Bs”d
Parshas Vayeirah (5761)
by Mordechai Dolinsky
Our Parsha opens with an act of chessed from HaShem being “mivaker choleh” Avraham Avinu and asking about his welfare. HaShem, of course, knows how Avraham feels, the questioning is a “gesture” to “show” interest and make a good feeling. The sedra is threaded throughout with the theme of chessed and it indeed inspires us to undertake the pursuit of chessed as one of our top priority goals.
We are presently living in an epic of time that there are ‘nations of the world’ that are imbued with the ideal of doing kindness. There is an obvious advantage of living in a time that striving for chessed is so popular. We, ourselves, can often be the beneficiaries of this wave of the kindliness mentality; so, too, our relatives, loved ones, Klal Yisrael, and the society in general. The prosperity that the U.S. is enjoying can definitely be attributed to a Divine reward for their attitude and acts of kindness.
The wide-spread admiration for accomplishing and encouraging kindliness also has a positive influence on Klal Yisrael in general, and ourselves, as we are always affected by the surrounding nations. The drawback of this is the danger of being inculcated with the secular mentality of kindliness which is, to say the least, a far cry from the chessed of Klal Yisroel; both in concept and action, in the amount and in the depth.
For a deeper appreciation of this I would like to cite some examples. Let’s take peak at a typical Jewish Community of our glorious past; with the help of Moreinu V’Rabbeinu Avigdor Miller Shlit”a from his sefer “Rejoice O’ Youth”. “Even the most civilized nations, who dwell peacefully in their own lands, could not match them. The Talmud Torah Society to provide poor children with Torah education; the Visiting the Sick Society; the Free Loan Society; the Free Lodging Society; the Redemption of Captives Society; the Bride Society; the Society to care for poor women in Childbirth; Bread for the Poor; Clothing for the Poor; the Free Burial Society; the Rose Flowers for purchasing Torah books for children in the synagogues…”.
To bring things more up-to-date, here in Yerushalayim, there are whole directories of a multitude of chessed services. I picked a few at random; we can find anything from A-Z, I mean A-W. “Ambulance service; Beeper Service; Cassettes; Diapers; Eyeglasses; Furniture; Gas burners; Hospitality close to hospitals; Income-tax advice; Kerosene Lamps; Lost and Found; Medical Equipment; Nutritional Counseling; Private Teachers; Resetting Dislocated Joints; Shabbos needs; Tools; Used Furniture; Vacuum Cleaners; Walkie-Talkies”.
The depth of our Torah chessed, how it reaches level after level, deep into the soul and circumstance. Rashi (18:2) explains that Avraham saw the three wayfarers hesitating to come in, not wanting to bother him. They did this, knowing full well that he would go to the trouble of coming out to them. Nevertheless they showed that they didn’t want to be a bother, and he immediately ran out to them. HaShem didn’t want Avraham Avinu who was recuperating to be bothered, so He made the weather so unbearable that no one would venture out. Avraham suffered terrible disappointment that there were no ‘orchim’, and the three malachim were sent. Why are they standing there; they know how Avraham yearned for their arrival. But Avraham wasn’t aware that they knew—the law of true chessed is that the real kindliness is to demonstrate that you don’t want to impose!! They know how painful it was for him to rise from his recuperation position and to come out into the burning sun, but to give him the respect of his human dignity is the priority.
Torah chessed is deep chessed, to consider and search beneath the surface for the real kindliness. You know how much someone wants to give up his bed for you and to sleep on the floor, but he doesn’t know that you know. Can you make this request—HUMAN DIGNITY.
We should all be worthy to continue in the way of Avraham Avinu and do real kindliness.