The Hebrew word for giving, natan (נתנ), is a palindrome, which reveals a deep truth about the reciprocal dynamic of giving: When one gives, they also receive in return.
In a recent study, researchers discovered that those who spent more of their income on others rather than themselves enjoyed significantly greater and longer lasting happiness. In fact, as little as a five-dollar gift was enough to produce measurable increases in one’s happiness. Overall, the self-reported happiness of those who regularly give charity is forty-three percent higher than those who don’t.
In other words, human beings are hardwired to give.
The Hebrew word for speech, dibbur (דיבור), is etymologically linked to the word davar (דבר), which means thing. That’s because, once articulated, a word takes on a life of its own and becomes a tangible reality, a thing that exists in dimension, form, and resonance.
The notion that words are the medium through which ideas become things is rooted in centuries of Kabbalistic teaching and based on a metaphysical understanding of the beginning of the Torah in which, as mentioned, G‑d speaks the world into being. Based on this understanding, the Sages developed and continuously refined a heightened sensitivity to the power of speech that runs through every facet of Jewish thought and practice, including liturgy, the binding nature of oaths, and the spiritual repercussions of gossip.
The Hebrew word for life, chaim, is phrased in the plural and literally translates as “lives,” indicating multiple phases and expressions of a single, never-ending life…
In stark contrast to the culture of “Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die,” when Jews have occasion to drink, they say “l’chaim!” (to life) reminding each other that there is so much more to life than the shallow indulgences of the here and now, and that every meaningful act one does and every mitzvah one performs creates an energetic imprint that outlives our temporary time in a physical body.