The World is Built on Kindness

Once Rabbi Nathan of Nemirov commented on the following Talmudic discussion:

Rabbi Akiva was asked, “If the Holy One loves the needy why doesn't He support them?”

He responded, “To save them from the judgments of purgatory...as charity saves from death.” (Baba Bathra 10a)

Rabbi Nathan explained,  “This passage is not difficult at all to understand. There's no doubt that the Holy One can support the needy honorably and bestow upon them all the good bestowed upon the wealthy.

“However since the world is built on kindness, it sustains the world. As such, the world was created only for the sake of human beings, who have free will, to do kindness with each other.

“Therefore, God takes tremendous pleasure when He sees a needy person seeking alms approach a wealthy person and the wealthy person, who has Holy One’s money in his hands, struggles with his selfish inclinations and the evil in his heart; which seek to prevent him from giving charity.

“Then, with his free choice, he overcomes his selfish urges and turns towards the side of kindness, performing the will Creator to extend the Holy One’s kindness to the needy person who approached him with an outstretched hand.

“As such it is brought down in the Holy Zohar (Vayeirah 104a), When the Holy One does kindness with humans, He sends them a gift. What is the gift? It is a needy person through whom they can acquire merit.

“The Holy One loves both the needy and the wealthy. He sends the needy as a gift, in order that the wealthy may acquire merit, through the kindness they do, which sustains the world.

“Therefore our sages teach, More than the wealthy does for the needy, the needy does for the wealthy. (Ruth Rabba 84)

“[This is divinely arranged] in order to save the wealthy from the judgments of purgatory. Besides this, the Holy One has an opportunity to glory in His handiworks, because a human being, endowed with free choice, overcame his selfish urges and did the will of his Creator to sustain the world with kindness.”

~ translated from Otzer Nachmani, 16 (Volume 1, pages 28 and 29).

(This translation was done as part of a project for the BRI. Please note that it's only a preliminary version and not the actual submitted version.)