Description: Chapter 5 - 02
Ahavas Chesed
Chapter 5 – 02
We have been discussing how the Jews in Mitzrayim knew they had to find a special zchus to merit their redemption, and they made a pact to do gemilas chesed to one another. They also learned Torah, the mitzvos and character traits taught to them by the Avos. The Chafetz Chayim explains the well-known pasuk with this:
כה אמר ה' זכרתי לך חסד נעוריך אהבת כלולותיך לכתך אחרי במדבר בארץ לא זרועה
Hashem says, I remember the chesed you did in your young years, and that refers to the chesed they performed with one another in Mitzrayim. Ahavas kelulosayich, the love of our marriage, refers to Kabbalas Hatorah, which was a marriage between Hashem and Klal Yisrael, and lastly, lechtaich acharai ba’midbar, the fact that Klal Yisrael followed and trusted in Hashem throughout their years in the Midbar.
This is a beautiful pshat in this pasuk. Typically, we learn that the pasuk is all talking about one thing, Hashem remembers the kindness we performed and the love we exhibited – by following after Him into the Midbar. But this is difficult to understand, why would that be called a kindness!? The Chafetz Chaim is explaining it refers to something else totally – the chesed we performed while we were still in Mitzrayim!
The mitzvah of chesed will be the zchus which redeems us from amongst the nations of the world, as the Gemarah says in Brachos. The Gemarah actually says, that anyone who learns Torah, performs kindness, and davens, is as if he has already redeemed Hashem and Klal Yisrael from the galus! The Chafetz Chaim is understanding the Gemarah to mean that this is the merit which will eventually cause the redemption to happen, therefore Hashem already attributes that zchus to us, when we take part in Torah, Gemilas Chasadim, and Avodah – davening!
The mitzvah of chesed is greater than korbanos, as the pasuk in Hoshea says: כי חסד חפצתי ולא זבח, Hashem says, the kindness you perform is more beloved to me than the thousand olos that Shlomo Hamelech brought (right in the beginning of his reign.) In the Yerushalmi beginning of Pei’ah it says even more, that chesed and tzedakah are equal to all the mitzvos.
The medrash in the beginning of Rus, explains the purpose of the whole story of Rus, why we have a megillah detailing those events. This megillah, doesn’t have tumah and taharah or issur and heter (meaning it doesn’t teach us mitzvos as Megillas Esther does,) why was it written? To teach us the reward given to those who perform chesed! Meaning Boaz was kind to Rus, giving her food, and marrying her, and through that merited to be the father of Dovid Hamelech and the whole dynasty of kings, and this remained in his family line forever – all in the merit of the chesed that he did!
Rain falls in the merit of gemilas chesed, and kindness has the power to revoke a decree condemning us to death!
Ahavas Chesed
Chapter 5 – 02
We have been discussing how the Jews in Mitzrayim knew they had to find a special zchus to merit their redemption, and they made a pact to do gemilas chesed to one another. They also learned Torah, the mitzvos and character traits taught to them by the Avos. The Chafetz Chayim explains the well-known pasuk with this:
כה אמר ה' זכרתי לך חסד נעוריך אהבת כלולותיך לכתך אחרי במדבר בארץ לא זרועה
Hashem says, I remember the chesed you did in your young years, and that refers to the chesed they performed with one another in Mitzrayim. Ahavas kelulosayich, the love of our marriage, refers to Kabbalas Hatorah, which was a marriage between Hashem and Klal Yisrael, and lastly, lechtaich acharai ba’midbar, the fact that Klal Yisrael followed and trusted in Hashem throughout their years in the Midbar.
This is a beautiful pshat in this pasuk. Typically, we learn that the pasuk is all talking about one thing, Hashem remembers the kindness we performed and the love we exhibited – by following after Him into the Midbar. But this is difficult to understand, why would that be called a kindness!? The Chafetz Chaim is explaining it refers to something else totally – the chesed we performed while we were still in Mitzrayim!
The mitzvah of chesed will be the zchus which redeems us from amongst the nations of the world, as the Gemarah says in Brachos. The Gemarah actually says, that anyone who learns Torah, performs kindness, and davens, is as if he has already redeemed Hashem and Klal Yisrael from the galus! The Chafetz Chaim is understanding the Gemarah to mean that this is the merit which will eventually cause the redemption to happen, therefore Hashem already attributes that zchus to us, when we take part in Torah, Gemilas Chasadim, and Avodah – davening!
The mitzvah of chesed is greater than korbanos, as the pasuk in Hoshea says: כי חסד חפצתי ולא זבח, Hashem says, the kindness you perform is more beloved to me than the thousand olos that Shlomo Hamelech brought (right in the beginning of his reign.) In the Yerushalmi beginning of Pei’ah it says even more, that chesed and tzedakah are equal to all the mitzvos.
The medrash in the beginning of Rus, explains the purpose of the whole story of Rus, why we have a megillah detailing those events. This megillah, doesn’t have tumah and taharah or issur and heter (meaning it doesn’t teach us mitzvos as Megillas Esther does,) why was it written? To teach us the reward given to those who perform chesed! Meaning Boaz was kind to Rus, giving her food, and marrying her, and through that merited to be the father of Dovid Hamelech and the whole dynasty of kings, and this remained in his family line forever – all in the merit of the chesed that he did!
Rain falls in the merit of gemilas chesed, and kindness has the power to revoke a decree condemning us to death!