Saturday, March 14, 2009

Giving is a Palindrome

It is better to give and to receive.
The powerful Torah-energy in Israel manifests itself in many ways. One is my weekly discovery that we have been talking the current Torah portion, without even knowing. Last night I happened to mention, regarding a particular gift, this teaching:
The direction of a gift is not necesssarily the direction in which the object passes: often the giver of a gift receives more than the person receiving the gift. What delight we feel, watching our guests enjoy a meal we have lovingly cooked for them. We receive far more naches and pleasure and self-satisfaction than the guests! Or, no, they're having a great time too! It's palindromic. Much to my surprise, I later read about the word in this week's parsha Ki Tisa, "v'natnu", and they shall give, vav nun taf nun vav. It reads the same, backwards and forwards. It says this week in the Torah: Giving is a palindrome!

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