[Avodah] Tahara

[Joshua Meisner]

On Sun, Feb 19, 2012 at 7:00 AM, Micha Berger <micha at aishdas.org> wrote:

> On Sat, Feb 18, 2012 at 10:41:47PM -0500, T613K at aol.com wrote:
> : It is considered the ultimate not because the relatives can't thank you
> or
> : return a favor, and not because you don't get schar -- but because THE
> : PERSON  YOU ARE HELPING can never help you or even thank you in any way.
>
> Does "chessed shel emes" mean "the ultimate chessed"?
>
> It does seem to mean "with no expectation of personal gain", or more
> literally "real chessed". And thus if you are willing to include people
> who are not in a position to pay you back ("completed incapacitated",
> is how you put it), then why aren't you willing to exclude cases where
> living people know who did the taharah and think better of the chevrah
> qadisha member for it?
>

R' Yitzchok Dovid Frankel, in his Machat Shel Yad (Vayechi, 4), notes that
Rashi's precise wording in defining chessed shel emes is "she-eino m'tzapeh
l'sashlum g'mul", literally, that he does not look forward to repayment,
and, in this light, explains that chessed shel emes is one where one does
not wish to anticipate compensation, as the truest compensation for such
actions only occurs at one's own burial.


Joshua Meisner
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