(, also Romanized: ) is a

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

word that means 'kindness or love between people', specifically of the devotional piety of people towards God as well as of love or mercy of God towards humanity. It is frequently used in

Psalms The Book of Psalms ( , ; ; ; ; , in Islam also called Zabur, ), also known as the Psalter, is the first book of the third section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) called ('Writings'), and a book of the Old Testament. The book is an anthology of B ...

in the latter sense, where it is traditionally translated as "loving kindness" in

English translations Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''trans ...

. In

Jewish theology Jewish philosophy () includes all philosophy carried out by Jews or in relation to the religion of Judaism. Until the modern ''Haskalah'' (Jewish Enlightenment) and Jewish emancipation, Jewish philosophy was preoccupied with attempts to recon ...

it is likewise used of God's love for the

Children of Israel Israelites were a Hebrew-speaking ethnoreligious group, consisting of tribes that lived in Canaan during the Iron Age. Modern scholarship describes the Israelites as emerging from indigenous Canaanite populations and other peoples.Mark Smit ...

, and in

Jewish ethics Jewish ethics are the ethics of the Jewish religion or the Jewish people. A type of normative ethics, Jewish ethics may involve issues in Jewish law as well as non-legal issues, and may involve the convergence of Judaism and the Western phil ...

it is used for love or charity between people. in this latter sense of 'charity' is considered a virtue on its own, and also for its contribution to '' tikkun olam'' (repairing the world). It is also considered the foundation of many religious commandments practiced by traditional Jews, especially interpersonal commandments.

Chesed (, also Romanization of Hebrew, Romanized: ) is a Hebrew language, Hebrew word that means 'kindness or love between people', specifically of the devotional piety of people towards God as well as of love or mercy of God towards humanity. It is fr ...

is also one of the ten

Sephirot Sefirot (; , plural of ), meaning '' emanations'', are the 10 attributes/emanations in Kabbalah, through which Ein Sof ("infinite space") reveals itself and continuously creates both the physical realm and the seder hishtalshelut (the chained ...

on the

kabbalistic Kabbalah or Qabalah ( ; , ; ) is an esoteric method, discipline and school of thought in Jewish mysticism. It forms the foundation of mystical religious interpretations within Judaism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal (). Jewi ...

Tree of Life The tree of life is a fundamental archetype in many of the world's mythology, mythological, religion, religious, and philosophy, philosophical traditions. It is closely related to the concept of the sacred tree.Giovino, Mariana (2007). ''The ...

. It is given the association of

kindness Kindness is a type of behavior marked by acts of generosity, consideration, or concern for others, without expecting praise or reward in return. It is a subject of interest in philosophy, religion, and psychology. It can be directed towards o ...

and

love Love is a feeling of strong attraction and emotional attachment (psychology), attachment to a person, animal, or thing. It is expressed in many forms, encompassing a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most su ...

, and is the first of the emotive attributes of the .

Etymology and translations

The root has a primary meaning of 'eager and ardent desire', used both in the sense 'good, kind' and 'shame, contempt'. The noun inherits both senses, on one hand 'zeal, love, kindness towards someone' and on the other 'zeal, ardour against someone; envy, reproach'. In its positive sense it is used to describe mutual benevolence, mercy or pity between people, devotional piety of people towards God, as well as the grace, favour or mercy of God towards people. It occurs 248 times in the Hebrew Bible. In the majority of cases (149 times), the

King James Bible The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version (AV), is an Early Modern English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and published in 1611, by ...

(KJV) translation is ''

mercy Mercy (Middle English, from Anglo-French , from Medieval Latin , "price paid, wages", from Latin , "merchandise") is benevolence, forgiveness, and kindness in a variety of ethical, religious, social, and legal contexts. In the social and le ...

'', following the

Septuagint The Septuagint ( ), sometimes referred to as the Greek Old Testament or The Translation of the Seventy (), and abbreviated as LXX, is the earliest extant Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible from the original Biblical Hebrew. The full Greek ...

(LXX) . Less frequent translations are: ''

'' (40 times), ''lovingkindness'' (30 times), ''goodness'' (12 times), ''kindly'' (five times), ''merciful'' (four times), ''favour'' (three times) and ''good'', ''goodliness'', ''pity'' (once each). Only two instances of the noun in its negative sense are in the text, translated ''reproach'' in

Proverbs A proverb (from ) or an adage is a simple, traditional saying that expresses a perceived truth based on common sense or experience. Proverbs are often metaphorical and are an example of formulaic language. A proverbial phrase or a proverbial ...

14:34, and ''wicked thing'' in

Leviticus 20 Kedoshim, K'doshim, or Qedoshim (—Hebrew language, Hebrew for "holy ones," the 14th word, and the first distinctive word, in the parashah) is the 30th weekly Torah portion (, ''parashah'') in the annual Judaism, Jewish cycle of Torah reading an ...

