EXOD1030 The cultivation of the quality of mercy is a prime goal of Judaism. The Pentateuchal description of God's divine traits was revealed to Moses in the following words: [this and following verses]. The phrase "merciful and gracious God" is repeated nine times in the Bible. Most biblical social laws are motivated by compassion. Sympathy for the poor inspired thirteen distinct commandments which are broadly grouped under the heading of charity (Mishnah Torah, Hilchot Matanot Aniyim). The same motivation shaped the law of the sabbatical year, at which time the poor were given free access to the produce of the soil (Exodus 23:11). Consideration for the plight of the indigent enjoined the nightly restoration of a garment taken from a poor borrower in pledge for a loan. (Exodus 22:26). The widow and the orphan are repeatedly singled out in the Bible as a class deserving special consideration and sympathy (Exodus 22:21, Deuteronomy 14:29). The alien, frequently the target of xenophobic prejudice, is protected by several laws based on mercy. (Exodus 22:20, Leviticus 20:34). Handicapped people were treated as the rejects of society in the past, and their special needs were neglected. Their very helplessness invites criminals to perpetrate their mischief. The elderly are the most common victims of muggers. The same is true of the lame, the blind, and the slow-witted. Compassion for the incapacitated is the basis for the biblical injunction: "Thou shall not curse the deaf, nor put a stumbling block before the blind" (Leviticus 19:14). The apocryphal II Esdras summed up man's social obligations which are motivated by compassion: "Do right to the widow, judge for the fatherless, give to the poor, defend the orphan, clothe the naked, heal the broken and the weak, laugh not a lame man to scorn, defend the maimed, and let the blind man come into the site of my clearness (2: 20–21). The Bible mercifully extended its protection to the most lowly human being in ancient society, the slave. He must not be mistreated. He is entitled to a weekly day of rest [this verse]. A master's abuse of a slave, resulting in the loss of an eye or tooth, sets him free from bondage (Exodus 21:26-27).

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EXOD1022 Even in cases in which the person does not complete the process of teshuvah, though, it is not always easy to identify a proper response to the perpetrator, for just as Judaism values justice, so too it values compassion and mercy. This flies in the face of many Christian stereotypes of Judaism, which see Judaism as a religion of law and Christianity as a religion of love. Neither is exclusively true. Christianity speaks much of God's love, but also values justice. Conversely, Judaism places great emphasis on justice and law, but only because it understands love to be most effectively expressed in families and societies where there are good laws. Even so, sometimes the requirements of law must be set aside in an act of mercy. Thus on the Day of Atonement we Jews ask God Himself to move from his seat of justice to his seat of mercy in judging us, and since God is our paradigm, we too must manifest such compassion. The Rabbis said this explicitly: "To walk in His ways" (Deuteronomy 11:22). These are the ways of the Holy One: [This verse]. "This means that just as God is gracious and compassionate, you too must be gracious and compassionate."

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EXOD1027 See [[EXOD234]] Exodus 15:26 healer DORFLOV 232

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EXOD1026 See [[DEUT1670]] Deuteronomy 32:4 perfect DUTIES 139-41

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EXOD1025 Rabbinic thinkers employed the Hebrew term middot in describing types, temperaments, characteristics, and dispositions of people. The most famous of all the middot are the 13 Divine attributes of God, as expressed in Exodus 34:6–7. These include mercy, loving–kindness, and forgiveness. A person possessing good traits was called a baal middot, which was understood to mean one who possessed good qualities. [Author then presents numerous Jewish sources commenting upon various character traits, proper behavior and etiquette.]

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EXOD1029 See [[LEV1107]] Leviticus 26:3 If LEHRMAN 160

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EXOD1021 "Compassion is an extremely noble trait. It is one of the thirteen traits attributed to the Holy One, Blessed be He, as it is written: 'Compassionate and gracious.' [this verse]. All that one can do in cultivating this trait, he should exert himself to do. Just as one would want compassion in his time of need, so should one have compassion on others who are in need." Orchot Tzaddikim The moral precepts of Judaism demand that we be compassionate to every soul. Singled out repeatedly as especially needing our compassion are the poor, widows, orphans, and others in need. The Torah repeatedly hammers away at our obligation to help those who are vulnerable and needy. The tradition is so insistent that we be living vessels of compassion that the Talmud asserts that "anyone who is not compassionate with people is certainly not a descendent of our forefather Abraham." Beitzah 32b

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EXOD1032 We need to know how God does chesed in order to discover the signposts we are to follow in our lives. In the Torah, where thirteen attributes of God's compassion are listed [this verse], among them is "abundant in kindness." The medieval commentator Rashi explains that the phrase "abundant in kindness" tells us that God shows kindness to all those who are in need of sustenance, even those who are not deserving of this help. Here we find our model for chesed. When we act with sustaining generosity to others not because they deserve it but because we are being kind, beyond any calculation of what they have earned from us or what we can get in return, then we are doing kindness in emulation of God's way of loving-kindness. Don't worry about loving the poor; your job is to clothe them. If people you know are ailing in any way, don't just think or even pray for them-take your time to go visit them. Offer your comfort to the bereaved in a house of mourning. And burying the dead is the classic example of active loving-kindness par excellence; since a corpse has no capacity to reciprocate, caring for its needs is purely generous kindness.

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EXOD1024 In Hilkhot De'ot 1-3, Maimonides expounds the Aristotelian virtues (e.g., temperance, generosity, bravery), legislating them under the rubric of the commandment, "Thou shalt walk in His ways" (Deut 28:9). The general ethical commandment of Hilkhot De'ot is thus a commandment of imitatio Dei. Now, since only one who knows God's ways can walk in them, it is clear that the general ethical commandment of Hilkhot De'ot is predicated not on the ethics of rules, but on that based on Reason. In Hilkhot Yesode ha-Torah we are commanded to study the sciences in order to fulfill the commandments relating to the knowledge of God; and in Hilkhot De'ot we are commanded to act morally as a result of that knowledge. The Law, as codified by Maimonides, is not content with an ethics based on habit, but commands an ethics based on Reason. The commandment to walk in God's ways is also a charge to do acts of hesed, since God's ways are those of hesed [this verse]. (By Warren Zev Harvey, “Ethical Theories among Medieval Jewish Philosophers”)

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EXOD1028 See [[EXOD1010]] Exodus 33:13 show SPERO 35

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