Olam Chessed Yibaneh – Nitzavim-Vayeilech
הַשִּׁעוּר מֻקְדָּשׁ לִרְפוּאַת שִׂמְּעוֹנָה בַּת שָׂרָה
אַתֶּם נִצָּבִים הַיּוֹם כֻּלְּכֶם לִפְנֵי ה' אֱ-לֹקֵיכֶם רָאשֵׁיכֶם שִׁבְטֵיכֶם זִקְנֵיכֶם וְשֹׁטְרֵיכֶם כֹּל אִישׁ יִשְׂרָאֵל. טַפְּכֶם נְשֵׁיכֶם וְגֵרְךָ אֲשֶׁר בְּקֶרֶב מַחֲנֶיךָ מֵחֹטֵב עֵצֶיךָ עַד שֹׁאֵב מֵימֶיךָ. (דברים כט, ט-י)
Parshat Nitzavim always precedes Rosh HaShana. In a previous shiur (Nitzavim 2025), we discussed the topic of "tree choppers" and "water drawers" as they relate to Adam HaRishon and tikkun olam. This year, I would like to explore the subject from a different angle, focusing on another famous tree chopper, Avraham Avinu and another famous water drawer – Rivka Imeinu.
We all know the famous Midrash (בראשית רבה ח, ה) that tells how HKB"H, before He created Adam HaRishon, first asked the angels whether to create man or not. The angels split into different factions, as it says חֶסֶד וֶאֱמֶת נִפְגָּשׁוּ ... (תהילים פה, יא). Chessed said "Create man, because he is גּוֹמֵל חֲסָדִים". Emet said "Don't create man, because he is full of lies". What did HKB"H do? He took Emet and "threw it to the ground", as it says וְתַשְׁלֵךְ אֱמֶת אַרְצָה (דניאל ח, יב). The horrified angels said to HKB"H "Ribon HaOlamim, how can you demean your 'seal' (אֱמֶת is HKB"H's seal) like that? Raise it up from the ground, as it says אֱמֶת מֵאֶרֶץ תִּצְמָח (תהילים פה, יב)".
When HKB"H created Adam HaRishon, what kind of creature did He intend to create? According to the Midrash (בראשית רבה יד, ו), R' Levi says that Avraham is called הָאָדָם הַגָּדוֹל בָּעֲנָקִים (יהושע יד, טו) because Avraham was meant to be Adam HaRishon, but HKB"H said "If I create Avraham as Adam HaRishon and he sins, there will be nobody to follow and fix his sin".
Therefore, HKB"H's vision for mankind was that we should be akin to Avraham Avinu. Avraham Avinu is Chessed. HKB"H accepted the argument of "Chessed" and not the argument of "Emet". If Emet would have won the debate, mankind would never have been created in the first place.
Creating humans was a Chessed, HKB"H created us because of Chessed, and we have to "return the favor" by living our lives entirely doing Chessed, like Avraham Avinu.
This is not to say that the only "pillar of the world" is Chessed. The world exists because of three pillars שִׁמְעוֹן הַצַּדִּיק הָיָה מִשְּׁיָרֵי כְּנֶסֶת הַגְּדוֹלָה. הוּא הָיָה אוֹמֵר, עַל שְׁלֹשָׁה דְּבָרִים הָעוֹלָם עוֹמֵד: עַל הַתּוֹרָה, וְעַל הָעֲבוֹדָה, וְעַל גְּמִילוּת חֲסָדִים (אבות א, ב). The three pillars are – Torah, Avodah and Chessed.
This is אבות א, ב, the "aleph bet" of the Avot. All three of the Avot studied and taught Torah, did Avodah (brought korbanot) and did Chessed, but each placed emphasis on a different "pillar".
