learns Torah and performs Gemilas Chesed kindness, his enemies fall before him like Yosef Hatzaddik, of whom the Torah writes, ‘amim yenagach yachdav.’ He merits to understanding like Yisachar. This means that in the merit of learning Torah he is zocheh to understand Torah as Yisachar did. The shevet of Yisachar dedicated their lives to learning Torah and many of the heads of Sanhedrin were from that Shevet. In the merit of chesed, he is zocheh to be saved from his enemies, meaning all those who stand against him, whether spiritual or physical, because he resembles Yosef, who was osaik in Chesed to the greatest degree when he provided food and sustenance to his family and all of Mitzrayim, and was personally responsible for the burial of his father Yaakov, which is also chesed.
From all this we can understand how powerful the middah of chesed is to protect us both in this world and in the next.
Ahavas Chesed
Chapter 4 – 02
This is what the pasuk means:
מלפניך משפטי יצא עיניך תחזינה מישרים
This means when my judgement goes before You Hashem, and only You, then Your eyes will see righteousness. In Melachim, the navi relates the story of how Achav was condemned to die by the Beis Din shel Maalah, because (the final stroke,) he killed Nevos to steal his vineyard. The pasuk says Hashem was ki’vayachol sitting on His throne, and all of the heavenly host was standing to the right or the left. Chazal say, Hashem has no physicality – how can there be a right or a left? Chazal answer it means those who are ‘mayminim,’ and ‘masmilim,’ meaning the right ones are the ones who are the defense team – melamaid zchus, and the masmilim, the left ones are the ones who are the prosecution – they are melamaid chovah. When the whole Beis Din Shel Maalah is present, there are always those whose job it is to bring forth the din, and the sins, and the chov of the person being judged. But when Hashem judges alone, it is entirely merciful. That is what the pasuk means when it says, ‘einechah techezenah meisharim,’ Your eyes will find favor, find righteousness.
Hakadosh Baruch Hu will always try to find a zchus, look at someone’s actions through a different lens, of mercy and kindness, and try to explain a person’s justification, while wrong, but not as bad as it seems. But if he is judged by the Beis Din Shel Maalah, he won’t be absolved.
This is what Chazal mean that if a person learns and is involved with Torah exclusively, it is as if he has no God, meaning, that if he does learn Torah and performs Gemilas Chesed, then he strengthens the middah of Chesed in Shamayim, and Hashem will judge him exclusively. Therefore, he will be judged with extreme mercy and kindness, and certainly be given a positive judgement. But if he only learnt Torah and didn’t do chesed as he should have, then it will appear as if his God abandoned him, because he is judged by the Beis Din Shel Maalah, and the middas hadin plays a role. Hashem won’t protect him in his time of need from the forces of Din, since he abandoned the holy attributes of chesed himself.
The Gemarah in Bava Kamah says a similar thing:
כל העוסק בתורה ובגמילות חסדים אויביו נופלים לפניו כיוסף
Whoever learns Torah and performs Gemilas Chesed kindness, his enemies fall before him like Yosef Hatzaddik, of whom the Torah writes, ‘amim yenagach yachdav.’ He merits to understanding like Yisachar. This means that in the merit of learning Torah he is zocheh to understand Torah as Yisachar did. The shevet of Yisachar dedicated their lives to learning Torah and many of the heads of Sanhedrin were from that Shevet. In the merit of chesed, he is zocheh to be saved from his enemies, meaning all those who stand against him, whether spiritual or physical, because he resembles Yosef, who was osaik in Chesed to the greatest degree when he provided food and sustenance to his family and all of Mitzrayim, and was personally responsible for the burial of his father Yaakov, which is also chesed.
From all this we can understand how powerful the middah of chesed is to protect us both in this world and in the next.