Chesed is often translated as ‘kindness’, but it also means ‘love’. In fact, chesed is love expressed not through words but through acts of kindness, so it is best understood as ‘lovingkindness’: the care we show to others, friends or strangers, rich or poor, whether it is easy or hard to do.

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. It involves time, energy and effort, and can never be done through writing a cheque or clicking ‘donate now’: it requires a face-to-face relationship and active involvement.

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 of 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)