Yaakov placed the emphasis on Torah וְיַעֲקֹב אִישׁ תָּם יֹשֵׁב אֹהָלִים (בראשית כה, כז). Yitzchak placed emphasis on Avodah – he was a korban himself, at the Akeida. Avraham emphasized Chessed. Avraham was the first of the Avot, the first pillar, which teaches us that in order for the pillars of Torah and Avodah to be built, you first have to have the pillar of Chessed. Chessed is the foundation pillar out of which the Torah and Avodah pillars emerge.
There was a major difference between Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov. Yitzchak and Yaakov were born Jewish. Avraham was not - he was מִתְגַּיֵּר. Avraham was not spoon-fed Torah and Avodah as a baby - he acquired it on his own. Avraham's neshama from birth already had the potential, the נִיצוֹץ of Torah and Avodah, and this spark was ignited directly by HKB"H Himself, unlike Yitzchak and Yaakov, whose "sparks" were lit by their parents.
Avraham comes to teach us a fundamental principle - in order to acquire Torah and serve HKB"H, you first need to be a kind person, you have to do Chessed – דֶּרֶךְ אֶרֶץ קָדְמָה לַתּוֹרָה (ויקרא רבה ט, ג).
Avraham taught Torah through the medium of Chessed, establishing an אֶשֶׁל in Be'er Sheva, radiating kindness to whoever came his way, being makpid to do the Chessed as much as possible himself, running after calves to serve in the meals, dishing up platters of gourmet food that you couldn't find anywhere else, like calf tongues in mustard sauce. Sharing the Chessed with other members of his family, Sarah making the bread, Yishmael doing the shechita, etc.
People are naturally attracted to acts of kindness, Chessed - it is part of the blueprint of Creation and thus attracts masses of people, like a magnet attracts metal. People who see other people doing Chessed, want to be like them, they want to learn to be אַנְשֵׁי חֶסֶד themselves. Avraham learned his Chessed in that way, from Shem, the son of Noach (who we spoke about in last week's shiur). Shem told Avraham about all the Chessed they did with the animals in the Ark and Avraham immediately connected with this and wanted to emulate it. Avraham took Noach and his sons' Chessed to a completely new level, the highest level imaginable – which is why Avraham is the yardstick for Chessed. Avraham did not suffice with waiting for people to come visit him in Be'er Sheva (like Noach), Avraham traveled the length and breadth of the land, digging wells to give free water to passers-by, doing Chessed.
This is not to say that Avraham did not study and teach Torah, he was the posek hador. When the three angels came to visit him after his brit milah, Gavriel (whose job was to destroy Sdom) first had to make a "pitstop" at Avraham to get a psak halacha whether to save Lot or not (see shiur on Balak 2025). Avraham taught Sarah the halachot of chametz and making matzot on Pesach מַהֲרִי שְׁלֹשׁ סְאִים קֶמַח סֹלֶת לוּשִׁי וַעֲשִׂי עֻגוֹת (בראשית יח, ו). We learn numerous piskei halacha from Avraham Avinu – hachnasat orchim takes precedence over קַבָּלַת פְּנֵי שְׁכִינָה (שבת קכז ע"א), accompanying guests after a meal (סוטה י, ע"א), זְרִיזוּת in performing mitzvot (פסחים ד, ע"א), אֱמֹר מְעַט וַעֲשֵׂה הַרְבֵּה (בבא מציעא, פו ע"ב), fixing a מָקוֹם קָבוּעַ to daven (ברכות ו, ע"ב), amongst many others.
Avraham's mission was to teach others Torah, through the medium of Chessed. What a profound lesson to all teachers. If you want to make an indelible impression on your students, the best way to do it is by being a kind person, Chessed – really and truly caring about others.
This is why Avraham did not want his son Yitzchak to marry the daughter of Eliezer. Eliezer the servant of Avraham, was Avraham's star pupil, he was a genius, managed Avraham's entire household and in whose hands Avraham entrusted everything. However, this was not the kind of wife Avraham wanted for Yitzchak, not the daughter of a "shpitz lamdan" or a CEO extraordinaire, but rather an eshet Chessed. This is the mission Avraham sent Eliezer on – to find a wife for Yitzchak who radiated Chessed.
