Why chai, why 18, why 324
The Hebrew letters chet (8) and yud (10) together spell chai — life — and add by gematria to 18. Within Jewish practice, gifts and donations climb in multiples of eighteen because the gift itself is read as a gift of life: 18, 36, 54, 72, 180, 360, 540, 1,800. Tannenblut’s Double-Chai Vessel sits at 18 × 18 = 324, the figure naming Chai × Chai — a double life. It is the only price in the Bereshit Series that quotes the tradition arithmetically. The remaining tiers run €149, €495, €980, €7,700, and €77,000.
What the gift is, materially
A 700 ml bottle of Tannenblut Black Forest Gin, 47.5% ABV. Copper-distilled in the Schwarzwald from fir resin, spruce tip, wild juniper, and blackthorn. Hand-bottled in matte-black glass, cork and wax seal, an engraved (never printed) bottle number from the range 201 to 600. Kosher-certified under rabbinical supervision within the Chabad-Lubavitch tradition. The certificate of origin, the documentation dossier, and the tier placement within the closed edition of 3,000 travel with the bottle.
Why this and not another bottle
A Bar Mitzvah gift, traditionally, is meant to last beyond the simcha. A book of psalms, a tallit, a pair of tefillin, an heirloom kiddush cup. Tannenblut sits in that register: an object that is held rather than consumed, opened — if at all — once. The matte-black bottle and the documented number make it legible decades later to an heir, an executor, or a museum cataloguer. For a Bar Mitzvah given to a thirteen-year-old, the bottle becomes a kiddush cup in waiting. For a Bar Mitzvah given to an adult coming late to the tradition, it is the literal inheritance of a Hanseatic Jewish house, sent forward in glass.
The other tiers, for context
- The Rebbe Bottle No. 770 — one-of-one apex, €77,000, for the major patron or institutional dedication.
- The Holy Numbers Edition — bottles 7, 18, 26, 72, 77, 108, 613, each with a Hebrew document, €7,700.
- Founder’s Tier (№ 1–50) — hand-signed, €980, for the early-patron position.
- Early Collector Edition (№ 51–200) — €495.
- Double-Chai Vessel (№ 201–600) — €324 = 18 × 18. The simcha-gifting tier described above.
- Standard Collector (№ 601–3,000) — €149.
How to commission a bottle
Allocation is by private invitation. The form is short. Mention the date of the simcha and, if you wish, a numeral you would like to be considered. Closing of allocation for any given bottle takes one to two weeks. For a Bar Mitzvah within thirty days, write directly.