Each time we daven Shemoneh Esrei<\/em> (aka the Amidah, or standing prayer), we say in the very first bracha<\/em> that Hashem \u201crecalls the chasdei Avos<\/em> (the kindnesses of the Patriarchs)\u201d.<\/p>\n What kindnesses are we talking about? And to whom?<\/p>\n Our Sages teach that Avraham\u2019s defining characteristic was chesed<\/em> (kindness), Yitzchak\u2019s was din<\/em> (judgment), and Yaakov\u2019s was emes<\/em> (truth). While the Torah is replete with episodes of Avraham\u2019s chesed<\/em>, as well as how Hashem tested him regarding that trait, the chesed<\/em> of Yitzchak and of Yaakov is less obvious. So, what does the \u201cchasdei Avos<\/em>\u201d (the kindnesses of the Patriarchs) actually refer to?<\/p>\n Hashem famously commanded Avraham to \u201clech lecha<\/em>\u201d \u2013 to \u201cgo for yourself\u201d. Rashi explains why Hashem didn\u2019t just say \u201cgo\u201d, but added the words \u201cfor yourself\u201d, because Hashem\u2019s commandment to Avraham was for Avraham\u2019s own benefit, for his own good. When a man does an act of chesed<\/em>, such as giving a coin to a poor person, we find expressed in his action two different aspects: an aspect of building the world (ie. making it a better place) and an aspect of building the person who did the action, making him into a ba\u2019al chesed <\/em>(a kind person).<\/p>\n We can ask: which is the more important of these two parts, building the world or building the person?<\/p>\n This is what the verse \u201clech lecha<\/em>\u201d (go for yourself) is coming to teach us. What\u2019s important to Hashem is what you do with yourself \u2013 the fact that you improve and fix yourself up in accordance with His commandments.<\/p>\n Why is this so?<\/p>\n Avraham Avinu was an ish chesed<\/em>, a man of kindness. One who does chesed<\/em> is called a chasid<\/em> and our Sages teach, \u201cWho is a chasid<\/em>? One who does chesed<\/em> with his Creator.\u201d True chesed<\/em> is chesed <\/em>that is done, so to speak, with Hashem. But how do we do \u201cchesed<\/em>\u201d with Hashem, who is perfect and lacks nothing? What could He possibly \u201cneed\u201d from us? True chesed<\/em> means giving to someone something that he does not have and which he also has no possibility of attaining for himself. If I give you a sweet and, at that same time, you already have in your pocket an entire package of sweets, this is indeed a \u201cchesed<\/em>\u201d, but it\u2019s not the peak of chesed<\/em>. But, on the other hand, if you don\u2019t have any sweets and also you don\u2019t have any ability to attain any sweets and, at this very moment, you desire a sweet and I give you a sweet, this is true chesed<\/em>.<\/p>\n Our Sages ask, \u201cWho is a chasid<\/em>?\u201d How is it possible to do chesed<\/em> in the world? It\u2019s only possible to do chesed<\/em> with Hashem! By Hashem, there is one thing, so to speak, that He does not \u201chave\u201d and which He cannot attain \u2013 and which only a man is able to give to Him. What is it? The perfection that a person creates within himself by choosing to do good things over and over again \u2013 by doing what Hashem wants and commands him to do. When a man works on himself, when he fixes himself up and he perfects himself, he makes himself better.<\/p>\n This is something that Hashem from His side is not able to do, because if Hashem made me a good person (rather than me doing it myself), I will not, in truth, be a good person \u2013 because I\u2019ll no longer be a person at all. In such a case, where Hashem \u201cmakes\u201d me a good person, maybe you could say I was a robot \u2013 or an angel, but if Hashem has made me into a good person, by forcing me to choose the things that I choose and to act the way that I act without me myself choosing to do those things and to act that way, then you could hardly call me a man anymore because my free will to choose would be gone.<\/p>\n My choosing to improve myself, to perfect myself, to become a better person by subjecting my will to Hashem\u2019s will \u2013 this is the single thing that Hashem does not have and which only I am able to give Him.<\/p>\n This \u201clech lecha<\/em>\u201d \u2013 the commandment to Avraham that he was to go \u2013 the desire of Hashem was that Avraham would build himself, this is what Hashem was interested in. Apart from this, Hashem doesn\u2019t need a thing. To cause the world to return to Him in teshuva<\/em> (repentance) \u2013 Hashem can make this happen without anyone\u2019s assistance. To offer hospitality and to care for guests \u2013 Hashem can supply everyone with homes and food so that they won\u2019t wander around in the streets and require hospitality from Avraham or anyone else.<\/p>\n The intention is not, G-d forbid, that Avraham did not need to do all of the good things that he did because certainly, without doing them, he would not have built himself up. But the thing that, in particular, Hashem desires is for Avraham to build himself. In other words, the main focus is not what you do, but what \u201cwhat you do\u201d does to you over time, building yourself into a better person.<\/p>\n Why was the first man called \u201cAdam\u201d after the earth, adamah<\/em>, from which he was formed, ie the physical part of him, and not after the spiritual part that\u2019s in him, which Hashem Himself breathed into him, and which, our Sages say, refers to the fact that Hashem blessed man with the abilities to know and to speak \u2013 and, therefore, he could have been called something more noble like \u201cknower\u201d or \u201cspeaker\u201d, rather than \u201cearth\u201d? Man\u2019s purpose in the creation, and the challenge for him in this world, is specifically to change his nature \u2013 choosing to elevate his spiritual nature above his coarse physical nature rooted in the earth from which he was formed.<\/p>\n To put it another way: Hashem wants us to become ba\u2019alei chesed <\/em>(kind people). That\u2019s the goal \u2013 for us to work on ourselves and change ourselves into kind people. How do we accomplish that goal? By accustoming ourselves to doing chesed<\/em>. Chesed<\/em> is the means by which we accomplish the goal of becoming kind people. And choosing to do what Hashem commands us to do is the greatest chesed <\/em>there is.<\/p>\n When we say in our davening that Hashem \u201crecalls the kindnesses of the Patriarchs\u201d, what we mean is that Hashem recalls the chesed<\/em> that our Forefathers did with Him \u2013 how they followed His every command and instruction as they perfected themselves, thereby building the world as a result.<\/p>\n Based upon Tiferes Shimshon al HaTorah (Bereishis) \u2013 Parshas Lech Lecha<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By: Robert Sussman Each time we daven Shemoneh Esrei (aka the Amidah, or standing prayer), we say in the very first bracha that Hashem \u201crecalls the chasdei Avos (the kindnesses of the Patriarchs)\u201d. What kindnesses are we talking about? And to whom? Our Sages teach that Avraham\u2019s defining characteristic was chesed (kindness), Yitzchak\u2019s was din (judgment), and Yaakov\u2019s was emes (truth). While the Torah is replete with episodes of Avraham\u2019s chesed, as well as how Hashem tested him regarding that trait, the chesed of Yitzchak and of Yaakov is less…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":1332,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-48","category-january-2019"],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishlife.co.za\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishlife.co.za\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishlife.co.za\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishlife.co.za\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishlife.co.za\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1339"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishlife.co.za\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1339\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1340,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishlife.co.za\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1339\/revisions\/1340"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishlife.co.za\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishlife.co.za\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishlife.co.za\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishlife.co.za\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}