Chai
A Hebrew word usually translated as “life”, written with the letters chet and yud, worn on pendants; its letters add up to 18.
Meaning
Chai (חי) is spelled with two Hebrew letters, chet (ח) and yud (י), and appears most often on pendants and other jewellery. It is said with the “kh” sound of challah and rhymes with “high”. Every Hebrew letter has a number value, and chet (8) and yud (10) add up to 18, so 18 is a special number in Jewish tradition: Jews often give gifts and donations in multiples of 18, especially at bar and bat mitzvahs and weddings and to Jewish charities. The plural, chaim, gives the toast l’chaim, “to life”. The Union for Reform Judaism suggests the symbol is popular because human life is precious and Judaism encourages living it fully.
Origin and history
Chai pendants are recent. Philologos, a columnist for the Forward, wrote in 2012 that they probably appeared only about half a century earlier, when costume jewellers began making them, and that a chai “is by no means a traditional Jewish amulet”. Outside its ordinary sense, he writes, chai could mean only 18, and it was used that way almost entirely in gifts and donations.
The earliest use of that kind he could trace was among the first Hasidic rabbis of Eastern Europe. Menachem Nachum of Chernobyl (1730–1797) is said to have asked a miser for “chai rubles”, and Aryeh Leib of Shpola (1724–1811) asked a rich man to give chai times chai, 324 rubles, to charity. The Baal Shem Tov, the founder of Hasidism, was born on the 18th of the month of Elul in 1698, a day Hasidic writings call “chai Elul”, and Philologos suggests this may be why 18 took on a special weight in Hasidism. He adds that few observant Jews would wear a chai pendant.
Living, not life
Most guides translate chai as “life”. Philologos points out that the word means “living” or “alive”; the Hebrew for “life” is hayyim, the plural form heard in the toast l’chaim.
Read next
- Next in Jewish symbolsHamsaAn open hand, often with an eye in the palm, that Jews wear and hang in their homes as an amulet against the evil eye, an amulet they share with Muslims in North Africa and the Middle East.
- The same shape in Tarot cardsSeven of CupsThe seven of cups in the tarot's Minor Arcana: strange cups of vision, filled with fantastic images. A. E. Waite read it as imagination and fancies with nothing lasting behind them.
See also
Star of David, Menorah, Hanukkiah, Tablets of the Covenant, Shofar.
Sources
- What Is the Meaning of Chai?, My Jewish Learning, article
- What does “chai” mean and why is it such a popular Jewish symbol?, Union for Reform Judaism (ReformJudaism.org), answer
- Why do Jews give gifts and charitable donations in multiples of 18?, Union for Reform Judaism (ReformJudaism.org), answer
- Exploring 'Chai' Culture, Philologos, 11 November 2012, The Forward (Philologos column; archived copy, Internet Archive)
The same shape elsewhere
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Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed September 26, 2026. How we research
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