Chesed and emes aren’t opposites— they go hand in hand
Rav Pam discusses the pasuk in Devarim (13:18): “And He will give you rachamim and be compassionate with you.”
The Gemara (Shabbos 151b) says that if you have rachmanus on other people, you will merit mercy from Above. Yet it seems the pasuk is talking only about Hashem giving you rachamim, not about you having mercy on others. From where in this pasuk does the Gemara deduce the concept of having mercy on others?
Suppose it’s decreed on a person that he receive harsh punishment. In order to save him, Hashem will give him an opportunity to have mercy on someone else, perhaps sending a poor person to him or having him find a lost object. Once that person has done the chesed for someone else, he can now merit mercy himself (Rabbi Yisroel Reisman, Shiurim on Chumash).
Growing up, my family spent every Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur in Ner Yisrael. The experience evoked awe — hearing so many voices raised in Amen, responding to the powerful call of the shaliach tzibbur, Rav Sheftel Neuberger shlita. The words of the tefillos were branded in my mind with every nuance and niggun.
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