It is not through art or architecture, through missionizing or martyrdom, but through the daily demands of moral living that we can most effectively bring credit to God. Even as God overrides the dictates of justice with mercy to ameliorate our fate, we are expected to transcend our baser instincts to repair the world. The concept of gemilut hasadim is positive rather than negative. They complement the prohibited crimes of violence that separate the social order from the jungle by diminishing the inevitable friction of living in community. One cannot be punished for refusing to do them.
Compliance is voluntary, a habit of the heart.
By striving to imitate God, we come to acknowledge the humanity in our neighbor. Acts of kindness have the power of triggering what Martin Buber described as an I-Thou relationship. By making acts of kindness the very essence of Judaism, the Talmud expanded the category far beyond the scope of giving charity. Few opportunities to be of assistance were missed and no one was exempt. On the scale of merits, to act kindly outranks giving charity for three reasons.