When Avraham Avinu looked around and saw G-d’s divine goodness at work he realized he had to play a key role in the symphony of chesed creating relationships between people on an infrastructure of benevolent giving

 “The seeds of a certain type of violet that grows in North America are propagated in two phases. First the seeds are shot out of the plant stem as from a cannon and are scattered around the plant. Then ants come along find the seeds and carry them to their nest. On the outer layer of the seeds are corpuscles that contain a nutritious oil that ants find particularly palatable. Once the ants have nibbled these corpuscles away they have no more use for the seeds so they remove them from their nest and leave them scattered on the ground nearby. Under suitable conditions these seeds will sprout within a very short time.

“The most interesting fact here is that seeds that haven’t been nibbled by ants will take a longer time to sprout or they might never sprout at all.

“It turns out that when the ants consume the food cells they also chew away some of the hard shell surrounding the seed making it easy for water to penetrate the seed and sprout the germ within it which now has no difficulty breaking out of the shell” (Nitzotzot Magazine).

The phenomenon described above is known as symbiosis which literally means “living together.” In a symbiotic relationship two or more species work in a partnership from which all the participants benefit. If we look around and within ourselves with a discerning eye examining the natural world we’ll discover symbiosis everywhere. This kind of cooperative relationship is what preserves the balance of nature and maintains the world.

When we investigate nature we find that every component of the universe needs the support of some other component in order to survive and flourish. The violet needs the help of ants to reproduce and the ants need the oil found on the violet seeds. Nature offers countless other examples a captivating panorama of living creatures working constructively together in a pattern that is embedded in the structure of the universe. As a scientist and philosopher once put it “All parts of nature say hello to one another.”

“Shimon HaTzaddik says: The world stands upon three things: on the Torah on avodah and acts of kindness [chesed]” (Pirkei Avos 1:2).

In terms of Jewish thought this symbiosis goes by the name of chesed — mutual acts of kindness which indeed form one the foundations of the world. As it says in Tehillim (89:3) “Olam chesed yibaneh kindness will build a world.”

Jewish thought takes the concept to an even deeper level. The creation of the world is itself viewed as a tremendous act of chesed.  It is an act of such great love on G‑d’s part that the human mind is not capable of fully grasping it. (The human mind is limited in its scope specifically because it is part of and immersed in the Divine chesed just as someone standing up very close to the Great Wall of China cannot see its phenomenal length.)  

In space and time which are also created phenomena our world appeared teeming with life and growth. At its center stands man the only creature capable of knowing and understanding to some degree the significance of what he sees around him. In the world-view of Scripture and our Sages the Creator desired to form a reality separate from Himself as it were a reality to which He could impart his unending goodness.

Thus the creation of the world was an act of ultimate kindness. Its very essence perpetuates the physical world in the form of mutual cooperative relationships that go on ceaselessly among the various components of nature.

Avraham Avinu understood this. The father of faith opened his eyes looked at the world and perceived the sublime midah of chesed at work. Through his own existence from the very fact that he was a living breathing creature who could sense and enjoy the world’s splendor he felt the touch of Divine chesed. Through profound examination of the world around him he came to recognize that indeed all parts of creation “say hello to one another ” with the supreme law of chesed unifying them all into a single entity.

Avraham went a step further. He realized that as a creature in this beautiful and glorious world he had a duty to play an active part in this symphony of chesed. Going in Hashem’s ways as revealed in nature is the essence of serving Him. A man’s duty then is to build human society founding relations between people on an infrastructure of chesed. Man is meant to do consciously out of free choice what the ant driven by instinct does for the violet.

That is how Avraham Avinu developed his quality of chesed making it the cornerstone of his spiritual edifice. He considered it his task his mission his mandate to actively apply this midah in his life. Through years of self-education he made chesed the basis of his character. Numerous midrashim describe his self-sacrifice for his guests and his love for all human beings no matter what color or race. His heart was like a highly sensitive seismograph that could sense the slightest twinge of suffering in another’s heart. His home says the Midrash had four doors facing in all directions. Why? So that no poor hungry wanderer should have to walk further than necessary to enter his house and his hunger should not be prolonged chalilah an eternity of some extra seconds.

Avraham valued this midah so highly that on one occasion he gave priority to man over G‑d and it is this act of kindness that is reported in the Torah as we find in Parshas Vayera (Bereishis 18):

The opening words of the parshah tell us that Hashem reveals Himself to Avraham. We don’t know in what manner or form this appearance took place. But obviously such a moment is a zenith in a person’s life the culmination of all his spiritual strivings a moment of sublime delight that has no parallel.

And then just when Avraham’s soul was cleaving to the presence of its Creator three travelers appeared on the horizon. Now Avraham faced a difficult choice: G‑d or guests? Would he bask in the supreme pleasure of  a private audience with the Divinity or attend to the needs of guests of flesh and blood? He could not do both.

Avraham made a bold decision: “He asked HaKadosh Baruch Hu to wait for him until he could run and attend to the guests” (Rashi quoting the Midrash). Was he rejecting the Divine in favor of the human? No! He demonstrated to the world that showing kindness acting for the benefit of others is the highest expression of the Divine.

Avraham showed preference to man a creature made in G‑d’s image over G‑d Himself. He knew that the path of chesed is the path that leads to G‑d. And indeed his act won G‑d’s approval. It was even encoded into a halachic principle as stated in Maseches Shabbos (127): “Attending to guests is greater than receiving the Shechinah.”

Avraham showed the way. He laid out the blueprint for human kindness on which the whole Torah is based. In the midah of chesed he discovered the secret of the universe and the secret of man. He found that as a means of character development there is nothing like acts of giving. And giving is the key to love which stems from love of G‑d Himself.

Rav Dessler explains: “We are accustomed to thinking of giving as a consequence of love because a person is good to someone he loves. But the other explanation is that a person loves to feel that part of himself is invested in another be it a child to whom he has given life or adopted or an animal he has raised or a plant he has grown or even an inanimate object such as a house he has built. In every case he feels a bond of love to the things he has made for he finds himself in them” (Michtav MeEliyahu Kuntres HaChesed).

Thus chesed is the golden key to personal growth. “For that which a person gives to others he does not lose; rather it is an expansion of himself for he will feel that part of himself in his fellowman in the one to whom he bestowed goodwill. This is the closeness between one person and another that is called love” (ibid).

We can now understand why Shimon HaTzaddik included “acts of kindness” when he named the three foundations upon which the world stands.

Because without chesed the world cannot endure.