Gemilut Chasadim: Turning Deeds of Loving Kindness into Sacred Actions
שמעון הצדיק היה משיירי אנשי כנסת הגדולה. הוא היה אומר, על שלושה דברים העולם עומד–על התורה, ועל העבודה, ועל גמילות החסדים
Shimon hatzadik haya m’shiri anshei kenesset hagadol. Hu haya omeir, “Al Shelosha devarim haolam omaid: Al haTorah, v’al ha’avoda, v’al gemilut chasadim.”
Shimon the Righteous was one of the last survivors of the Great Assembly. He used to say: “On three things the world is sustained: on the Torah, on (ritually prescribed) prayer, and on deeds of loving kindness.” (Pirkei Avot1 1:2)
Why should we care about performing deeds of loving kindness—whatever that means? Is this verse from the Pirkei Avot in the Mishna2 a suggestion or a mandate? Isn’t it enough just to have a heart that can be moved to do a good deed?
How do you feel when your favorite television show is interrupted by a commercial that tells you that for just fifty cents you can save the life of a child? That child, the speaker says, will die unless you get out of your chair and send fifty cents to their organization. Of course, we are then told that it is actually fifty cents a day, one hundred and seventy three dollars that is being asked for, not merely 50 cents. Do you immediately bound off the couch, pick up the phone, and make your pledge so that you can save a child’s life? Or do you struggle with the issue of whether you can really afford to make such a financial commitment? Sitting in your warm, dry house, do you feel a sense of guilt, frustration, even failure if you conclude that you really can’t respond to that strong emotional appeal? Are you conflicted because you don’t want that child to die because of your lack of ability or willingness to respond, yet feel that you really are not able to respond to the appeal?
The current financial situation in America constrains many people from committing to ongoing donations. How does it feel to be told that one could save the life of a child when one is struggling to meet the basic needs of one’s family? Are you a “bad person” because you put the needs of you or your family first? Couldn’t you somehow find the 50 cents a day to save the life of a child? For many people, the answer is “no.” Discretionary income that may have existed six or seven years ago does not exist for many people today. What does that reality mean in terms of performing one’s ability to follow the inclination of one’s heart to perform a deed of loving kindness?
There’s a saying by that famous author “Anon:” “Pray as though everything depended upon God; Work as though everything depended upon you.” There is a suggestion that prayer is voluntary and motivated by need while work is motivated by duty and necessity. In the quotation above from the Mishna, the word “Avodah,” which I have translated as “ritually prescribed prayer,” is bookended by two important words: “Torah” and “Gemilut Chasadim.”
The Hebrew word “Torah3” is derived from a Hebrew root which means to “guide, teach or instruct.” However, in the Jewish world, the term “Torah” can be either very specific—a Torah Scroll—or very general, referring to the entire body of Jewish knowledge, culture and ritual traditions. For the Jewish community, Torah, whether understood specifically or in a more general way, is our guide to right action. It instructs us, to some extent, with respect to prescribed prayer, and it details the actions that we must perform to live our lives as righteous Jews.
The Hebrew word “Gemilut” is based on a Hebrew root that suggests that helpful acts are reciprocal and should be performed within the parameters of an established relationship. This definition is confirmed by a statement in the Talmud (Shabbat 127a) that explains that reward for service should take place in the “real” world and NOT in “the world to come." This is very different from our modern, broader, more universal understanding of the term “gemilut.”4 Today, within the Jewish community, gemilut chasadim in the “real world” has evolved as a type of deontological ethical system, a “duty” that one is required to perform.
The Hebrew word “Chasadim,” is the plural of the word “Chesed.” Chesed is best translated as goodness/kindness but it carries with it the connotation of piety and constancy. This word contains a duality in its semantic understanding: it refers to the kindness of human beings towards one another and it also refers to the kindness of the Holy One towards God’s creations.
