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50 Sheqalim 1980, Israel

in Krause book Number: 46
Years of issue: 24.02.1980 (1978) - 04.09.1986
Edition: --
Signatures: Governor of the Bank: Mr. Arnon Gafni, Chairman of the Advisory Council: Mr. David Horowitz
Serie: 1980-1984 Issue
Specimen of: 24.02.1980 (1978)
Material: Cotton fiber
Size (mm): 153 х 76
Printer: N. V. Grafische Inrichting Johann Enschede en Zonen, Haarlam

* All pictures marked magnify are increased partially by magnifying glass, the remaining open in full size by clicking on the image.

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50 Sheqalim 1980

Description

Watermark:

watermark

David Ben-Gurion.

Avers:

50 Sheqalim 1980

Ben Gurion

David Ben-Gurion (born David Grün, (16 October 1886 - 1 December 1973) was the primary founder and the first Prime Minister of Israel.

Ben-Gurion's passion for Zionism, which began early in life, led him to become a major Zionist leader and Executive Head of the World Zionist Organization in 1946. As head of the Jewish Agency, and later president of the Jewish Agency Executive, he became the de facto leader of the Jewish community in Palestine, and largely led its struggle for an independent Jewish state in Palestine. On 14 May 1948, he formally proclaimed the establishment of the State of Israel, and was the first to sign the Israeli Declaration of Independence, which he had helped to write. Ben-Gurion led Israel during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, and united the various Jewish militias into the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Subsequently, he became known as "Israel's founding father".

Following the war, Ben-Gurion served as Israel's first Prime Minister. As Prime Minister, he helped build the state institutions, presiding over various national projects aimed at the development of the country. He also oversaw the absorption of vast numbers of Jews from all over the world. A centerpiece of his foreign policy was improving relationships with the West Germans. He worked very well with Konrad Adenauer's government in Bonn, and West Germany provided large sums (in the Reparations Agreement between Israel and West Germany) in compensation for Nazi Germany's persecution of the Jews during the Holocaust.

In 1954, he resigned and served as Minister of Defense, before returning to office in 1955. Under his leadership, Israel responded aggressively to Arab guerrilla attacks, and in 1956, invaded Egypt along with British and French forces after Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal.

He stepped down from office in 1963, and retired from political life in 1970. He then moved to Sde Boker, a kibbutz in the Negev desert, where he lived until his death. Posthumously, Ben-Gurion was named one of Time magazine's 100 Most Important People of the 20th century.

Paula and David Ben-Gurion's desert home remains exactly as Ben-Gurion left it when he passed away in 1973. This was his wish as left in his will. The area surrounding the home, however, has altered considerably. The garden landscape has been expanded and is carefully maintained; pathways have been paved for visitors' comfort; maxims from Ben-Gurion's philosophy, and blown-up photographs from the early years of Sede Boker decorate the walkways; and shady, half-enclosed stone bleachers were constructed for visiting study groups.

Rear right - The Ben-Gurion Research Center Library, located at Sde-Boker, includes some 35,000 books in such fields as Zionism, the history of the Yishuv, the Zionist Labor Movement and its policies, the internal political system of the Yishuv, the Arab-Israeli conflict, immigration and settlement, and literature, as well as journals from 1920 on. The library maintains a collection of all books - as well as an extensive number of photocopied articles - both by and about David Ben-Gurion that have appeared in print in Hebrew or other languages. About 19,000 articles from books, newspapers, and journals, mostly in Hebrew, have been entered and indexed in the Library's computerized data-base to date, and can be searched in accordance with normal library procedures.

Head Librarian: Ms. Lili Adar.

For the Blind: Black oval bottom left.

Revers:

50 Sheqalim 1980

Golden Gate Jerusalem

The Golden Gate, as it is called in Christian literature, is the oldest of the current gates in Jerusalem's Old City Walls. According to Jewish tradition, the Shekhinah (שכינה) (Divine Presence) used to appear through this gate, and will appear again when the Messiah comes (Ezekiel 44:1-3) and a new gate replaces the present one; that is why Jews used to pray for mercy at the former gate at this location. Hence the name Sha'ar HaRachamim (שער הרחמים), the Gate of Mercy. In Christian apocryphal texts, the gate was the scene of a meeting between the parents of Mary, so that Joachim and Anne Meeting at the Golden Gate became a standard subject in cycles depicting the Life of the Virgin. It is also said that Jesus passed through this gate on Palm Sunday. In Arabic, it is known as the Gate of Eternal Life. In ancient times, the gate was known as the Beautiful Gate.

Remains of a much older gate dating to the times of the Second Jewish Temple were found. The present one was probably built in the 520s AD, as part of Justinian I's building program in Jerusalem, on top of the ruins of the earlier gate in the wall. An alternate theory holds that it was built in the later part of the 7th century by Byzantine artisans employed by the Umayyad khalifs.

The gate is located in the middle of the eastern side of the Temple Mount. The portal in this position was believed to have been used for ritual purposes in biblical times.

Comments:

Design:​ Paul Kor, Adrian Senger.