Rabbi Ḥanina ben Teradyon said to him: Fortunate are you, as you were arrested on five charges but you will be saved; woe is me, as I have been arrested on one charge, but I will not be saved. You will be saved because you engaged in Torah study and in acts of Chesed (Lovingkindness), and I engaged in Torah study alone.

For the Sages, Torah study was often held as the highest virtue. What is the significance of doing acts of Chesed?

Then, if you truly keep all the Instruction that I command you to do

1. to do them,

2. to love your God יהוה,

3. to walk in all God’s ways

יהוה passed before him and proclaimed: “!יהוה! יהוה a God compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in Chesed/lovingkindness and faithfulness,

One should follow the attributes of the Holy One, Blessed be God. Just as God clothes the naked, as it is written: “And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skin, and clothed them” (Genesis 3:21), so too, should you clothe the naked. Just as the Holy One visits the sick, as it is written with regard to God’s appearing to Abraham following his circumcision: “And the Lord appeared unto him by the terebinths of Mamre” (Genesis 18:1), so too, should you visit the sick. Just as the Holy One, Blessed be God, consoles mourners, as it is written: “And it came to pass after the death of Abraham, that God blessed Isaac his son” (Genesis 25:11), so too, should you console mourners.