“We’ve Gotta Live Together”

By Alexandra Fleksher

A musician gives a smile and a nod to a passerby. The passerby returns a dropped glove to a young woman. The young woman gives directions to a father who looks lost. The father buys an ice cream for an Israeli soldier. The Israeli soldier picks up oranges that have fallen out of a lady’s shopping bag and returns them to her. The lady takes a flower from her shopping bag and gives it to an elderly woman.  The elderly woman gives a 20 shekel bill to the musician. And the cycle continues…

This scenario is played out in aish.com’s music video, “We’ve Gotta Live Together.” After watching the video, notice how just one good deed – a smile even – can inspire so many others to do good, too. This is called “paying it forward.” The musician gave the passerby a smile and a nod.  Warmed by the recognition, the passerby does a good deed himself, not to repay the musician, but to continue the cycle of giving.

Interestingly, this video takes place in Israel. The people who pay it forward each come from different backgrounds. They also do not know each other. Yet by giving one to another, the strangers are all united. They are united because they have a connection of gratitude. 

Why does giving create a feeling of connection between the giver and the receiver? “If I give a present to someone, it shows I care about them,” explains Levi, a 5^th grader from Cleveland, Ohio. Chana, also from Cleveland, expresses a similar idea. “When a friend or even a stranger does something nice for you, you feel so grateful. It makes you appreciate what it means to give to other people so much more, because you were the recipient of someone’s kindness.”

The Hebrew word for love is ahava. The word ahava comes from the root word, hav, which means to give.  It should come to no surprise that giving to others creates love.  When we love someone, we want to give to that person, whether it be giving gifts, a listening ear, or even time to spend together.

Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israel Independence Day, falls in the spring every year.   Yom Ha’atzmaut is the day we celebrate the birthday of the State of Israel, the Jewish state. What better gift can we give in honor of Israel’s birthday than to practice doing random acts of kindness? As the video says, “We Gotta Live Together.”  We’re all in this world together, so let us make it a better place to be.