Chesed is understood to be one of God’s 13 divine attributes.5 The 13 Divine attributes are derived from two verses in Exodus, 34:6–7. "The Lord! The Lord! God, Compassionate and Gracious, Slow to anger and Abundant in Kindness and Truth, Preserver of kindness for thousands of generations, Forgiver of iniquity, willful sin, and error…6”
The Greek word “charis”—“grace” is the closest New Testament correlation to the Hebrew “chesed.” With respect to God’s “chesed” or “charis,” both words carry with them the concept that this aspect of God’s love for God’s creatures is unconditional and non-judgmental.7
The “duty ethics” aspect of gemilut chasadim developed from the mystical streams of Judaism that suggest that the human world is a mirror of God’s heavenly court. To live a righteous life, our actions should mirror God’s actions in heaven. Therefore, gemilut chasadim are not actions that we undertake because our heart is persuaded to perform a good act. Rather, the performance of gemilut chasadim is meant to be intentional. We conceive of appropriate actions and perform the mitzvah8 (commandment) of gemilut chasadim in order to emulate God’s actions. In doing so, we create a human picture of God’s heavenly realm.
“…On three things the world is sustained: on the Torah, on (ritually prescribed) prayer, and on deeds of loving kindness.” (Pirkei Avot9 1:2) Looking at this verse again with a better understanding of the Hebrew words, we can examine the concept of gemilut chasadim at a deeper level. In rabbinic thought and in Jewish legal circles the Torah, especially in its meaning of the first five books of the TaNaCh10 (Hebrew Bible11) is the foundation of all Jewish actions. (There is a tremendous body of Jewish writing on the question of when the Holy One actually created the Torah, but that is a discussion for another time. Suffice to say, there can be no prayer without the Torah and no mitzvoth like gemilut chasadim without the Torah.)
Jewish ritual prayer is based on the Temple service. Offerings were made three times a day on week days and four times a day on the Sabbath and Festivals. When the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans in 70 C.E., the rabbis already had established the custom of mirroring (through words) the Temple’s sacrificial offerings for communities that had sent sacrifices to the Temple. Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai and other teachers who survived the destruction of Jerusalem and established a center of learning at Yavneh, formalized these rituals for daily prayer based on a Temple service that could no longer be performed.12 Today, religiously observant Jews continue to follow this pattern of prayer which combines both prescribed prayers and “prayers from the heart.”
It’s important to understand that Jewish prayer is not optional for observant Jews. Whether or not one feels “spiritual” at the time for morning prayers for example, one prays according to the appropriate ritual and order of the prayers. Similarly, mitzvoth (commandments) are not to be left to one’s sense of spirituality. When it is time to light the Sabbath candles, one lights the candles. Candle lighting time varies according to the season and geography. Until the advent of the internet, candle lighting time was printed weekly or monthly in Jewish newspapers and in major daily newspapers in cities with large Jewish populations. The times also appear every week on Jewish calendars. Today, of course, one can easily check candle lighting time anywhere in the world on a variety of websites.13
In the quotation from the Pirkei Avot, the juxtaposition of the three terms “torah,” “avodah,” and “gemilut chasadim” is intentional. Torah, prayer and mitzvoth are fixed and commanded by the Holy One. The statement that their practice supports “the world” is intended to remind the reader that how one “feels” is not a reliable basis for creating a stable world—society—community. Rather, we must focus on those things that can nurture us and give us strength: the teachings of our ancestors about how to live a good life (Torah), regular prayer, (avodah) which structures our day and gives us strength, and the performance of mitzvoth, (gemilut chasadim) which help to make the world a better place for everyone. By linking the mitzvah of gemilut chasadim with Torah and Avodah, the authors of the Pirkei Avot are making a strong statement that the intentional performance of mitzvoth is more significant in creating a good world than the haphazard performance of good deeds motivated by feelings.
The great 19th century Lithuanian Sage, Yisrael Meir (Kagan) Poupko, (1838–1933) more commonly known as “The Chafetz Chaim14” had a particularly interesting view of how mitzvoth should be undertaken. His teaching differentiates between doing a “good deed” and performing an act of gemilut chasadim, a mitzvah.15 He taught that while performing a “good deed” was an important action, it did not qualify as fulfillment of a mitzvah without intentionality. To transform the good deed into a mitzvah, he taught, one needs to affirm that one’s kavannah,16 one’s spiritual intention, is to perform a specific mitzvah.
How would this work? Let’s reflect on a common activity: collecting clothes one no longer wears and bringing them to a thrift shop. According to the teaching of the Chafetz Chaim, this act could be either a good deed or an act of gemilut chasadim. The act in itself is good because it benefits both the shop which sells donated items in order to help a particular cause and also helps customers who need moderately priced clothing and other goods. These are both good outcomes related to one’s caring action. The difference between this being a good deed or an act of gemilut chasadim has to do with what the individual performing this action thinks s/he is doing, with his/her kavanah. If one is motivated to clear out one’s closet and has decided to help the thrift store by donating the clothing, bringing the clothes to the store is a good deed. If one’s intention is to perform the mitzvah of gemilut chasadim and one focuses on this intention and says to one’s self, “I am fulfilling the mitzvah of gemilut chasadim by gathering these clothes and donating them to the thrift shop,” this intention and statement transforms the act from a good deed to a spiritual action.
