Problem of Adopting Currency Plagues Israel Prior to and After Statehood
o
NEW YORK — In the last
months of 1947 and in early
1948, during which time the
British Mandate for Palestine
was slowly disintegrating, the
matter of currency was fast
becoming a major problem.
The Palestine pound, the
country's currency, had been
issued all along by the Pal-
estine Currency B oar d, in
London, through a currency
officer in Jerusalem.
What was to happen after
May 14, 1948, when the Man-
datory intended to withdraw?
No preparations had been
made by the British regard-
ing currency, and the British
government planned to cease
issuing banknotes upon their
withdrawal from Israel. Con-
ditions were completely un-
settled, and even the storing
of large quantities of cash
invohred a serious and un-
insurable risk.
To prevent a state of chaos,
the Anglo-Palestine . Bank —
the country's oldest and larg-
est bank (now Bank Leumi
le-Israel)—quickly increased
Art A s
Aug. 18—To Mr. and Mrs.
Miles Brod (Adele Michel-
son), 23130 Beverly, Oak
Park, a son, Jason Stewart.
*
Aug. 17—To Mr. and Mrs.
Er nest Turken (Sharon
Greenblatt), 30752 Wood-
stream, Farmington Hills, a
son, Scott Alan.
*
July 24—To Dr. and Mrs.
Richard Jaffe (Ellen Kraft of
New York), former Detroit-
ers of S. Laguna, Calif., a
son, Aaron.
CANTOR SIDNEY
RUBE
358-1426 or 357-5544
Cantor SAMUEL
GREECIsyl d AUM
MOHEL
Serving Homes .& Hospitals
399-7194 — 547-7970
'RABBI HER M
ROTH
Certified Mohel
'
..
o-
,
557-0888'
557-8210
'
RABBI LEO
GOLDMAN
Expert Mohel
Serving Hospitals and Homes
LI 2-4444
LI 1-9769
its cash reserve by a few absolute secrecy, to pr int
million pounds in its vaults simple, primitive notes on
in Tel Aviv. In addition, the ordinary check-safety paper.
bank was called upon by or- A local Tel Aviv pr inter
ganizers of the forthcoming agreed to print the illegal
state to arrange for issuance currency at night, virtually
of currency in the form of its under the nose of the English,
own banknotes, until this who were still in control.
state was able to establish its
Fortunately, these emer-
own central bank.
gency notes were not needed,
According to Dr. Ernst and were never put into cir-
Lehmann, during an inter-, culation. For when the Brit-
view at the Wall Street of- ish eventually left, there was
fices of First Israel Bank and no panic, nor was there a
Trust Company of New York run on the bank. (It should
— the American subsidiary of be mentioned that virtually
Bank Leumi in Tel Aviv, of all of these notes were ulti-
which he is a director: the niately destroyed. There re-
printing of formal banknotes mains, however, one set of
or currency notes, is Only denominations now in Tel
handled by a small number Aviv's numismatic museum.)
Delivery of the initial sup-
of specialist printers in the
world and is normally done ply of American-printed cur-
only on behalf of centr al rency has been promised for
banks or existing govern- July. But on May 15, the
ments . . . virtually never independent state of Israel
for a commercial bank op- had been declared, and was
eration in a territory which immediately attacked by its
neighbors. Thus, when the
is not a sovereign state.
notes
became available, there
Continuing to reminisce,
Dr. Lehmann, who at that arose another major prob-
time was in charge of the lem:- how to get these bank-
currency issue department of notes into Israel.
Since the Arab-Israeli war
the Anglo-Palestine Bank,
"The chairman of the bank,
therefore, went to the United
States to engage in a seem-
ingly hopeless task — to get By RABBI SAMUEL FOX
currency, in the for m of
(Copyright 1974, JTA, Inc.)
banknotes, printed for a non-
Jewish
tradition consider
state, and of a quality suit-
able for a new state. An the first seven days after the
American firm finally agreed marriage as a special week
to print the notes, and to pro- for bride and bridegroom.
vide an initial supply within
The rabbis seem to derive
six months.
this from two sources in the
"When these banknotes Bible. One source is the story
were being prepared, it was of Jacob and Laban where
not yet known what the new Laban tells Jacob to fill out
currency, or the new state, the period of seven after
would be called. Therefore, Jacob married Leah (Gene-
the existing term 'Palestine sis). The other is the story
pound' was used. And it was of Samson who journeyed to
ironic that the cooperating the land of the Philistines
Atherican printer avoided w h e r e he took himself a
adding his name to the notes, bride and celebrated for sev-
because of their nonprofes- en days. Among traditional
sional appearance, due to Jews a feast is made each
the haste in which they were day for the couple when there
prepared," Dr. Lehmann are new visitors present and
the nuptial blessings are re-
added.
peated each day. Generally
Meanwhile, for fear that speaking, some compare this
the stored' stock of Palestine seven-day period to the sev-
currency might not suffice en-day holiday period of
in the event of a run on the Passover and Sukkot. The
bank during this waiting pe- first week of marriage is
riod (for the arrival of the like a holiday for the bride
American-printed notes), the and groom. Some contrast it
bank hastily went ahead, in with the seven days of
Wedding
Certified Mohel
. -
Emergency Paper Money Printed in Pre-Israel
Palestine in 1948
Never Put in Use
.
