A World Built on Kindness
The Book of Psalms says: “For I said: the world is built on kindness; You set Your faithfulness firm in the heavens.” Where It Begins “The world is built on kindness.” In the original Hebrew it is only three words, yet those three words hold the foundation of all of reality. But a question comes up. What is this verse doing in our everyday lives? What does it have to do with our home, with the dinner table, with the quiet thoughts that follow us inside our own four walls? These are thoughts no one else hears, when we sit and think: Where is the appreciation? Where is what I deserve? That is the nerve this verse touches. The Foundation of Creation: A Flow of Giving The Etz Chaim, a classic book of Jewish mysticism, explains that Hashem created the world out of His simple will to do good to His creations. He did not need anything, and nothing was missing for Him. He created out of a deep, inner root of giving. The first and most basic movement of all reality is this: giving. That is the plain meaning of the verse “The world is built on kindness.” The world is built, founded and held up by the movement of kindness. By giving. By sharing goodness with others. This is not just a “good trait” that is worth adopting. It is the spiritual DNA of all reality. In the Image of Hashem: A Person as a Giver The Torah says: “Hashem created man in His image.” We are told that a human being was created in the image of Hashem. What does that mean in practice? If Hashem’s very nature in creation is to give, then a person was created to reflect that same image. So a person’s purpose is to be a giver. Not a taker. A giver. When a person gives, he is in tune with the movement of creation. When he turns into only a taker, he works against the divine flow of giving. He takes up a place in the pile, but he does not connect himself to the source. The Zohar, the great book of Jewish mysticism, calls this “the bread of shame”: eating without giving, taking in without shining any light. A New Way to See Selfishness: Turning Creation Upside Down Here is the new idea. We usually call selfishness a “bad character trait.” But it is more than a flaw in character. It turns the basic order of reality upside down. When a person lives with the mindset of “What am I getting?”, he lives against the very movement that creation is built on. Think of a young married man who finishes a whole day, and his thoughts keep circling around one question. What didn’t my wife do for me? What didn’t I get? What do I deserve? Right now, his whole world is centered on taking. He is not a bad person. But he has connected himself to the opposite direction. He lives as if the world was built so that he could receive, when the truth is exactly the reverse.
Putting It into Practice
The way to build your own private “world of kindness” at home, between husband and wife, is to change just one question. Don’t ask, “What am I getting?” Ask, “What can I give?” This is more than fixing a character trait. It brings you into line with the movement of creation itself. When you give, whether it is time, a word or a look, you open yourself to the divine current that was planted at the foundation of reality. You become a giver. And in that way, for at least one moment, you live in the “image of Hashem” that you were created for. The world is built on kindness. Start with your own home.
Questions and answers
Q: Which verse in Psalms says the world is built on kindness?
Rabbi Landau answers: The Book of Psalms says: “For I said: the world is built on kindness; You set Your faithfulness firm in the heavens.”
Q: Why did Hashem create the world, according to the Etz Chaim?
Rabbi Landau answers: The Etz Chaim, a classic book of Jewish mysticism, explains that Hashem created the world out of His simple will to do good to His creations. He did not need anything, and nothing was missing for Him. He created out of a deep, inner root of giving. The first and most basic movement of all reality is this: giving. That is the plain meaning of the verse “The world is built on kindness.” The world is built, founded and held up by the movement of kindness. By giving. By sharing goodness with others. This is not just a “good trait” that is worth adopting. It is the spiritual DNA of all reality.
Q: What does being created in the image of Hashem mean for a person's purpose?
Rabbi Landau answers: The Torah says: “Hashem created man in His image.” We are told that a human being was created in the image of Hashem. What does that mean in practice? If Hashem’s very nature in creation is to give, then a person was created to reflect that same image. So a person’s purpose is to be a giver.
Q: Why is selfishness more than just a bad character trait?
Rabbi Landau answers: We usually call selfishness a “bad character trait.” But it is more than a flaw in character. It turns the basic order of reality upside down. When a person lives with the mindset of “What am I getting?”, he lives against the very movement that creation is built on. Think of a young married man who finishes a whole day, and his thoughts keep circling around one question. What didn’t my wife do for me? What didn’t I get? What do I deserve? Right now, his whole world is centered on taking. He is not a bad person. But he has connected himself to the opposite direction. He lives as if the world was built so that he could receive, when the truth is exactly the reverse.
Q: How can a couple build their own "world of kindness" at home?
Rabbi Landau answers: The way to build your own private “world of kindness” at home, between husband and wife, is to change just one question. Don’t ask, “What am I getting?” Ask, “What can I give?” This is more than fixing a character trait. It brings you into line with the movement of creation itself. When you give, whether it is time, a word or a look, you open yourself to the divine current that was planted at the foundation of reality. You become a giver. And in that way, for at least one moment, you live in the “image of Hashem” that you were created for. The world is built on kindness. Start with your own home.