In his teaching about kavannah and its relationship to prayer, the great American rabbi, Lawrence Hoffman, makes the point that in ancient times, the heart was considered the focus of understanding rather than emotion.17 Therefore, the promptings of our heart to perform acts of loving kindness might be understood as intentional, rational actions rather than emotional responses to manipulative media pleas for our time, money, and attention.
A great many of the vast body of Jewish ritual actions are intended to lift the mundane to a sacred level. We say blessings before and sometimes after eating or drinking—even a snack. This reminds us that our consumption of food is a holy act meant to nourish us so that we can do God’s work in the world. We say morning prayers that give thanks for the proper functioning of our bodies. These prayers emphasize the importance of maintaining our health. The performance of gemilut chasadim as a mitzvah rather than as a good deed serves to remind us that we have a responsibility to care for others at all times, not just when it’s convenient, or when we feel like it, or when a natural disaster which doesn’t affect us prods our sense of guilt so that we pitch in and make things better for others.
The first chapter of the Pirkei Avot ends with these words: "Rabban Shimon ben Gamaliel said: On three things the world is sustained: on truth, on judgment, and on peace, as it is it says (Zechariah 8:16): ‘Speak the truth to one another, render in your gates judgments that are true and make for peace.’" 18 This verse parallels the verse we have been looking at. However, rather than the specifically Jewish references in the first verse: Torah, Prayer, and Gemilut Chasadim, the closing saying in Chapter 1 deals with universal themes: truth, justice and peace. The meaning is quite clear. If Jews live their Judaism in an intentional way and serve as “a light to the nations”19 a time of peace for all people will be brought into being. May this be God’s will.
Notes
1. Ethics of the Fathers, 3rd century CE text; a section of the Mishna.
2. The Mishna was the first compilation of the oral rabbinic traditions relating to the Torah and its teachings. In the Torah, there are a number of exhortations against adding or taking away from the teachings of the Torah (Deut. 4:2; Deut. 13: 1 in Jewish texts, 12:32 in Christian editions of the Torah.) Because of these texts, scholars believed that exegesis could not be written down. A long-lasting tradition of oral transmission of Biblical exegesis developed during the first millennium BCE. After the death of 500,000 Jews, many of whom were teachers, during the Bar Kochba Rebellion (132–135 CE) the rabbis decided that committing the oral law into a written form was essential for the continuity of Judaism. The Mishna, published in the early 3rd century CE, was the first officially canonized version of these written teachings. The Mishna formed the basis of the Talmud, the encyclopedic compilation of Jewish law and lore written between 300 and 500 CE. Both the Mishna and the Talmud are foundation texts for Jewish life and law to this day.
3. The word “Torah” has a great many meanings in Judaism. It is the name given to the first five books of the Hebrew Bible—Genesis through Deuteronomy. The Torah contains the 613 commandments given by the Holy One to the Jewish People. These commandments are the basis of all evolving Jewish Law and all Jewish practices. The term “Torah” also refers to the entire body or Jewish knowledge, customs and ritual practice.
4. Paache-Orlow, Rabbi Sara, "Acts of Loving-Kindness: The Foundations of Jewish Service Learning." My Jewish Learning, reprinted from Jewish Education News (Spring 2001), published by the Coalition for the Advancement of Jewish Education.
5. Brown, Francis, Driver, S.R., and Briggs, Charles A., “The Brown Driver and Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon, Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody, MA, Second Printing, December 1996, p. 338–339.
6. Exodus 34:6–7
7. N.H. Snaith, Distinctive Ideas of the Old Testament, London (1944). Accessed on line: http://www.bible-researcher.com/chesed.html
8. In Biblical Hebrew, the word mitzvah means “commandment.” There are 365 positive mitzvoth (commandments) in the Torah and 248 negative commandments in the Torah. There are both negative and positive commandments that require actions that help people, i.e., “do not put a stumbling block before the blind;” (Lev. 19:14) and “Honor your father and your mother.” (Exodus 20:12; Deut. 5:16) Because many of the mitzvoth benefit individuals or society, the term “mitzvah” in the popular Jewish mind became synonymous with doing a “good deed” and the word is often translated as “good deed.”However, to do so is to miss the point, which is that we are not free to act or not act as we see fit. Rather, Jews are commanded to perform the mitzvoth, even if we don’t feel like it.
