DEUT1531 [A niggardly person, who refrains from doing chesed, is liable to transgress:] (1) He violates the command of the Torah [this verse]: "And you shall walk in His ways." We are obliged by this overall injunction to follow the attributes of God, all of which consist in doing good to others, as Chazal have laid down (Sotah 14a): "As He is merciful, so you shall be merciful; as He is gracious, so you be gracious.," And so in reference to the other virtues as well. The Rambam has quoted the entire passage in his Sefer Hamitzvoth (No. 8). (The mitzvah of walking in the ways of Hashem is repeated eight times in Deuteronomy alone, as explained in the forward.) Whoever refrains from doing good to his fellow man, without just cause, transgresses this positive commandment which God has many times ordered us to obey.
SHOW FULL EXCERPT