Chesed

Jewish ethics

In traditional musar literature (ethical literature), chesed is one of the primary virtues. The tannaic rabbi Simon the Just taught: "The world rests upon three things: Torah, service to God, and bestowing kindness" (Pirkei Avot 1:2). Chesed is here the core ethical virtue.

A statement by Rabbi Simlai in the Talmud claims that "The Torah begins with chesed and ends with chesed." This may be understood to mean that "the entire Torah is characterized by chesed, i.e. it sets forth a vision of the ideal life whose goals are behavior characterized by mercy and compassion. Alternatively, it may allude to the idea that the giving of the Torah itself is the quintessential act of chesed.

In Moses ben Jacob Cordovero's kabbalistic treatise Tomer Devorah, the following are actions undertaken in imitation of the qualities of chesed:

• love God so completely that one will never forsake his service for any reason
• provide a child with all the necessities of their sustenance and love the child
• circumcise a child
• visiting and healing the sick
• giving charity to the poor
• offering hospitality to strangers
• attending to the dead
• bringing a bride to the chuppah marriage ceremony
• making peace between a person and another human being.

A person who embodies chesed is known as a chasid (hasid, חסיד), one who is faithful to the covenant and who goes "above and beyond that which is normally required" and a number of groups throughout Jewish history which focus on going "above and beyond" have called themselves chasidim. These groups include the Hasideans of the Second Temple period, the Maimonidean Hasidim of medieval Egypt and Palestine, the Chassidei Ashkenaz in medieval Europe, and the Hasidic movement which emerged in eighteenth century Eastern Europe.

Charitable organizations

In Modern Hebrew, חסד can take the generic meaning of 'charity', and a "chesed institution" in modern Judaism may refer to any charitable organization run by religious Jewish groups or individuals. Charitable organizations described as "chesed institutions" include:

• Bikur cholim organizations, dedicated to visiting and caring for the sick and their relatives
• Gemach – an institution dedicated to gemilut chasadim ('providing kindness'), often with free loan funds or by lending or giving away particular types of items (toys, clothes, medical equipment, etc.). Such organizations are often named with an acronym of Gemilas chasadim such as Gemach or GM"CH. A community may have dozens of unique (and sometimes overlapping) Gemach organizations
• Kiruv organizations – organizations designed to increase Jewish awareness among unaffiliated Jews, which is considered a form of kindness
• Hatzolah – organizations by this name typically provide free services for emergency medical dispatch and ambulance transport (EMTs and paramedics)
• Chevra kadisha – organizations that perform religious care for the deceased, and often provide logistical help to their families relating to autopsies, transport of the body, emergency family travel, burial, running a Shiva home, and caring for mourners
• Chaverim (literally 'friends') – organizations going by this name typically provide free roadside assistance and emergency help with mechanical or structural problems in private homes
• Shomrim (guardians) groups – community watch groups

In the former USSR member republics there are Jewish charities, each one often called a Hesed plus a Jewish given name, usually of a Jewish history character like Hesed Avraam in Saint Petersburg, Russia, a member of Association of Heseds of Russia. They run multiple programs: daycare centres and health visitors/carers for the elderly and disabled (the latter equally available to people of non-Jewish ancestry with local government subsidies), crafts and arts societies, concerts, medical equipment rental for registered patients free or on small fees calculated from the size of the patient's pension, delivery of meals and grocery items to homestay patients, shopping subsidies for the poor, volunteer medical consulting, volunteer small repair of household items, assistance with documents processing to apply for compensation from Germany for Holocaust survivors.