פרשת לך לך
In this week’s Parsha Hashem tells Avraham Avinu to travel away from his home town and to go to an unknown destination. In lieu of Avraham’s compliance, Hashem gives Avraham four assurances. 1. I will make you a great nation. 2. I will bless you. 3. I will glorify your reputation. 4. You will be the source of blessing. Rashi gives two distinct possibilities as to what these four assurances mean. Firstly, Rashi says that the Blessings are as follows: 1. A great nation is referring to the blessing of children. 2. I will bless you is the blessing of wealth. 3. I will glorify your reputation is the blessing of fame. 4. You will be the source of blessing is referring to the ability to bless anyone who Avraham desires. Alternatively, Rashi explains them as follows: 1. This is referring to the fact that we bless Avraham in the Shmone Esrei prayer. 2. The reference to Yitzchak. 3. The reference to Yaakov. 4. One might have thought that the conclusion of the Blessing would contain all three, so God assured Avraham that he would be the sole forefather to appear there.
We see from both of Rashi’s explanations the incredible esteem that Hashem has for the attribute of kindness which was embodied by Avraham. From the first explanation, we see that the fourth and final blessing, which seems to be the choicest one, was the ability to bless other people, which is essentially a form of Chessed and kindness. From here we see how special the attribute of Chessed is that Hashem chose it as the most important blessing. And from Rashi’s second explanation, we see that each one of the forefathers represented a different attribute. Avraham was kindness as we mentioned. Yitzchak was prayer and self-sacrifice. Yaakov represented the Torah. Although all the forefathers are mentioned by name, Avraham Avinu, the pillar of kindness, is the only one who makes it into the conclusion of the Blessing. How do we explain the tremendous importance that the Torah seems to be attaching to Chessed?
Perhaps we could explain that while kindness may not be the greatest of all the attributes, it is certainly the most fundamental in making the world function on a day to day basis. Hashem created a world in which Chessed is necessary. There are many professions in the world, and each one relies on the other one to co-exist. For example, a butcher could not perform his work if there were no knife makers. And a knife maker would be able to practice if the metal smith were to go out of business, and so on and so forth. Hashem created a world where each one of its inhabitants relies on the other ones to be able to thrive. This is what Chazal meant with the verse, “עולם חסד יבנה” – “Hashem created a world of kindness”.
Truthfully, even the great attribute of Torah requires Chessed in order to function properly. For example, the Rabbi who disseminates the Torah had to be willing to take his time and painstaking effort into teaching each and every student, molding them into the Torah Scholars that they are to become. And similarly, that Rabbi’s teacher had to do the same with him. When one studies with a Chevrusa, they are dependant upon each other’s kindness in order to function properly.
And even prayer is dependant on kindness. We know that prayer is only accepted by God when it is done in groups and it is forbidden to pray alone. Similarly it is forbidden to pray only for one’s own welfare, rather one must pray for the welfare of the entire Jewish nation. In fact, Chazal teach us (ב”ק דף צ”ב ) that if one wants to be answered, he should first pray for his friend who is in need of the same thing that he is, and this way, he will be answered first.
From all these examples we see that although kindness may not be the highest of all the attributes, it is certainly the most integral in facilitating the proper functioning of all the other attributes in a healthy way, and this is why Rashi refers to it as the “Chasima”. Just as a contract has no voracity without the signature, so to the world cannot run without the essential attribute of kindness.
There is perhaps another indication in Chazal as to how fundamental the Midah of Chessed is. Many people in life look for happiness. The Mashgiach, R’ Chadash, offers us the method to achieve this lofty goal, which happens to be quick and easy. He says that if one tries to make other people happy in life and goes out of his way to perform acts of kindness for other people, he will find that he is happy himself. This can be seen from the confession which we recite when we separate our tithes for the Kohanim and the poor people as the Torah commanded. We say “I have made happy and I have been happy”. The Mashgiach understood this phrase to be saying that by making others happy, I have become happy myself. The Mashgiach concludes by saying that with this explanation we can well understand Rashi’s first Pshat. Although the first three blessings of Children, wealth, and reputation are very enticing, the fourth and final blessing of the ability to make other people happy is the real brass ring for any thinking individual. The reason for this is as we explained, that the ability to make other people happy will offer you yourself tranquility and perfection, and this is what man seeks most of all.
An interesting event happened to me a number of years ago which illustrates the Mashgiach’s point beautifully. Approximately two decades ago, my brother in-law called me up one morning sounding very excited. I asked him what had happened. He replied that the previous evening he had a dream in which I came to him and I told him that I was going to share with him the secret of happiness which the entire world searches for in vain. In his dream, I proceeded to tell him that the Beracha in the Sheva Berachos that we say at one’s wedding begins, “שמח תשמח רעים האהובים…” . This double language of happiness is referring to the fact that when we make others happy, we become happy ourselves.
Perhaps we could conclude with the profound words of R’ Elchanan Wasserman. R’ Elchanan used to quote the verse “Zion will be redeemed with justice and be returned through kindness”. From here we see that Hashem will only bring the final redemption when the Jews excel in the attribute of kindness. He connects this verse with the above quoted Midrash which says that we “finish” with Avraham Avinu. Previously, we explained this to mean that the first Blessing of Shmone Esrei finishes with Avraham. But R’ Elchonon explains this to be referring to the “finishing” of our exile, and that this can only be accomplished through Chessed. When we begin helping each other and being concerned for each other’s welfare, that is when Hashem will redeem us from this long and bitter exile.
May Hashem help us to improve our attribute of kindness and through this, to merit the ultimate redemption, speedily in our days!