Talk:Chai (symbol)

Numerology

Pseudoscience. Snake-oil. Presented here as fact. Wholly deceitful, disreputable and typical of the truthiness of wikipedia. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.141.213.29 (talk) 18:41, 16 July 2008 (UTC)

Whatever; numerology may be an unworthy field of endeavor, but nevertheless, the fact that people have associated the number 18 with the Hebrew word for "living" is a cultural tradition of Judaism which is worthy of brief mention on Wikipedia -- and the tags you added to this section were unhelpful for future article improvement... AnonMoos (talk) 01:30, 17 July 2008 (UTC)

Agreed, Anonmoos. It may be superstition but nevertheless it is a part of Jewish culture. And it is a fact that each Hebrew letter has a numerical equivalent, and the letters of chai add up to 18 according to an ancient system called gematria. You can find Chai necklaces in just about any Jewish bookstore or gift shop. If we have a page on the lucky rabbit's foot then why not Chai? Rooster613 (talk) 03:26, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

They failed to mention that in the Jewish culture a Chai is also a gift that is given at a Bar or Bat Mitzvah or Wedding that consists of eighteen dollars. It is considered good luck and a blessing. I came here looking for more information on that tradition. I look forward to what you find out. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.168.160.51 (talk) 16:18, 20 September 2008 (UTC)

I added a reference to that and also to the fact that Jewish charites often fundraise in multiples of 18. I'm not sure how to document this with footnotes, etc., it is simply common knowledge among Jews. Maybe link to a Jewish charity's fundraising site? Rooster613 (talk) 04:21, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

OK, here's an example of fundraising in multiples of 18: Chabad Chai Club donation form -- a lot of other examples can be found by googling "donate chai" -- I got 270,000 hits. I'm reluctant to footnote and of these on the main page because they are, by definition, requests for money. But they do demonstrate this widespread practice. 05:21, 8 March 2010 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Rooster613 (talk • contribs)

How about citing some actual references? On the face of it, this is just a Hebrew word. The existence of the Hebrew word is granted, but insufficient for a Wikipedia article. When and where did this word become a "symbol"? Researching a "widespread practice" on the internet is a good beginning, but it's just the first step. The second step is looking for literature. If this is such an important custom in Judaism, surely somebody must have described it in published literature? --dab (𒁳) 13:48, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

Wearing a metal Chai around the neck was reasonably widespread by the early 1980's, and if it's true that Elvis wore one, then it goes back at least a few years before that... AnonMoos (talk) 13:55, 15 March 2011 (UTC)

Possible photograph

Maccabia medals

AnonMoos (talk) 23:26, 22 July 2009 (UTC)

Mezuza

"The Chai symbol is often worn by Jews as a medallion around the neck (along with the Star of David (Magen David), Mezuzah and the Hamsa)."

Israeli Jew here; I have never heard of anyone wearing a Mezuza. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.230.77.199 (talk) 13:22, 15 March 2011 (UTC)

Nothing about it on article Mezuza, so I removed it... AnonMoos (talk) 13:55, 15 March 2011 (UTC)

Amulet vs. Symbol

There is a line in the lead that the symbol is not ancient, yet it gives a reference from the Socialist Forward Magazine which solely states that its use as an amulet is not ancient, read the article. Removing that phrasing because it assuredly untrue, even if the article did say that, which it just doesn't.

The symbol most definitely is ancient.

Being the lowest emanation in medeival at the latest in the Spanish Kabalah, system of Jewish science. It seems that the arbitrary devil's advocate arguers on any Jewish related page, are just culturally insensitive to how the Jews used their holy toungue, letters/numbers (prior to so called Arabic numerals, were exported to the world from India) have different meaning to the Jewish language than to others, other ancient languages have some similar attributes, as each culture is different, that pre-knowledge is required prior to having any discussion of this issue. The Golem was brought to life by Hebrew letters, the universe was brought to life by a Hebrew verse, these are original Jewish cultural attributes. Chai is of course part of that. Flies in the face (talk) 06:43, 23 January 2015 (UTC)

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Pronunciation

I'm almost certain it is pronounced more like "hi" or "high" in English, but with the ח sound. I'm afraid to edit however. 174.251.135.96 (talk) 03:16, 29 December 2022 (UTC)

In ancient Hebrew, it had a voiceless pharyngeal fricative sound, while in modern Israeli Hebrew, it has a voceless velar fricative sound. Neither of those sounds exists in English... AnonMoos (talk) 01:53, 30 December 2022 (UTC)