Mitzvah chic recommends a minimum gift of 18 unless the child s financial situation requires otherwise.
Bar mitzvah gifts money in multiples.
You should give the bar mitzvah money in multiples of 18.
A general rule for bar or bat mitzvah gift giving is to take the amount you would normally spend on a birthday present and give 1 5 times that amount in a multiple of 18.
It is a jewish custom to give monetary gifts in increments of 18 thus symbolically blessing the recipient of the gift with a good long life.
Cash gifts for bar mitzvahs are typically given in multiples of 18 such as 18 36 or 54.
With this in mind the tradition of giving in multiples of 18 to represent chai still applies.
Instead of 100 give 108 and so on ok but how much should i give exactly.
Essentially you re blessing the young boy girl with a long successful life.
Money bar mitzvah gifts you can never go wrong with money presents in jewish tradition if you re going to give money a meaningful number is 18 because in hebrew it has the same numerical value as the word chai meaning life.
It expresses our prayer that the merit of the charity given stand in our good stead that we be blessed with life and prosperity.
For example if you were going to give a present of 100 for that birthday you would want to give something in the neighborhood of 150 but in a multiple of eighteen so you could give either 144 18 times 8 or 162 18 times 9.
When giving charity the number 18 has another significance.
For children looking to give a great bar mitzvah gift the thought obviously counts more than a significant financial contribution.