:17. The translation of ''loving kindness'' in KJV is derived from the

Coverdale Bible The Coverdale Bible, compiled by Myles Coverdale and published in 1535, was the first complete Modern English translation of the Bible (not just the Old, or New Testament), and the first complete printed translation into English (cf. Wycliffe's ...

of 1535. This particular translation is used exclusively of used of the benign attitude of

YHWH The TetragrammatonPronounced ; ; also known as the Tetragram. is the four-letter Hebrew-language theonym (transliterated as YHWH or YHVH), the name of God in the Hebrew Bible. The four Hebrew letters, written and read from right to left, a ...

("the ") or

Elohim ''Elohim'' ( ) is a Hebrew word meaning "gods" or "godhood". Although the word is plural in form, in the Hebrew Bible it most often takes singular verbal or pronominal agreement and refers to a single deity, particularly but not always the Go ...

("God") towards his chosen, primarily invoked in

(23 times), but also in the prophets, four times in

Jeremiah Jeremiah ( – ), also called Jeremias, was one of the major prophets of the Hebrew Bible. According to Jewish tradition, Jeremiah authored the Book of Jeremiah, book that bears his name, the Books of Kings, and the Book of Lamentations, with t ...

, twice in

Isaiah Isaiah ( or ; , ''Yəšaʿyāhū'', "Yahweh is salvation"; also known as Isaias or Esaias from ) was the 8th-century BC Israelite prophet after whom the Book of Isaiah is named. The text of the Book of Isaiah refers to Isaiah as "the prophet" ...

63:7 and once in

Hosea In the Hebrew Bible, Hosea ( or ; ), also known as Osee (), son of Beeri, was an 8th-century BC prophet in Israel and the nominal primary author of the Book of Hosea. He is the first of the Twelve Minor Prophets, whose collective writing ...

2:19. While ''lovingkindness'' is now considered somewhat archaic, it is part of the traditional rendition of Psalms in

English Bible translations More than 100 complete translations into English languages have been produced. Translations of Biblical books, especially passages read in the Liturgy can be traced back to the late 7th century, including translations into Old and Middle Eng ...

. Some more recent translations use ''steadfast love'' where KJV has ''lovingkindness''. The Septuagint has 'great mercy', rendered as Latin ''

misericordia Misericordia is the Latin word for "mercy", derived from ''misericors'', "merciful", which is in turn derived from ''misereri'', "to pity", and ''cor'', "heart", and may refer to: Places and organisations * Misericórdia, a parish in the municip ...

''. As an example of the use of in Psalms, consider its notable occurrence at the beginning of

Psalm 51 Psalm 51, one of the penitential psalms, is the 51st psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "Have mercy upon me, O God". In the slightly different numbering system used in the Greek Septuagint and Latin V ...

(, lit. 'be favourable to me,

, as your '): In

Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...

, ''

'' is often used as a shorter English translation. Political theorist

Daniel Elazar Daniel Judah Elazar (August 25, 1934 – December 2, 1999) was a political scientist known for his seminal studies of political culture of the US states. He was professor of political science at Bar-Ilan University in Israel and Temple Universit ...

has suggested that cannot easily be translated into English, but that it means something like 'loving covenant obligation'. Other suggestions include ''grace'' and ''

compassion Compassion is a social feeling that motivates people to go out of their way to relieve the physical, mental, or emotional pains of others and themselves. Compassion is sensitivity to the emotional aspects of the suffering of others. When based ...

''.

Jewish ethics

In traditional

musar literature Musar literature is didactic Jewish ethical literature which describes virtues and vices and the path towards character improvement. This literature gives the name to the Musar movement, in 19th century Lithuania, but this article considers such ...

(ethical literature), is one of the primary virtues. The

tannaic ''Tannaim'' ( Amoraic Hebrew: תנאים "repeaters", "teachers", singular ''tanna'' , borrowed from Aramaic) were the rabbinic sages whose views are recorded in the Mishnah, from approximately 10–220 CE. The period of the Tannaim, also refe ...

rabbi

Simon the Just Simeon the Righteous or Simeon the Just ( ''Šimʿōn Haṣṣaddīq'') was a Jewish High Priest during the Second Temple period. He is also referred to in the Mishnah, where he is described as one of the last members of the Great Assembly. Biogr ...

taught: "The world rests upon three things: Torah, service to God, and bestowing kindness" (Pirkei Avot 1:2). is here the core ethical virtue. A statement by Rabbi

Simlai Rabbi Simlai () was a talmudic rabbi who lived in Israel in the 3rd century (second generation of amoraim). He was born in either Lod or Babylonia. He later moved to the Galilee, where he served as an aide to Rabbi Yannai. He studied in Tzippor ...

in the

Talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...

claims that "The Torah begins with and ends with ." This may be understood to mean that "the entire Torah is characterized by , 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 . In

Moses ben Jacob Cordovero Moses ben Jacob Cordovero ( ''Moshe Kordovero'' ‎; 1522–1570) was a central figure in the historical development of Kabbalah, leader of a mystical school in the Ottoman Empire in 16th-century Safed, located in the modern State of Israel. H ...