In parshat Chayei Sarah we read about the "test" that Eliezer devised to determine whether the woman was an eshet Chessed or not. וַיֹּאמַר ה' אֱ-לֹקֵי אֲדֹנִי אַבְרָהָם הַקְרֵה נָא לְפָנַי הַיּוֹם וַעֲשֵׂה חֶסֶד עִם אֲדֹנִי אַבְרָהָם (בראשית כד, יב). How do you determine such a thing, just by observing the woman, without really knowing her? Eliezer's first observation of Rivka was that she was very beautiful, but that was just a bonus, it wasn't part of the test. The test involved selflessness, going way beyond the norm.
It was usually the women who went to draw water from the well. Asking a small girl (3 according to Rashi, 14 according to Seder Olam) to give you some of her water to drink, is not so far-fetched and probably the norm. However, if the girl offers not only to give you to drink, but also to make many, many repeat trips to the well to give your numerous camels to drink (do you know how much camels drink in one shot? Over 100 liters per camel), that is certainly not the norm and only in the realm of over-the-top Chessed. The same level as Avraham's Chessed, like chasing after a runaway calf all the way from Be'er Sheva to Hebron, just so you can give your three guests three calf tongues in mustard sauce - 62km of "jogging" after just having a brit milah three days before! Nobody in their "right mind" would even consider such a thing – except for Avraham, except for Rivka – their Chessed was "prototype maximum level", upon which everything else is graded.
Interestingly, Rivka was also not born Jewish. Just as HKB"H Himself ignited the spark of Chessed in Avraham's neshama, so too did He in Rivka's. Neither of them got it from their environment. Quite the contrary, the "chessed" that Rivka learned in her home of birth was the totally opposite, perverted kind of "chessed" - forbidden relations within the family (ויקרא כ, יז). The Gemara (מסכת סופרים כא) says that Rivka's father Betuel was very devout in upholding the Aramite "custom" of fathers having relations with their virgin daughters before they got married. Only by miracle was Rivka spared this.
Rivka knew how to distinguish between the two opposite poles of Chessed (good) and "chessed" (evil). She therefore recognized Eisav's evil behavior a mile away, because she had grown up around it as a child. Yitzchak, who grew up in Avraham's home, couldn't see it.
Thus, we have the chopper of trees, מֵחֹטֵב עֵצֶיךָ - in gematria אַבְרָהָם (with the כּוֹלֵל). Prior to the Akeida, Avraham chopped down wood for the korban וַיַּשְׁכֵּם אַבְרָהָם בַּבֹּקֶר... וַיְבַקַּע עֲצֵי עֹלָה (בראשית כב, ג). Why shlep wood 104km from Be'er Sheva to Yerushalayim? Why not cut down wood in Yerushalayim? What, the area of Yerushalayim is short of trees?
Just as Avraham was "over-the-top" in his Chessed towards other people, so too was he in his service of HKB"H. "What if there is a tiny, tiny chance that I won't find wood at the destination? Maybe there will be wood, but maybe it is worm ridden?" (pasul for a korban). Avraham was not taking chances.
In merit of this over-the-top level of devotion to HKB"H, Avraham's descendants, Am Yisrael merited the splitting of Yam Suf. וַיְבַקַּע עֲצֵי עֹלָה … וַיִּבָּקְעוּ הַמָּיִם (שמות יד, כא).
It was this "gold standard" in Chessed that Eliezer was looking for in a wife for Avraham's son Yitzchak, which is why he gave Rivka נֶזֶם זָהָב בֶּקַע מִשְׁקָלוֹ (בראשית כד, כב), the same gold stamp of Avraham Avinu. Rivka and Avraham were from the same "stock" of Chessed, the gematria of שֹׁאֵב מֵימֶיךָ is עֵץ אָבִי אַבְרָהָם.
