Israel
Hanukkah from Prague
1983 Proof Silver 2 Sheqalim 37mm (28.80 grams) 0.850 silver (0.782 oz. ASW)
Reference: KM# 131 | Mintage: 10,894 | Reverse Designer: Nathan Karp
Value above menorah flanked by sprigs.
Prague Hanukkah lamp.
You are bidding on the exact item pictured,
provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime Guarantee of
Authenticity.
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Hanukkah is a
Jewish holiday
commemorating the rededication
of the
Holy Temple
(the
Second Temple
) in
Jerusalem
at the time of the
Maccabean Revolt
against the
Seleucid Empire
. Hanukkah is observed for eight
nights and days, starting on the 25th day of
Kislev
according to the
Hebrew calendar
, which may occur at any time
from late November to late December in the
Gregorian calendar
. It is also known as the
Festival of Lights and the Feast of Dedication.
The festival is observed by the kindling of the lights of a unique
candelabrum
, the nine-branched
menorah
(also called a Chanukiah/Hanukiah),
one additional light on each night of the holiday, progressing to eight on the
final night. The typical menorah consists of eight branches with an additional
visually distinct branch. The extra light, with which the others are lit, is
called a
shamash
(Hebrew:
שמש, “attendant”) and is given
a distinct location, usually above or below the rest.
Other Hanukkah festivities include playing
dreidel
and eating oil-based foods such as
doughnuts and
latkes
.
Since the 1970s, the worldwide
Chabad
Hasidic
movement has initiated public menorah
lightings in open public places in many countries.
Israel,
is a
sovereign state
in
Western Asia
. The country is situated in the
Middle East
at the southeastern shore of the
Mediterranean Sea
and the northern shore of the
Gulf of Aqaba
in the
Red Sea
. It shares land borders with
Lebanon
to the north,
Syria
in the northeast,
Jordan
on the east, the
Palestinian territories
(which are claimed by
the
State of Palestine
and are partially controlled
by Israel) comprising the
West Bank
and
Gaza Strip
to the east and west, respectively,
and Egypt
to the southwest. It contains
geographically diverse features within its relatively small area. Israel’s
financial
and
technology center
is
Tel Aviv
while
Jerusalem
is both the self-designated capital
and
most populous individual city
under the
country’s governmental administration. Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem is
internationally unrecognized
.
On
29 November 1947, the
United Nations General Assembly
recommended the
adoption and implementation of the
Partition Plan
for
Mandatory Palestine
. This UN plan specified
borders for new Arab and Jewish states and also specified an area of
Jerusalem and its environs
which was to be
administered by the UN under an international regime. The end of the
British Mandate for Palestine
was set for
midnight on 14 May 1948. That day,
David Ben-Gurion
, the executive head of the
Zionist Organization
and president of the
Jewish Agency for Palestine
,
declared
“the establishment of a
Jewish state
in
Eretz Israel
, to be known as the State of
Israel,” which would start to function from the termination of the mandate. The
borders of the new state were not specified in the declaration. Neighboring Arab
armies
invaded
the former Palestinian mandate on the
next day and fought the Israeli forces. Israel has since fought
several wars
with neighboring Arab states, in
the course of which it has
occupied
the West Bank,
Sinai Peninsula
(1956–57, 1967–82), part of
Southern Lebanon
(1982–2000), Gaza Strip
(1967–2005; still considered occupied after
2005 disengagement
) and the
Golan Heights
. It extended its laws to the
Golan Heights and
East Jerusalem
, but not the West Bank.
Efforts
to resolve the
Israeli–Palestinian conflict
have not resulted
in peace. However, peace treaties between Israel and both
Egypt
and
Jordan
have successfully been signed. Israel’s
occupation of Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem is the world’s
longest military occupation
in modern times.
The
population of Israel
, as defined by the
Israel Central Bureau of Statistics
, was
estimated in 2016 to be 8,476,600 people. It is the world’s only
Jewish-majority state
, with 6,345,400 citizens,
or 74.9%, being designated as
Jewish
. The country’s second largest group of
citizens are denoted as
Arabs
, numbering 1,760,400 people (including
the Druze and most East Jerusalem Arabs). The great majority of Israeli Arabs
are Sunni
Muslims
, with smaller but significant numbers
of semi-settled
Negev Bedouins
; the rest are
Christians
and
Druze
. Other far smaller minorities include
Maronites
,
Samaritans
,
Dom people
and
Roma
,
Black Hebrew Israelites
, other
Sub-Saharan Africans
,
Armenians
,
Circassians
,
Vietnamese boat people
, and others. Israel also
hosts a significant population of non-citizen foreign workers and asylum seekers
from Africa and Asia.
In its
Basic Laws
, Israel defines itself as a
Jewish and democratic state
. Israel is a
representative democracy
with a parliamentary
system,
proportional representation
and
universal suffrage
. The
prime minister
serves as head of government and
the Knesset
serves as the
legislature
. Israel is a
developed country
and an
OECD
member, with the
35th-largest
economy
in the world by nominal gross domestic
product as of 2015. The country benefits from a highly skilled workforce and is
among the most educated countries in the world with the one of the highest
percentage of its citizens holding a tertiary education degree. The country has
the
highest standard of living in the Middle East
and the
fourth highest in Asia
, and has
one of the highest life expectancies
in the
world.
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