The classical name of the weekday Amidah — Shemoneh Esrei, ‘the Eighteen’ — is itself a marker of the figure; the Tanya was first printed in Slavuta in 1796.
Eighteen is the numerical value of the two Hebrew letters chet and yud — chai, חי, life. Within Jewish practice, gifts and donations are made in multiples of eighteen because the gift itself becomes a gift of life: 18, 36, 54, 72, 180, 360, 540, 1,800.
The central standing prayer of Jewish liturgy is known by the name Shemoneh Esrei, ‘the Eighteen’, after the count of its original benedictions. The Tanya, foundational text of Chabad philosophy, was first printed in Slavuta in 1796. The number is everywhere a tradition counts.
Bottle No. 18 of the Bereshit Series is the canonical entry point for any reader who has held a kiddush cup. The accompanying Hebrew document situates the numeral within Chabad readings of chai and the discipline of giving in multiples.
Tannenblut also offers the Double-Chai Vessel, priced at € 324 = 18 × 18. The price itself is a multiple of life, twice over.
The bottle itself
Bottle No. 18 of the Bereshit Series is part of the Holy Numbers Edition. It is delivered with an individual Hebrew document placing the numeral in its traditional context, under rabbinical supervision within the Chabad-Lubavitch tradition. Price: € 7,700. Allocation by private invitation only.