Ultimate Chessed is the template, the blueprint of Creation, designed by HKB"H (using ש-ד-י, the name He appeared to the Avot with [שמות ו, ג]). The same blueprint imprinted in Avraham Avinu חֹטֵב עֵצֶיךָ and the same blueprint imprinted in Rivka Imeinu שֹׁאֵב מֵימֶיךָ.
This blueprint ש-ד-י/אברהם/רבקה is the model for all future generations, the gold standard upon which all future generations are based and derived from.
Some examples –
The gematria of ש-ד-י/אברהם/רבקה is - עֵץ/נָחָשׁ/אָדָם/אִשָּׁה and also הִוא נָתְנָה לִּי מִן הָעֵץ וָאֹכֵל (בראשית ג, יב) - tikkun for the sin of Adam and Chava.
This supreme level of Chessed, which Rivka embodied, enabled her son Yaakov to become the עַמּוּד הַתּוֹרָה, which represents אֱמֶת, as it says תִּתֵּן אֱמֶת לְיַעֲקֹב (מיכה ז, כ). Torah only grows in the fertile ground of Chessed (as we saw above with Avraham). This is what HKB"H said to the angels when He threw אֱמֶת to the ground. The gematria of ש-ד-י/אברהם/רבקה is - מֵאֶרֶץ תִּצְמָח (תהילים פה, יב). For true אֱמֶת to emerge, it first requires Chessed in which to grow.
The gematria of ש-ד-י/אברהם/רבקה is - אֶעֱבׇדְךָ שֶׁבַע שָׁנִים (בראשית כט, יח) referring to Rachel Imeinu, wife of Yaakov, who also reflected this level of Chessed, with her sister Leah.
The gematria of מֵחֹטֵב עֵצֶיךָ עַד שֹׁאֵב מֵימֶיךָ is - שִׁפְרָה פּוּעָה, who, through ultimate Chessed reared the multitudes who eventually formed Am Yisrael.
The gematria of ש-ד-י/אברהם/רבקה is - בֹּעֵר בָּאֵשׁ וְהַסְּנֶה אֵינֶנּוּ אֻכָּל (שמות ג, ב) - referring to Moshe Rabbeinu, whose mother and sister שִׁפְרָה/יוֹכֶבֶד פּוּעָה/מִרְיָם embodied this same Chessed.
The gematria of ש-ד-י/אברהם/רבקה is - לֹא תְבַשֵּׁל גְּדִי בַּחֲלֵב אִמּוֹ. The reason we have this prohibition is – because it is cruelty, the opposite of Chessed.
The gematria of ש-ד-י/אברהם/רבקה is - מִלְחָמָה לַה' בַּעֲמָלֵק מִדֹּר דֹּר, to destroy the antithesis of Chessed in the world.
In a previous shiur (Nitzavim 2025) we noted that the passuk says מֵחֹטֵב עֵצֶיךָ עַד שֹׁאֵב מֵימֶיךָ, a "from - to" range. If that is the case, the "from" should be one extreme and the "to" the other extreme. Here we have two examples which are on the same level, choppers of wood to drawers of water. The reason is because they are both referring to Chessed. When it comes to doing Chessed, everyone is on the same level.
Unlike giving Tzedaka, for example, there is a difference to the recipient if a rich donor gives them a million dollars, or if a poor donor gives them ten dollars. Similarly, there is a difference in studying Torah, between someone with a high IQ and someone with a low IQ, the one will be able to study and understand more than the other.
Chessed, however, is not dependent on your starting "stats" - whether you are rich, poor, smart, dumb, healthy, unhealthy etc. Kindness is possible from everyone, regardless of who they are. Treating people kindly does not require you to be rich or smart, athletic, good looking, etc. It is a character trait that any human being can develop – it is the baseline for humanity, from when HKB"H created the world. It is the main foundation pillar upon which the world exists.
What does all of this have to do with Rosh HaShana? We read parshat Nitzavim every year the Shabbat before Rosh HaShana, because Nitzavim harbors secrets to teach us how to approach Rosh HaShana the correct way.
