DEUT317 Great is charity for the Torah has been compared and is equal to it, for there is no better creation in the world than Torah, as it is said (Prov. 4:8): 'Extol her and she will exalt you. She will bring you honor when you embrace her. She will give your head a chaplet of grace. A crown of glory she will bestow on you.' And Torah is compared to none other than charity, as it is said [this verse]: 'And it shall be a charity to us if we observe to do all this commandment.'

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DEUT426 To the same extent, then, that man accustoms himself to practice the virtues of goodness and kindness throughout all his life, will he enjoy the goodness and abundant chesed of the Holy One, Blessed be He, in this world and the next. We have found this holy virtue evaluated, in many instances, in the Kethuvim [“writings,” e.g., Psalms, Proverbs, Job, etc.; the third section of the Tanakh - AJL] and in Rabbinic literature, as being equivalent to Torah study, both in respect of saving man from suffering in this world and the next, and also of making him worthy of receiving all that is good.

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DEUT548 "R. Yochanan b. Zakkai and R. Yehoshua b. Chananya stood near the Temple Mount. R. Yehoshua complained: Woe to us! The place where our iniquities were expiated is desolate. R. Yochanan b. Zakkai replied: My son, be not grieved. We possess an equally effective means of atonement. This is gemiluth chesed, as it is written (Hos. 6:6): 'For I desire chesed and not sacrifice.'" Now chesed secures atonement as effectively as sacrifices. And the altar was never without sacrifices on any single day; therefore, since everyone sins every day, he is obliged to practice this virtue every day. We constantly deplore the fact that we have neither Temple nor sacrifices at present. Because of the multitude of our sins, our iniquities proliferate every day. Hence man stands in ever greater compelling need of this holy trait to secure forgiveness of his sins. Even when the Temple stood, the people of those days needed to strive after these holy virtues of goodness and kindness all the days of their lives, as the Torah explicitly states [this verse]: "For if you diligently keep all these commandments… To love Hashem your God, to walk in His ways all the days…" We have also explained according to the Sifrei that "walking in His ways" refers to the "acquiring of the characteristics of Hashem, may He be blessed, which are the ways of goodness and kindness." The reason for all this is, as the Zohar informs us, that man's days on this world have a permanence. From each day a spiritual creation comes into existence. And in the future, when the time arrives for man to leave the world, all his days appear before the Lord of all things to give evidence concerning him. Hence man must take care to keep all his days completely holy.

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DEUT550 We may also assert that the most desirable of all ends is for man to be worthy to remain in God's presence and to enjoy the effulgence of the Shechina. This is the true state of bliss, the greatest of all pleasures. Yet, whether man merits it depends upon whether he clings to God with all his might while he is still alive, as it is written [this verse], "To cling to Him," which means to cling to His attributes. Chazal have so declared: During all his days, man should urge himself on to acquire the Divine attributes, which are directed to goodness and kindness only. Then he will deserve to remain eternally before God and to "satisfy his soul in drought," as it is written, (Micah 7:18) "since He delights in chesed." This would not be true if his attitude in life was to be opposed to helping his fellow man, to act contrary to the ways of God. How could such a person deserve to be close to God in the end? This is indeed the idea expressed by the Gemara (Eruvin 86a): "Rava bar Mari expounded the verse (Ps. 61:8), 'May the world exist before God; kindness (chesed) and truth (emeth) shall sustain it.'

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DEUT640 See [[DEUT768]] Deuteronomy 15:9 mean AHAVCH 103-4

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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...

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DEUT655 See [[EXOD162]] Exodus 12:38 mixed AHAVCH 106

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DEUT656 The Sefer Hachinuch lays down that the trait of niggardliness sets up an iron barrier between the person and the blessing that should come to him. He also removes himself from Heavenly compassion, according to Chazal's interpretation (Shabbath 151b) of [this] verse: "'And He shall give you mercy and have compassion on you and multiply you.' He who is merciful to others, mercy is shown to him by Heaven; while he who is not merciful to others, mercy is not shown to him by Heaven."

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DEUT702 If one knows that the applicant for the loan has bad traits and is careless with other people's money, and someone lending to this person would stand to lose his money, since there will be nothing left from which to collect, it is better not to lend without taking a pledge, then to lend and to be compelled to keep dunning the debtor for repayment, since the creditor will thereby transgress the prohibition [this verse]: "He shall not exact it of his neighbor." So the ruling is recorded in Chosen Mishpat (Chap. 97, Par. 4, q.v. --"Such a borrower is also called a rasha'").

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DEUT714 Know that the precedence giving to the poor as against the rich, mentioned above… is only in force where both apply for free loans. If the rich required the loan for an investment, and the lender would lose his share of the profits by giving the money to the poor without charge, and he cannot afford this loss, he is not obliged to give the money as a free loan to the poor. (See chapter 1 where we have cited the opinion of the Chinuch that the mitzvah of gemiluth chesed loans depends on each person's circumstances.) In this connection, Chazal (Bava Metzia 33a) have stated that [this verse] "Howbeit, there shall be no needy among you" signifies that "your" needs come first. One should, however, most carefully consider whether he really is unable to afford the loan, for the evil inclination always entices one to believe that one does not have the means. Now, if one really can afford the loan, yet he closes his fist and refuses to do chesed fearing that he might thereby become impoverished, his evil streak will eventually bring him, God forbid, to poverty. So Chazal have declared (Bava Metzia 32a): "Whoever [overtly] considers his own needs first, will come to be in need." This criterion of whether he really has the means applies not only to the case mentioned above, but also where he wants to invest the money in business and a poor man desires to borrow that sum as a free loan (See Part II, Chap. 10).

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