I know, I know... but it doesn't help. Imagine you use a deck where the number 2 is counted as 3. It would confuse you, too. I use Hebrew letters as numbers every day (today is yom alef, the first day of the week), and I CAN'T get used to it. Zephyros manages it, I have to disregard it, it's too confusing.
I think that if you use a system (in this case, the use of Hebrew letters as numbers), then do it right. They might have put the Fool at the end or not counted him at all, and it would all have worked out beautifully, like in the French system. And then I also feel comfortable with gematria, because the system is stringent in itself.
In the case of the GD, I simply notice that they didn't have a "feel" for the Hebrew letters and bent them to their uses. In a way, like Christian cabalists did with Jewish kabbalah. Cultural appropriation you call it? Reminds me a bit of it.
I honestly also don't see how the literal meaning of the Hebrew letter (gimel is camel, dalet is door) helps in understanding the cards. I'm sorry if I sound like a total ignoramus but I think that you can apply them to ANY card. Every card carries unexpected reserves like the camel, and every card opens a door. These "meanings" are so general that they turn into phrases like newspaper horoscopes which suit everyone. I never read an explanation that convinced me or gave me this spark of: AAAH, that's how they're connected. And knowing Hebrew, I SEE these meanings when I see the letter.
I studied it all and came to the conclusion that these parts go against my grain. If you don't speak Hebrew in every day life, you probably don't care whether gimel is read as three or four. For me, gimel is and will always be 3. Yom gimel is the third day, kita gimel is 3rd grade. I can't fight my poor old brain. But I don't tell anybody else what to think.
I was relieved, though, to read in Yoav Ben Dov's book that he also thinks the GD association is strange.
The English school of Tarot adopted a different system. As The Fool card was moved to the top of the suit, it was matched to the first letter Aleph. The rest of the cards were matched according to the sequence order, which made Beth correspond to The Magician, Gimel (the third letter) to The Popess and so on. This correspondence may seem strange to those who know Gimatria, the traditional notation of numbers by Hebrew letters which is very important in the Cabbala.
Ben-Dov, Yoav (2014-01-25). Tarot - The Open Reading (p. 89). . Kindle Edition.