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Chesed

חסד

Chesed (kindness)

The Sefirah of kindness (the right arm; Avraham): giving that comes from its nature to do good, spreading from highest to lowest like water. Gevurah, its opposite, limits it; in tikkun each includes the other.

The word חסד also means kindness in the ordinary sense (gemilus chassadim, a person’s kind deeds), and חסדים (chasadim) is also used for the powers of Chesed drawn into the middos (chasadim megulim / mechusim). It means the Sefirah when the text writes בחי׳ חסד, חסד דאצילות, חסד דז״א or דא״א, pairs it with Gevurah (חו״ג), or calls it the right arm or Avraham.

Where it’s explained

  1. Likkutei Torah, Tazria 4, ¶9Bestowal comes from Chesed: Chesed gives because of the attribute itself, whose nature is to do good, while Netzach, its branch, gives only because it was so decided. Of the three joints of giving, Chesed within Chesed is love by nature and Chochmah within Chesed is love that comes from Daas.אלא שהחסד הוא ההשפעה מצד המדה עצמה שכך הטבע להיטיב
  2. Torah Ohr, Vayeira 1, ¶25Chesed is called “long” because it spreads from the highest to the lowest, like water running down; the gevuros, which go from below upward, are “short”: they shorten and limit the flow of Chesed to match the ascent from below.הנה חסד נק׳ אריך לפי שהוא מתפשט מלמעלה מעלה למטה מטה כמו מים היורדים ממקום גבוה למקום נמוך
  3. Likkutei Torah, Nasso 4, ¶5The Chesed of Arich Anpin, “rav chesed,” shines from Ein Sof without limit and flows constantly of itself, nullifying all judgments; it is above the nature of Chesed itself, as its source, and reaches below only by clothing itself in the Chesed of Z”A, its vessel or “body.”בחי׳ חסד דא״א הוא חסד עילאה ונק׳ ורב חסד לפי שמאיר ומתפשט מבחי׳ א״ס בלי גבול ומדה
  4. Likkutei Torah, Shir HaShirim 10, ¶2The attribute of Chesed does not apply to Ein Sof itself; His light is clothed in Chesed only through many contractions and steps from cause to effect. The worlds were first created because “He desires chesed”; now that Chesed is drawn through arousal from below.והנה בא״ס ב״ה לא שייך מדת החסד כלל
  5. Likkutei Torah, Tazria 2, ¶3Chesed and Gevurah are opposites (south and north, water and fire), yet the main tikkun is that each is mixed into the other; without Chesed in Gevurah the world could not endure.שזהו עיקר התיקון שתיקן המאציל ית׳ בעולמו להיות עירוב חסד בגבורה וגבורה בחסד כדי שיתקיים העולם

Stated differently

Whether Chesed gives without regard to the recipient’s deeds

Torah Ohr, Vayeira 1, ¶26ממוצע בין החסד שהוא שלא להבחין כלל אע״פ שאינו הגון ובין גבורות לדון אם הוא הגון

Chesed does not distinguish at all, even when the recipient is unfit; the gevuros judge whether he is fit, and mercy stands between them.

Likkutei Torah, Nasso 4, ¶4שהחסד דז״א נק׳ חסד עולם וע״ז נאמר ולך אד׳ חסד כי אתה תשלם לאיש כמעשהו

The Chesed of Z”A, called chesed olam, is drawn according to people’s deeds and the arousal from below, in limit and measure; only the Chesed of Arich Anpin is above this.

Discussed by

  • The Tzemach Tzedek · Derech Mitzvosecha, Mitzvas Gid HaNasheh, p. 25 (page unconfirmed)

    The Tzemach Tzedek distinguishes Chesed’s ‘mochin’, its reason (that Israel keep the mitzvos), which can withdraw because of a blemish, from the essence of Chesed, which still gives to worthy and unworthy alike.

    ואעפ״כ יהי׳ השפעת החסד והטוב מצד עצם מדת החסד להטיב לראויים ולשאינם ראויים וכמשארז״ל דור אנוש ניזונין בחסדו של הקב״ה

  • The Rebbe Rashab · Sefer HaMaamarim 5670, p. קלו (page unconfirmed)

    The Rebbe Rashab separates Chesed, which follows wisdom and love and gives generously to anyone with some merit, from the attribute of Tov, which gives even to the wholly unworthy; Avraham’s kindness to all came from his essential goodness.

    ואם אך יש בו צד הראוי, ה״ה משפיע לו, ואין בזה דקדוק כ״כ אם הוא ראוי כו׳ אבל לא להשפיע למי שאינו ראוי כלל

Further in Chassidus

  1. The Tzemach Tzedek · Maamarei Admur HaTzemach Tzedek (Hanachos), Bereishis-Chayei Sarah, p. לז (page unconfirmed)

    In a maamar recorded by the Rebbe Maharash, the Tzemach Tzedek defines Chesed as giving that spreads without limit, Gevurah as equally limitless the other way, and Tiferes (Yaakov) as the measure that includes each in the other.חסד הוא חד אריך שהוא מתפשט לאין שיעור להשפיע החסד לזולתו עד שאפי׳ אם יהא חייב גמור ע״פ חסדים יוכל להשפיע לו

  2. The Rebbe Maharash · Toras Shmuel, Sefer HaMaamarim 5636 vol. 2, p. תלב (page unconfirmed)

    The Rebbe Maharash contrasts Avraham’s kindness, born of self-nullification, with Chesed above, born of greatness, and settles why the early kabbalists call it Gedulah and the Arizal Chesed: Chesed of Atzilus versus the Chesed before Atzilus.שחסד למעלה אינו כמו חסד למטה שלמטה החסד מצד ביטול ושפלות כמו אברהם שהי׳ חסד דמ״ה ולמעלה החסד הוא מצד עוצם גדולתו

  3. The Rebbe · Sefer HaMaamarim (bilti muga) 5711-5712, p. קכה

    On ‘He will keep the covenant and the kindness’, the Rebbe explains that Chesed is unconditional, and contrasts it with Gevurah, which scrutinizes even the worthy, and Rachamim, which gives to the unworthy while still noting the difference.וכמו״כ ענין החסד אינו תלוי בתנאי, שהרי ענין החסד הוא להשפיע לכל, לא רק למי שראוי, אלא גם למי שאינו ראוי

Short quotes, © their publishers; each page opened by a second AI reader.

Main sources

Likkutei Torah, Nasso 4, ¶5Likkutei Torah, Shelach 17, ¶14Likkutei Torah, Tazria 4, ¶9Likkutei Torah, Tazria 2, ¶3Torah Ohr, Vayeira 1, ¶25Torah Ohr, Noach 3, ¶3Torah Ohr, Lech Lecha 2, ¶1

Where it appears

In 745 paragraphs of 280 maamarim.

Written with AI from the paragraphs of Torah Ohr and Likkutei Torah, each entry checked by a second AI reader and every Hebrew quote checked by code; not yet reviewed by a person. Our English: CC BY-NC 4.0.

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