Mantras for loving kindness
- Sustain others, without thought of reward, even if they don’t deserve it.
One thought on “Chevruta discussions – Loving Kindness”
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Providing an inclusive community that supports connection to Jewish life, both cultural and spiritual, on the coast from Pacifica to Pescadero.
Two hallmarks of Chesed (Loving Kindness): (a) Chesed consists of unasked for acts (otherwise, it’s generosity (nedivut).
(b) Chesed is enhanced by being inconvenienced. (b1) One part of inconvenience is the simple non-utility to the doer.
(b2) But a second part of inconvenience is that the deed *stretches* the doer, thereby increases the skills of the doer. The aspiration of a medium level of chesed thereby comes into play, since it is not useful to take on the impossible, merely that which is inconvenient but possible to accomplish with a little more effort, a feasible amount of skill acquisition.
Personal note: All November, I was mulling over/inspired by chesed, since my wife and I were providing assisted living to a senior recently unable to live independently, because of degraded working memory. Since December, this senior is now in an assisted living facility in Florida. And I am left with this enduring memory of chesed.