Hi guys, In these Coronavirus days, I can’t go out
and show you places in Israel, but the good news is, is that there are tours you don’t
need to go out for.
When I’m with a group, I usually find some dead time and talk about the Israeli money
- a tour through the Israeli wallet, if you will.
There is quite a lot you can learn about a society from looking at its coins and bills.
And I don’t know why, but people tend to remember anecdotes involving money.
So, let’s get started.
And I will start with the smallest coin: ten agorot.
On one side it says 10 agorot, not that interesting, and on the other side you will see a menorah.
Now if I would ask people what is the most-known Jewish symbol, then I think most people will
say the Star of David.
But the shield of David, as we say in Hebrew, is quite a new symbol, not more than 6, 7,
maybe 800 years old.
The ultimate Jewish symbol that we Jews use for three thousand years is the menorah.
There was a menorah in the temple and the priest would light it every day.
Not to be confused with the chanukiah, the chanukiah we use in Hanukkah.
The menorah has seven candle branches and not nine like the chanukiah has.
And the menorah is the coat of arms of the state of Israel.
This specific menorah was found on an ancient, 2,200-year-old Jewish coin.
What can you buy with 10 agorot?
Basically nothing.
When we were children 30 years ago, then the cheapest gum (‘Bazuka’) would cost 10
agorot but those days are long gone.
The next coin is the half-shekel.
Now the interesting thing is, is that it doesn’t say 50 cent, like 50 agorot, but half: one
slash two.
And the reason for it is that at the time of the temple there was a tax, an ancient
tax, that each Jewish man had to pay and it was half a shekel and it is said that even
the poor had to pay it and the rich could not pay for the poor.
It was to show that everybody has an equal part of the temple.
The next coin is the shekel itself!
The shekel, by the way, is abbreviated to ILS - Israeli shekel or NIS - new Israeli
shekel.
On the other side of the shekel you will see a lily - fleur-de-lis.
Today many people think that it is a symbol of European monarchies but it is actually
an ancient symbol that was also used by Eastern cultures.
This specific lily was found on a Jewish coin that was minted 2,500 years ago, and next
to the lily it says in ancient Hebrew ‘Yahad’, which means Judaea.
And I have to say that I like it that we use the same coins that our ancestors used 2,500
years ago.
The next coin is the two-shekels.
I have nothing interesting to say about this coin.
I like the name, we call it ‘shnekel’.
Two in Hebrew is ‘shnaim’, and hence the name ‘shnekel’.
On the other side you will see two horns of plenty and in the middle a pomegranate.
And these symbols were also found on ancient Jewish coins.
Unlike other coins, on which you can find motifs taken from ancient Jewish coins, on
the five-shekels you will see on the other side a proto-ionic capital.
Now these kinds of capitals were found in different archeological sites from the time
of the Kingdom of Israel 3,000 years ago.
And if you have the same kinds of capital then it’s a sign that maybe the kingdom
was strong and influential.
What can you buy with five shekels?
Probably, like, the cheapest coffee to go five, six shekels.
The coin with the highest value is the ten-shekels.
And it is made out of two different metals so it will be harder to forge it.
On the other side you will see a palm tree, which is one of the seven species that the
Bible lists as being a special product of the Land of Israel.
The first fruits each season were brought to the temple.
And around it, it says in ancient Hebrew and in modern Hebrew: ‘legeulat zion’, ‘to
the salvation of Zion’.
And these writings were found on ancient Jewish coins.
Now what can you buy with ten shekels?
I will say half a falafel.
And now we continue with the bills.
There are four bills: 20, 50, 100 and 200 shekels.
Now I have to say that I liked the older bills better, I had some great stories about them,
but the new bills are also interesting.
Unlike the coins, which are mainly, actually only, with motifs from ancient Jewish coins,
the bills are about the modern Israeli society.
The original idea was to have four different leaders on the bills: Herzel, Ben Gurion,
Begin and Rabin but there was criticism that there are no women, so they decided to change
the concept from politicians to poets.
And chose great, very well-known poets: Rachel, Tchernichovsky, Leah Goldberg, and Nathan
Alterman.
But then they had another problem: how to determine which poet will be on each bill?
So they decided to use the order in which they passed away.
The one that died first would be on the smallest bill.
So on the twenty-shekel bill you will see Rachel Hameshoreret, Rachel the poet, and
behind her a view of Kineret.
Now Kineret is the Hebrew name of the Sea of Galilee, but it is also the name of a farm
on the southern shore of the Sea of Galilee.
And many of the forefathers of the Zionist movement lived and worked there.
And on the other side of the bill there is a line from one of her best-known poems: “Oh
my kineret, were you once true, or have I dreamt a dream?”.
Below the video I will leave links to all the poems I mention.
Now what can you buy with 20 shekels?
The smallest cheapest beer in a pub.
The next bill is fifty-shekels and you can see Shaul Tchernichovsky.
He was a great poet and doctor.
He was also the doctor of my grandfather when he was a child in Tel Aviv.
On the other side you can see a line from his poem “I Believe”, which was considered
to be the national anthem of Israel.
And you can see a Corinthian capital, because he translated a lot of the world literature.
Now with 50 shekels you can buy shawarma and drink or a short taxi ride inside the city.
On the hundred-shekel bill you will meet Leah Goldberg, a great poet and she also wrote
some great childrens’ books, books that I still read to my children like ‘Aia Pluto’,
‘Where is Pluto’ and ‘Dira lehaskir’, ‘An Apartment to Rent’.
And I think it is interesting, the similarity between the life of Rachel and Leah Goldberg.
Both died young: Rachel was 40, Leah Goldberg was 59.
Both never married and never had children, although they wanted to.
With a hundred-shekel bill you can sleep in a dorm in a hostel.
And now we will finish with the bill with the highest value, the two-hundred-shekel
bill.
And you can see Nathan Alterman, a great poet.
And on the other side you can see vegetation with a big moon at night.
This is an attribute to his most-known book, his first book: ‘Stars Outside’, ‘Od
chozer hanigun’.
And below the video I will leave a link to the first poem in this book: ‘Od Chozer
Hanigun’.
Now with a two-hundred-shekel bill you can pay in a restaurant, as long as you don’t
drink wine and you eat by yourself.
That’s it for this video.
I hope you enjoy it.
Now that I don’t have any tours, I’m thinking about making more videos about the Israeli
society.
If you like this idea then please leave a comment below, and you can also write me what
you find interesting.
If you want to support me in these not-so-easy days, then you can always purchase my booklets,
they are available as hard copy or pdf.
Or purchase my timeline poster, it can really help a lot.
See you in the next video.
Yalla bye!