Saturday, April 5, 2008

Lucky numbers

Perhaps there's a shortage at the fortune-cookie factory. In Jewish tradition, the number 18 is lucky: the letters of חי (chai, "living") add up to 18. It's not unusual for a Bar Mitzvah or Bat Mitzvah gift to be a multiple of 18 — e.g., $36: a double chai. But as Wallace Shawn says in My Dinner with André, "the cookie is in no position to know about that." Related reading Chai (Wikipedia)

comments: 2

Anonymous said...

Hi Michael,

I don't understand the phrase "present to be money in a multiple of 18" ?

Would you explain it a different way ?

Thank you,
Barry

Michael Leddy said...

Barry, I just revised this post in a way that might make the meaning clearer — giving money in a multiple of 18, e.g., $36.