CHASIDA – pronouncethe "ch" with the guttural sound from the back of the throat; the "a’s" are short vowels, and the "i" is pronounced as "ee."The accent is on the last syllable; cha-see-DA.
CHASIDA – "STORK."
Each spring, with the help of God’s marvelous built-in clock and navigational system, myriads of storks return to Israel from their winter migration. What a sight it is to see several hundred of these huge birds majestically soaring on the warm currents of air. It is the most spectacular sight of spring in Israel. "Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times…" Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 8:7.
The word "chasida" is related to the word "chesed," which means "grace," "mercy," "lovingkindness." The Talmud, the foremost Jewish commentary, says the following about the chasida. "The chasidah is the white stork. Why is it called ‘chasidah’? Because it acts with kindness (‘chesed’) to its companions." Rashi, the great Jewish commentator, describes this kindness as the chasida sharing its food with its companions.
The word "chesed" also has another very important meaning, a spiritual truth that is of utmost importance to everyone. Chesed refers to God’s covenant, faithful love to Israel. Without this faithful, covenant love, we would not have the Brit Chadasha, New Covenant, and we would not have Yeshua HaMashiach, Jesus the Messiah, who came to die for our sins. Because of God’s chesed to His special people Israel, we have His chesed manifested fully in Jesus.
As the harbinger of spring, the chasida pictures the chesed of redemption.In a physical sense, spring itself is a redemption from the harshness of winter. In a spiritual sense, spring is also a time of chesed. Pesach, Passover, is celebrated in the spring, the commemoration of that great event when God redeemed His people from Egypt and slavery. Just as the chasida returns to Israel at the perfect time and is never late, so God redeemed His people out of Egypt at the perfect time. And, at the perfect time, God sent His Son, Yeshua, to this earth so that He could become the kapporah, atonement, for our sins.
"But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." – Galatians 4:4, 5.
How we need to thank God for His chesed, His faithful, covenant love to Israel! Without this chesed, we would not have the New Covenant and the forgiveness of sins through Yeshua HaMashiach.
"For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness ("chesed!") shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee." – Yesha’yahu (Isaiah) 54:10.
"Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people." – Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 31:31-33.