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.