Jonathan Mark’s delicious exploration of eating kugel on Shabbos omitted the real spiritual reason behind this custom (“Kugel: Stories For A Shabbos Afternoon,” Aug. 5).
Chasidism says that it’s because the gematria (Hebrew numerical value) of the word kugel equals that of Shabbos. If you do the calculation and find that the gematria of Shabbos is much greater, that’s not a problem. Just eat a few more portions.
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