Over the past few weeks I catch myself meditating on the Hebrew word, ‘chai/life’.

It is spelled with the letters, ches yod.

As I ponder our sages teachings about how Hashem brought about the creation through chesed/kindness and how this ties to the Hebrew word for life, chai, I become overwhelmed with thoughts of our Awesome Creator.

In the word, chai, I see two words – the Torah begins with the number 2 – as the Torah begins with the letter ‘beis’ which has the numerical value of 2. Through this we know Hashem created:

Light & darkness
Good & evil
Day & night
Male & female
Two witness to bring charges
Two signs on all tahor meats

The two words I see in chai are, chesed & Hashem – ches – yod = life

Through this we can see what Hillel meant when he told the ger prospect, “What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow: this is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation; go and learn”

Chesed is the whole of Torah, it is the the foundation and building and when the yod is added we have life because the chesed of Hashem is life.

Now this brings me to another thought as I write this,

Hos. 6:6 “For I desire kindness, and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of G-d rather than burnt-offerings.”

Do you see Chai in this passage?

Hashem desires chesed and together they = life

We have learned now that when we have, chesed and Hashem, we have chai/life

I just know there is much more to dig out of this little two letter word. But for right now this is a mind full to meditate on.

Terry W. Hayes