Chessed – Greater than Receiving the Shechina?

By Rabbi Moshe Krieger, Yeshivas Bircas HaTorah

 In this week’s parsha we learn a surprising yesod, namely, that taking in guests is so important that it takes precedence even over greeting the Shechina (Shabbos 127a)! This principle is derived from the episode that begins our parsha. Avraham Avinu was sitting at the entrance of his tent eagerly awaiting any human form to appear on the horizon so he could fulfill the mitzva of hachnassas orchim, and before anyone appeared, Hashem appeared to him. Nevertheless, even though the Shechina was there in front of him (not to mention that he was in acute pain), Avraham Avinu stood up and broke into a run the moment he saw three nomads in the distance. From here Chazal derive that taking in guests takes precedence even over greeting the Shechina.

Now, let’s ask: is this halacha lemaaseh? The rosh yeshiva comes to visit you and is sharing a devar Torah with you or giving you mussar — if you see three wayfarers walking by, are you allowed to run away from the rosh yeshiva to tend to them? Of course not! How could Avraham have run away from the Shechina?

Furthermore, Avraham’s efforts in hachnassas orchim seem exaggerated. Avos D’Rebbe Nassan (7:1) states that Hashem told Iyov: “You didn’t get to the level of Avraham. You made sure to give people what they needed, but Avraham gave people even what they did not need.” Iyov served his guests the foods that they were used to, whereas Avraham’s guests, even if they were used to bread but not meat and wine, Avraham would introduce them to meat and wine as well. This was Avraham’s ongoing activity, as the Sages state (Sotah 10) that he ran a veritable hotel in Be’er Sheva.

Why did Avraham Avinu expend so much effort in hachnassas orchim, and seemingly go overboard in preparing dishes that people weren’t even expecting or used to eating?

The Alter of Slobodka explains that there are two forms of chessed. The first form involves seeing to a fellow man’s needs. The Rambam (Laws of Mourning 14:1) states that acts of kindness such as hachnassas orchim are included in the mitzva, “love your neighbor as yourself.” This form of chessed finds expression only in areas in which a fellow man is clearly and discernibly lacking. The second form of chessed exists when a person is so good-natured that he is always looking for ways to do good. He will assess and re-assess a situation until he finds a way to help his fellow man, even when no lack is evident. This was the chessed of Avraham Avinu, and it stemmed from the desire to emulate Hashem. Just as Hashem created a world in order to bring into existence beings that could receive His goodness, so too Avraham looked for ways to be a bestower of goodness. If a person was not used to meat and wine, Avraham would introduce him to these dishes, so that he could then go on to bestow still more good upon him. This is chessed in its complete, G-dly form (as explained by the Rambam, Hilchos Dei’os 1).

This also explains how Avraham Avinu could have broken away from the Shechina when he saw the wayfarers. He in fact was not breaking away at all. Receiving the Shechina is indeed a form of deveikus to Hashem, but one that comes externally. Instead of Hashem’s coming to him, Avraham was so to speak bringing Hashem into himself by doing actions that emulate Hashem’s ways.

Rav Dessler adds that external forms of deveikus, even something as lofty as nevuah, are no guarantee that a person will remain on a high spiritual level. For example, Hashem spoke to Kayin and afterwards Kayin killed his brother, Hevel. Meaning, external deveikus is much less than actually doing what Hashem wants. When you follow Hashem’s ways, you are making Hashem a part of you. This makes a much greater impact on a person even then receiving the Shechina.

Many people do chessed but in an incomplete manner. They feel they have to do it, or they want the s’char; some people do chessed with the clear expectation that the recipient will then “owe them a favor.” Other people feel uncomfortable beholding a poor man’s plight and do chessed simply to avoid the pain his situation causes them. While such acts may fulfill the command of “love your neighbor as yourself” (to greater or lesser extent…), chessed in its complete form of deveikus to Hashem only exists when done completely — when done solely for the goodness of giving to another. This is what Avraham Avinu taught us.

In addition to his stature as a gadol b’Yisrael, Rav Avraham Chaim Brim was also known as an oheiv chessed, one who went out of his way to help others. He was always looking for worthy causes and/or needy people for whom he would collect funds or help in other ways. He was ever on the lookout for people who he thought needed a kind word or encouragement, and was there for people in their times of grief. Like Avraham Avinu, who was pained by the inability to do chessed, Rav Brim once commented when he was sick in the hospital that “baruch Hashem, I can learn and I can daven, but I can’t perform chessed, and that hurts.”

Whenever he traveled by taxi, Rav Brim would add money to the fare because he felt that many passengers complain to drivers, either about poor service or high fares, and he wanted to offset that by giving a sign of his satisfaction with the driver’s service.

Once, the taxi driver, overwhelmed, looked at the money Rav Brim was offering him and said: “Rabbi, this extra sum is the only money I want. You can keep the fare. This sign of appreciation is worth more to me than anything else.”

This was just one example of how Rav Brim went out of his way to see how he could bring joy to his fellowman.

May we be zoche to go in Hashem’s ways of chessed and bestow good in the world!