ושמר ה' אלקיך לך את הברית ואת החסד אשר נשבע לאבתיך ..... (ז-יב)
מידה: חסד
Every Jew can be distinguished, with three special qualities, over the other nations of the world. The Gemara (יבמות עט:) teaches that Klal Yisroel maintain the three middos of "ביישנים" - we have an acute sense of shame and modesty, "רחמנים" - we are sincerely merciful and compassionate, and "גומלי חסדים" - we are constantly bestowing kindness on others. In fact, the Gemara in Kiddushin tells us that our great middah of chessed is derived from the posuk, “And Hashem your G-d will guard for you the covenant and the kindness.” The question is, asks R’ Boruch HaLevi Epstein ZT”L (Torah Temimah), this posuk is talking about the kindness of Hashem, not the kindness of the Jewish people. How then is this the source for our attribute of chessed? The Torah Temimah gives us an enlightening explanation. He says that Hashem deals with a person exactly in the way that he deals with others (סוטה ט:). Therefore, if the Torah tells us that Hashem will bestow kindness on the Jewish people, it is clear that He will do so only because the Jewish people are bestowing kindness upon others!
We are living in a time in which our nation is desperately in need of Hashem’s mercy and kindness. It is true that we must pray to Hashem and beg Him to have pity on us. But maybe, just maybe, there is another very simple and effective way of arousing Heavenly kindness to shine down upon us; by being ESPECIALLY kind to others. We learn from this posuk that Hashem is, so to speak, “taking cues” from us, His nation. The kinder and more loving and merciful we will be to others, the more we will merit Hashem’s mercy, love and kindness for ourselves. A worthwhile investment, for sure!
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