A new bill was proposed today by Shas MK Nissim Zeev that stipulates that Israeli paper money will be emblazoned with the sentence: “We believe in the Creator.” “Money and bills are the center of our life, and it is befitting that the money issued by the State of Israel will be a reminder of Jewish faith,” explained MK Zeev. “Even those who don’t uphold the mitzvoth will be reminded in this way of the foundation of the religion of Israel.”
Zeev continued, “This declaration is a confirmation of the connection between Israel, the Torah, and the principles of the Jewish faith. It should be noted in this context that similar declarations are printed on money issued in other countries, including American bills – ‘In God we trust.'”
MK Zeev said, “We live in a Jewish and democratic state and want to apply this in practice. Democracy exists in the State of Israel, but what about the character of the Jewish state? How does this come to fruition? The people of Israel returned to the land of Israel after 2000 years in exile thanks to their faith. The nation survived because of its faith, and we are in the week of Tisha B’Av, the destruction of the Bais Hamikdosh.”
Zeev elaborated, “The goal of the bill is to remind every Jew that he needs to believe in the Creator. From my perspective, we can start with the larger bills of 100 and 200, and slowly work down to the other bills. We need to know that the bigger the bill, the greater the faith in God. Arabs should not have a problem with the wording because they also believe in the Creator.”
MK Ahmad Tibi (United Arab List-Ta’al) was outraged by the bill. “This is a bizarre bill that has no place (in our society). Member of Knesset Nissim Zeev is a real gem in the parliament… I believe that on the money bills, alongside the declaration that there is a Creator, it should be declared that the same Creator created Zeev himself. No doubt this is an exemplary intellectual initiative that represents the confluence refined good taste and creative thinking.”
{Yair Alpert-Matzav.com Israel/Ynet}
Maybe they should use “Oheiv kesef lo yisba kesef” instead.
Come on – just because the US does it why should Israel?
Why not put it on bags of milk too?
A better way to inspire emunah would be by Hareidim setting a superior example in financial honesty and civic responsibility.
Now that I think about it – this guy is speaking tongue in cheek. He’s not making a serious proposal – he’s just pointing out that as a Jewish state the Medina is lacking something these days.
Once upon a time even the anti-religious Zionist groups had ideals – maybe not our ideals, but they realized there was something beyond personal gratification. Nowadays in both Israel and the US it seems that money is king. Perhaps MK Zeev is using a little satire to get the point across.
Is this the most pressing issue in Israeli politics that Shas has to deal with? Give me a break.
In case you didn’t notice, the US stopped minting coins with “In G-d we trust”.
why oh why has the mesorah of the gedolim been abandned? why is it that askanim in the knesset keep identifying with the medinoh when the gedolim screamed about it! even rav kook took back much of his hashkafa in a letter to the gerrer rebbeh(of course, this was since kept hush-hush) – chec out the steipler’s letter in kryna deigrisa about it – reb reuven grosovsky wrote beferush that being part of the govt, if allowed, is an averah leshma – this is not how you do an averah lishmah people! please follow the mesorah and distance yourself from the poisons of nationalism! reb elchonon called it avodah zara in his kovetz ma’amarim – honestly, do you think it’s a coincidence that the only frum people who followed the madness were the modern-orthodox, who had no problem incorporating goyishe ideas anyway? no part of this ‘state’ is jewish except(some) of the people in it! even if it were run by torah, it would only be a bedieved(in the mahalach of reb ahron, the chazon ish, steipler, and rav shach), ‘hatzolah purta’ now that the sitra achra has on the victory of creating the medina, not that it is an end to itself(rav shach used to always daven for the peaceful destruction of the medina, and warned to stay far from zionism – he quotes the chofetz chaim as being against it, along with ‘all the gedlei hador, behachoefetz chaim berosho’, in his sefer michtavim uma’amarim
ad masai???
it is NOT only yhe neturei karta who opposed zionism! please, anyone in a regular yeshiva knows that there was a majority of gedolim who declared zionism anti-torah.
There is no Jewish state. Shas is a caricature of itself. You can’t solve this problem from the inside. You have to let the krum tziyonim destroy themselves and Moshiach will come and make Eretz Yisroel a Jewish place again.
BTW I have to agree with the Arab MK on this one. I didn’t realize Arabs had such keen senses of humor!