40 Things You Can Do To Make a Difference - Chesed

Chesed is often translated as ‘kindness’ but it also means ‘love’. In fact, chesed is the love expressed, not by words, but through acts of kindness. So chesed is ‘loving-kindness’.

Chesed is the loving-kindness we show to others, whether friends or strangers, rich or poor, and whether it is easy or hard to do.

Chesed is one of the pillars of Jewish life.

“The world stands on three things: Torah (Jewish learning), Avodah (service of God) and acts of Chesed (loving-kindness.” Ethics of the Fathers 1:2

While tzedakah is about giving some of your money, chesed is about giving of yourself. Chesed involves time, energy and effort.

Chesed can never be done through writing a cheque or clicking on DONATE NOW – it requires a face-to-face relationship. It means getting actively involved.

“The great Jewish institutions – the home, the synagogue, the community and the school ….are environments in which we are bound to one another not by transactions of power or wealth but by chesed…These are the places where we learn the intimate grammar or reciprocity, the delicate choreography of emotional intelligence, the knowledge that love given is not in vain, and that by sharing our vulnerabilities, we discover strength”.

To Heal a Fractured World, Rabbi Sacks (p.54)