There is a meme on the internet that purports to derive from “the Talmud” saying:
“Do not be daunted by the enormity of the world’s grief. Do justly, now. Love mercy, now. Walk humbly now. You are not obligated to complete the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.”
It appears to have two sources.
One is Micah 6:8:
הִגִּ֥יד לְךָ֛ אָדָ֖ם מַה־טּ֑וֹב וּמָֽה־יְהֹוָ֞ה דּוֹרֵ֣שׁ מִמְּךָ֗ כִּ֣י אִם־עֲשׂ֤וֹת מִשְׁפָּט֙ וְאַ֣הֲבַת חֶ֔סֶד וְהַצְנֵ֥עַ לֶ֖כֶת עִם־אֱלֹהֶֽיךָ׃
Which I will translate as, “He has told you, o Man, what is good and what the LORD requires of you: Do justice, and love kindness, and walk humbly with your God.”
The second is Pirkei Avot (2:15), the Sayings of the Fathers, which is a collection of aphorisms and proverbs in the Mishnah:
רַבִּי טַרְפוֹן אוֹמֵר, הַיּוֹם קָצָר וְהַמְּלָאכָה מְרֻבָּה, וְהַפּוֹעֲלִים עֲצֵלִים, וְהַשָּׂכָר הַרְבֵּה, וּבַעַל הַבַּיִת דּוֹחֵק: הוּא הָיָה אוֹמֵר, לֹא עָלֶיךָ הַמְּלָאכָה לִגְמֹר, וְלֹא אַתָּה בֶן חוֹרִין לִבָּטֵל מִמֶּנָּה
Which I will translate, “Rabbi Tarfon says, ‘The day is short, the work is great, the workers are lazy, the pay is good, and the Master of the House is demanding.’ He used to say, ’It’s not on you to finish the job, but you aren’t free to abandon it.’”
Tarfon is very clear that “the job” is the study of Torah. In fact his very next words in this passage are, “If you have studied much Torah you will be given much reward.” But I am taken with the idea that “the job” is exactly what the prophet said: Do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly.
In the next chapter of Micah (7:18-20) the prophet asks: Who is a God like You, forgiving sin, pardoning transgression; who has not maintained His anger forever against the remnant of His people because he desires kindness? He will take us back in mercy, blot our crimes and hurl them into the depths of the sea, keeping faith with Jacob and loyalty to Abraham as You promised our fathers in days gone by.
Micah tells us that God “desires kindness” (חָפֵ֥ץ חֶ֖סֶד הֽוּא) and that he requires us to “love kindness” (אַ֣הֲבַת חֶ֔סֶד) I am translating the Hebrew “chesed” as “kindness.”
Rabbi Moses Cordovero (1522-1570) wrote an entire treatise on that second quote from Micah, (“Who is a God like you…) which he described as Thirteen Attributes of Mercy (Rachamim), and which he argued we should learn to practice in our own lives. He had plenty to say about kindness.
He said that the secret of kindness is to love God so completely that you could never leave His service because that love surpasses everything else in your heart. But he also suggested some practices with other people. These are some of them.
- Provide a child with everything from the time of its birth
- Visit and heal the sick
- Charity to the poor
- Welcome strangers
- Make a wedding for a bride
- Reconcile people who have become estranged
(Tomer Devorah, Southfield, MI, 1993)
So those are some ways of being kind. But don’t forget, Micah also said that God wants us to walk humbly with Him.
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