Today, Chesed is The Main Thing: Sefer Ohr Elimelech (Gemilus Chasadim, Ois 37) quotes Rav Elimelech of Lizhensk zy”a as saying that until the era of the Arizal, the world stood on the pillar of Torah. The other two pillars – those of avodah and gemilus chasadim – were merely secondary, as Torah was the main thing. From that time until now, however, the pillar of gemilus chasadim was the main one. He concludes: “This means that a person is permitted to give precedence to chesed over the other pillars.”