's kabbalistic treatise '' Tomer Devorah'', the following are actions undertaken in imitation of the qualities of : * 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 Circumcision is a procedure that removes the foreskin from the human penis. In the most common form of the operation, the foreskin is extended with forceps, then a circumcision device may be placed, after which the foreskin is excised. T ...

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 A ''chuppah'' (, ) is a canopy under which a Judaism, Jewish couple stand during their Jewish wedding, wedding ceremony. It consists of a cloth or sheet, sometimes a tallit, stretched or supported over four poles, or sometimes manually held u ...

marriage ceremony * making peace between a person and another human being. A person who embodies is known as a (, ), 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 Ḥasīd (, "pious", "saintly", "godly man"; plural "Hasidim") is a Jewish honorific, frequently used as a term of exceptional respect in the Talmudic and early medieval periods. It denotes a person who is scrupulous in his observance of Jewish ...

''. These groups include the

Hasideans The Hasideans (, ''Hasidim ha-Rishonim'', Greek ''Ἁσιδαῖοι'' or Asidaioi, also transcribed as Hasidaeans and Assideans) were a Jewish group during the Maccabean Revolt that took place from around 167–142 BCE. The Hasideans are men ...

of the

Second Temple period The Second Temple period or post-exilic period in Jewish history denotes the approximately 600 years (516 BCE – 70 CE) during which the Second Temple stood in the city of Jerusalem. It began with the return to Zion and subsequent reconstructio ...

, the Maimonidean Hasidim of medieval Egypt and Palestine, the

Chassidei Ashkenaz The Hasidim of Ashkenaz (, trans. ''Hasidei Ashkenaz''; "German Pietists") were a Jewish mystical, ascetic movement in the German Rhineland during the 12th and 13th centuries. The movement is known for its strict asceticism and mystical doctrin ...

in medieval Europe, and the

Hasidic movement Hasidism () or Hasidic Judaism is a religious movement within Judaism that arose in the 18th century as a spiritual revival movement in contemporary Western Ukraine before spreading rapidly throughout Eastern Europe. Today, most of those affi ...

which emerged in eighteenth century Eastern Europe.

Charitable organizations

Modern Hebrew Modern Hebrew (, or ), also known as Israeli Hebrew or simply Hebrew, is the Standard language, standard form of the Hebrew language spoken today. It is the only surviving Canaanite language, as well as one of the List of languages by first w ...

, can take the generic meaning of 'charity', and a " institution" in modern Judaism may refer to any

charitable organization A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, Religion, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definitio ...

run by religious Jewish groups or individuals. Charitable organizations described as " institutions" include: * ''

Bikur cholim ''Bikur cholim'' (; "visiting the sick"; also transliterated ''bikur holim'') refers to the mitzvah (Jewish religious commandment) to visit and extend aid to the sick. It is considered an aspect of ''gemilut chasadim'' (benevolence, selflessne ...

'' organizations, dedicated to visiting and caring for the sick and their relatives * ''

Gemach Gemach (, plural, , ''gemachim'', an abbreviation for , ''gemilut chasadim'', "acts of kindness") is a Jewish free-loan fund that subscribes to both the positive Torah commandment of lending money and the Torah prohibition against charging interes ...

'' – an institution dedicated to ('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 such as

or GM"CH. A community may have dozens of unique (and sometimes overlapping) Gemach organizations * ''

Kiruv Orthodox Jewish outreach, often referred to as ''Kiruv'' or ''Qiruv'' ( "bringing close"), is the collective work or movement of Orthodox Judaism that reaches out to non-Orthodox or non-observant Jews to encourage belief in God and life accor ...

'' organizations – organizations designed to increase Jewish awareness among unaffiliated Jews, which is considered a form of kindness * ''

Hatzolah Hatzalah, also spelled Hatzolah, (; ) is the title used by many Jewish volunteer emergency medical service (EMS) organizations serving mostly areas with Jewish communities around the world, giving medical service to patients regardless of the ...

'' – organizations by this name typically provide free services for emergency medical dispatch and

ambulance An ambulance is a medically-equipped vehicle used to transport patients to treatment facilities, such as hospitals. Typically, out-of-hospital medical care is provided to the patient during the transport. Ambulances are used to respond to ...

transport ( EMTs and

paramedics A paramedic is a healthcare professional trained in the medical model, whose main role has historically been to respond to emergency calls for medical help outside of a hospital. Paramedics work as part of the emergency medical services (EMS), m ...

) * ''

Chevra kadisha The term ''chevra kadisha'' () gained its modern sense of "burial society" in the nineteenth century. It is an organization of Jewish men and women who see to it that the bodies of deceased Jews are prepared for burial according to Jewish tra ...

'' – 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 Shiva (; , ), also known as Mahadeva (; , , Help:IPA/Sanskrit, ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐh and Hara, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the God in Hinduism, Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions w ...

'' 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 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.

References

External links

Chesed is the key to the Geulah
{{Authority control Jewish ethics Kindness Love

Etymology and translations

Jewish ethics

Charitable organizations

See also

References

External links