9. Ethics of the Fathers, Ibid.
10. TaNacCh is an acronym for the three sections of the Hebrew Bible. The explanation does not work as well in English as it does in Hebrew. Ta stands for Torah, the first five books—Genesis to Deuteronomy. Na stands for “Ne’vi’im”—Prophets. This is the section which begins with the Book of Joshua and includes all of the prophetic writings as well as the stories of the early settlement of the Israelite Kingdom. Ch stands for “Ketuvim”—the literary sections of the Hebrew Bible—Psalms, Proverbs, Esther, etc. The difference between “ch” and “K” has to do with a Hebrew letter that changes in the way it is pronounced depending on where it appears in a word.
11. The term “Hebrew Bible” is an English term often used by Jews instead of the term “TaNACh.”The Hebrew Bible is that book which Christians call the “Old Testament” or “First Testament.” These terms suggest that the Jewish sacred writings were superseded by other, later sacred writings, specifically the New Testament, sometimes referred to as the Second Testament. Since Jews do not believe that the later Christian sacred writings supersede the TaNaCh, Jews do not use the term “Old Testament” for the TaNaCh unless they are unaware of this issue.
12. For a more in depth discussion of this issue, see “Jerusalem 3000: The Destruction of the Second Temple” by Alick Isaacs. http://www.jewishagency.org/JewishAgency/English/Jewish+Education/Compelling+Content/Jewish+Time/Festivals+and+Memorial+Days/Jerusalem+Day/Jerusalem+3000/Lecture+7++The+Destruction+of+the+Second+Temple.htm
13. Not all of the 613 mitzvoth in the Torah are weekly or daily actions that one must perform. About half of the mitzvoth in the Torah related to sacrifices or other actions related to the operation of the Temple in Jerusalem which was destroyed in 70 CE by the Romans. Very ritually observant Jews observe these mitzvoth by reciting specific prayers that describe various Temple rituals and sacrifices. Mitzvoth associated with specific holy days are only performed during those sacred times. Mitzvoth related to the Sabbath are performed every week. However, the 613th commandment—to write a Torah for one’s self—is a commandment that one need only perform once in a lifetime. This can be done through a proxy, either by contributing financially to the writing of a new Torah Scroll or by assisting a Sofer (scribe) in the writing or restoration of a letter in a Torah Scroll. For more information about this tradition, see http://NeilYerman.com.
14. “Seeker of Life.” The main focus of the work of the Chafetz Chaim was to bring peace into the world by encouraging civil discourse and a rejection of gossip and other “loose” language that creates ill will.
15. It is very difficult to find the exact “chapter and verse” in the writings of the Chafetz Chaim that clearly describes this point of view. It is part of a broad body of teaching and commentary that is extremely complex. For the sake of clarity and brevity, I am simplifying these teachings. However, the work of the Chafetz Chaim is truly extraordinary and worthy of study by people of all faiths who are interested in spiritual living that is tied to every day actions. The Chafetz Chaim’s classic work, “The Mishna Berurah,” is where one would find most of the teachings about intentionality. The Mishnah Berurah is a commentary on the Orach Chayim, the first section of the Shulchan Aruch. The Shulchan Aruch, by Rabbi Joseph Caro (late 15th to mid 16th century) was the first comprehensive “modern” book of Jewish law. It is still the foundation for the development of Jewish law today. In the Orach Chayim, the laws of prayer, synagogue ritual, Shabbat and the holidays are discussed. Issues related to intentionality (kavannah) are part of this work.
16. Kavanah is the Hebrew term for spiritual intention. It comes from the Hebrew root that is translated as “to direct,” with the understanding that the direction has to do with directing one’s heart to God.
17. Hoffman, Rabbi Lawrence A, “The Secrets of Kavanah,” The Jewish Week, 8/9/11 Accessed on line: http://www.thejewishweek.com/jewish_life/sabbath_week/secrets_kavanah
18. Pirkei Avot 1:18
19. Isaiah 49:6
