Giving is Good, Says God. Understanding the psychology of generosity.

So let's say it once more, plainly:

Money is weird.

It’s imaginary, yet incredibly powerful. It’s numbers, yet tangled up with safety, identity, and fear. It builds hospitals and ruins friendships.

It can inflate egos, make us feel generous, anxious, grateful, hopeless, and delusional — sometimes all before lunch.

Let’s focus on generosity for a moment, because if you’re like me, your inbox is full of donation requests.

For a few minutes, forget tax deductions. Let’s talk about why giving actually feels good.

When you give, your brain releases chemicals linked to pleasure, connection, and meaning. We’re wired this way because generosity helped early human communities survive. Helping others kept the group alive, so our brains learned to reward it.

Giving also restores agency.

You’re not reacting — you’re choosing.

You’re not hoarding — you’re acting.

You’re participating.

And generosity reminds you that you’re not alone. It reconnects you to a larger story and reestablishes human connection.

Now zoom out.

If you grew up in Hebrew school — or recently watched You’re So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah — you probably remember a tzedakah box with a coin slot. But here’s the deeper idea: tzedakah isn’t charity. It’s Judaism’s ancient system for keeping money in motion — so it doesn’t pool in stagnant corners of society (or your ego).

Judaism doesn’t ask you to give to be a hero. It asks you to give because ecosystems — financial and spiritual — stay healthy when wealth flows outward.

So the guidance is simple:

Money is weird.

People are sacred.

Prioritize accordingly.