Chesed, loving-kindness, grace, the love that gives without condition, is the fourth Sefirah and the first of the seven revealed qualities. It opens the right column, the column of expansion; Elijah calls it "the right arm." In the verse of Chronicles it is called Gedulah, greatness: "Yours, L-rd, is the greatness." The Talmud, in a baraita in the name of Rabbi Akiva, reads: "the greatness, this is the splitting of the Sea of Reeds." The Psalm says: "the world is built by loving-kindness."
Its figure is Abraham. The Pardes says it simply: "G-d of Abraham: Chesed." Sefer HaBahir imagines the quality of Chesed itself speaking: "all the days that Abraham was in the world, I did not need to do my work, for Abraham stood there in my place." "I bring merit to the world," it says, "even those who are guilty, I make them worthy." Abraham planted a tree at Beersheba, "set out his bread and his water for all who came into the world," spoke to their hearts, until they returned. That is Chesed: feed first, teach afterwards, and do not sort the good from the bad.
The Tomer Devorah devotes to Chesed its most concrete chapter. It begins with the root: "the essence of a person's entry into the secret of Chesed is to love G-d with a total love," a love that does not let go of the service "for any cause," and that receives trials as it receives kindnesses, for "faithful are the wounds of one who loves." Then it cites the Tikkunim: "who is a chasid? one who does kindness with his Creator." And it draws up the list of the eight kindnesses that one does for people, in order to do them also toward G-d.
First: at the birth of a child, provide all that is needed for its nourishment. Second: circumcise the child, that is, remove every husk that clings to the foundation. Third: visit the sick and heal them. Fourth: give tzedakah to the poor. Fifth: welcome travelers and give them a house of rest. Sixth: attend to the dead; above, he says, this means washing the Sefirot of every stain, dressing them in white, carrying them on the shoulder. Seventh: bring the bride under the canopy. Eighth: restore peace between a person and his fellow. For each one, Cordovero shows the corresponding gesture in the upper worlds; and in the middle of the list he sets the rule: let a person strive in the need of the simple, let him keep the allusion in mind, "and he is assured that he will do likewise above," once he is versed in the secrets. He adds a piece of advice: to say with his mouth, at the moment of acting, the right intention, so as to fulfill "in your mouth and in your heart, to do it."
Keep Abraham's measure: begin with bread and water. Chesed does not wait for the other to deserve it; kindness comes first, and that is why it is the first of the seven.