One of these secrets is that unless we arrive at Rosh HaShana with a high level of Chessed, we are in deep trouble!
The gematria of ש-ד-י/אברהם/רבקה is - וחִיל וּרְעָדָה יֹאחֵזוּן וְיֹאמְרוּ הִנֵּה יוֹם הַדִּין. The angels are scurrying around in fear and trepidation, because the Day of Judgement has arrived. One of the major features of Rosh HaShana is that we blow the shofar. This year, since the first day of Rosh HaShana is on Shabbat, we will only blow the shofar on the second day (Sunday).
Why do we blow the shofar on Rosh HaShana? The Midrash (פסיקתא דרב כהנא כג, ג) explains that blowing the shofar moves HKB"H from כִּסֵּא הַדִּין to כִּסֵּא הָרַחֲמִים. How does this mechanism work?
The origin of the shofar is Avraham Avinu. At the Akeida (which we read about on the 2nd day of Rosh HaShana), Avraham was ready to sacrifice Yitzchak, when suddenly the angel (שָּׂטָן) who wanted to test Avraham, said "Stop!" Out of nowhere a ram suddenly appeared with its horns caught in a thicket וַיִּשָּׂא אַבְרָהָם אֶת עֵינָיו וַיַּרְא וְהִנֵּה אַיִל אַחַר נֶאֱחַז בַּסְּבַךְ בְּקַרְנָיו (בראשית כב, יג). Avraham sacrificed the ram instead of Yitzchak. When you bring a ram as a korban olah, not all of the animal is offered, some parts are removed first, like the horns which are partially detached from the head. What happened to the two horns of this ram?
The Midrash (פרקי דרבי אליעזר, פרק לא) says that the left, smaller horn was used as the shofar at Matan Torah and the right, larger horn is hidden somewhere in storage and will be blown when Mashiach arrives.
We blow the shofar on Rosh HaShana to remind HKB"H of the Akeida and Avraham, the epitome of Chessed. When HKB"H hears the shofar, He therefore moves from כִּסֵּא הַדִּין to כִּסֵּא הַחֶסֶד/רַחֲמִים in the merit of Avraham.
In addition, if each of us exemplified ourselves with Chessed during the year prior to Rosh HaShana, עַל אַחַת כַּמָּה וְכַמָּה that HKB"H moves from כִּסֵּא הַדִּין to כִּסֵּא הַחֶסֶד/רַחֲמִים in our merit as well. The more Chessed we have done, the quicker HKB"H moves (kiveyachol). For those of us who have done less, HKB"H doesn't move as quickly. For those who have less Chessed under their belt, we have a longer period of time to catch up, מֵחֹטֵב עֵצֶיךָ from the Akeida/Rosh HaShana, עַד שֹׁאֵב מֵימֶיךָ, in gematria חַג סֻכּוֹת (or at least the day before – הוֹשַׁעְנָה רַבָּה) to fix things.
The word נִצָּבִים appears a total of 18 times throughout Tanach, gematria of חַי. If we apply the lessons that Nitzavim teaches us, we have a very good chance of traversing the יָמִים נוֹרָאִים successfully and coming out alive. The gematria of ש-ד-י/אברהם/רבקה is - וּבָאוּ עָלֶיךָ כָּל הַבְּרָכוֹת הָאֵלֶּה.
Not all of us can become a Moshe Rabbeinu or a R' Akiva, but each and every one of us has the capability of achieving the same level of Chessed as Avraham Avinu. It doesn't require a high IQ or being rich, all it requires is kindness in our hearts.
Finally, the gematria of ש-ד-י/אברהם/רבקה is – דֶּגֶל אֶרֶץ יִשְׂרָאֵל. This is the true flag of our nation, a nation of kindness and Chessed.
Shabbat Shalom and כְּתִיבָה וַחֲתִימָה לְאַלְתָּר לְחַיִּים טוֹבִים וּלְשָׁלוֹם
