really basic question here:
My daughter has been invited to a Bat Mitzvah of a school friend. It’s been a while since my Bar Mitzvah which was pretty much limited to relatives and friends of the family. It is traditional to make a monetary gift. My question is, allowing for inflation, and the fact that I don’t know these people from Adam and/or Eve, how much should I give?
Something devisible by 18.
…because 18 is considered a lucky number to Jews. Someone else can tell you why. My WAG (not really, I’ve probably heard it before) is it’s the same reason as some numbers are considered lucky in the far east, because their characters contain words that are lucky.
Get.the.hell.outta.here…
I’ve been a nominal Jew for 46 years, and Now I find this out?
I love this board!!!
Because 18 is the numerical value (Hebrew letters each have a numerical value) of the word “Chai”, which means “life”.
Good thing no one said “It should be divisible by 100,000!”
I have heard that the numerology - assigning numbers to letters - for the hebrew word for life (chai) is eighteen.
the ch part = 8 and the ai part = 10.
Why “life” instead of “luck” or some other word is most likely seeped in shtetl superstition. Is it also considered lucky in the sephardic (non-eastern european) jewish community?
bizz, so ya like us, eh?
I got a buttload of jewlery for my Bat Mitzvah and a lot of $20 bills. Nothing relating to 18, though.
I’m 30 now. Adjusting for inflation, I still think $20 is quite appropriate.
Today, I am a fountain pen.
This is more a matter of opinion than fact, so I’ll move this thread to IMHO.
bibliophage
moderator GQ
From time to time, really generous people give $324.
18 ** 2 = 324
Religious themed gifts are appropriate, too. For my youngest cousin’s bar mitzvah, my brothers and I went in for a lovely silver wine goblet, with his name and bar mitzvah date (in both calendars) on it.
Give multiples of $18 or savings bonds.
L’chaim!