DEUT652 As is known, charity and chesed overcome the attribute of strict justice. On [this] verse … Chazal have commented (Shabbath 151b): "Whosoever has mercy on human beings will be granted mercy from Heaven." In these times we see with our own eyes how the attribute of strict justice grows stronger in the world from day to day. All kinds of maladies and unnatural deaths abound. There is a lack of Divine influence in the world, so that each day is more cursed than the day before. How much must we increase the prevalence of tzedakah and chesed. Perhaps in this way, we shall succeed in averting the severity of the judgment and the world will become filled with mercy...