`X2C3CIa.C3c2.0.c.cicK=4"
Rev. S. Richmond
Certifed Mohel
352-0013 or 352-0012 •
Endorsed by the Supervisor of Mohelim
for the state of Israel.
›cpoixrcipxy=pcii=x4.
RABBI S. ZACHARIASH,
Specialized
MOHEL
Fri Home or Hospital
557-9666
Gray Dropped from Trudeau Cabinet
TORONTO (JTA) —`Pre-
mier Pierre Elliott Trudeau
has dropped one Jewish MP
from his Cabinet and named
another to it.
Barnett Danson, MP for
York, Toronto suburb, was
given the portfolio of Urban
Affairs. But in the Cabinet
reshuffle following the re-
cent general elections, Tru-
deau dismissed Herb Gray of
Windsor, who had been
minister of corporate and
consumer affairs.
Gray was Canada's first
Jewish cabinet officer.
was raging, banknotes could
not be shipped across inter-
national borders with any
degree of certainty of ar-
rival, and commercial air-
lines were not prepared to
take them. After much nego-
tiation, KLM agreed to use
three Skymasters to fly the
entire issue to Israel, via
Amsterdam, under one con-
dition: when the planes flew
over Cyprus, they were to
flash a signal. If they re-
ceived a go-ahead, they were
to continue on to Israel. If
not, the planes would land in
Cyprus.
The reason for this arrange.
ment was that no major air-
port was in Israeli hands,
and the only place where
the planes could possibly
land was an old airbase
which the English had va-
cated—Ayn Shemer—wthich
was still not secured.
The new Israeli army was
requested to make a special
effort to secure this airfield,
which they did. The KLM
planes thus received their
clearance to Ein Shemer,
and within two hours the
notes were under armed con-
‘.7ci and on their way to
Haifa.
Under these dramatic cir-
cumstances the • first bank-
notes arrived in Israel, in
July. A month later, a law
was passed by the new gov-
ernment establishing these
new banknotes as legal ten-
der. And they were then ex-
changed for the banknotes of
the P ales tin e Currency
Board, which had remained
in circulation.
Now another problem rear-
ed its head—that of sending
back the old Palestine cur-
rency notes to England, to
obtain the counter value for
each Palestine pound, in
pounds sterling. The hazards
of returning these notes to
England were many. In war-
time conditions, sending
them 'by ship could entail the
risk of enemy intervention;
to send them by air, equally
dangerous. And to insure
them at nominal value was
out of the question. A solution
was found by sheer chance.
During the 18th Century,
according to a decision of the
high court of England, the
bank of England pays the
counter value of a banknote
if given at least half of that
note, with sufficient reason
shoWn why the second part
is not to be presented.
The Bank of England was
asked whether this decision
was still in effect. An affirm-
ative answer was given. Dr.
Lehmann, in his, official ca-
pacity with the bank, then
purchased a "guillotine"
used by bookbinders, and lit-
erally sliced the bundled
notes in half. The left "half"
of the notes were sent by air,
uninsured . . . and when
their arrival was confirmed,
the "rights" were sent to
England . .. also uninsured.
The entire process took a
few weeks — at normal air
freight rates — and went off
without a hitch.
According to Dr. Lehmann,
the English were cooperative,
and the credit of tens of mil-
lions of pounds sterling was
paid in full.. This sum of
money represented the first
foreign currency reserve of
the state of Israel.
It was not until six years
later, in 1954, that the Bank
of Israel (the central bank of
the new state) took over,
from Bank Leumi, all fun_c-
tions related to mon(
matters in Israel.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
38—Friday, August 30, 1974
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Customs
mourning called shivah. Ap-
parently every intensely emo-
tional experience requires a
full week to allow the indi-
vidual to adjust to his new
status whether it is as a
mourner or marriage cele-
brant, or a celebrant of a
joyous holiday.
At the wedding feast two
cups of wine are used at the
end of the meal.
Actually the end of the
wedding feast requires two
activities. One activity is to
offer the Grace after meals
thanking the Almighty for
the food which has been con-
sumed. This is required of
any meal and is recited over
a cup of wine. The second
activity is the recitation of
the nuptial blessings which
thank the Almighty for the
happy occasion. Since these
are two distinct obligations,
two different cups of wine
are used, thus giving each
activity its own special at-
tention.
A divorced woman is not
allowed to marry for a period
of 90 days after the divorce.
The reason for this is a
very practical one. The wom-
an might have become preg-
nant from the first husband.
Without such a waiting pe-
riod one could have some
doubt as to who is the father
of the child. Thus the waiting
period allows a clarification
that the next child would
normally be the child of the
second husband.
Plane, Bus, Car antil
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