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Israel – Pidyon Haben (6th edition)
1975 BU Silver 25 Lirot 37mm (26.00 grams) 0.900 Silver (0.7523 oz. ASW)
Reference: KM# 80 | Engravers: Rothschild, Lippman
اسرائيل 25, Menorah flanked by sprigs above value.
Artistic designs within oblong circle.
You are bidding on the exact item pictured, provided with a Certificate of Authenticity and Lifetime Guarantee of Authenticity.
 The pidyon haben (Hebrew: פדיון הבן) or redemption of the first-born son is a mitzvah in Judaism whereby a Jewish firstborn son is “redeemed” by use of silver coins from his birth-state of sanctity.
The redemption is attained by giving five silver coins to a Kohen (a patrilineal descendant of the priestly family of Aaron ).
The Israeli Mint has minted special edition 23.4 gram silver commemorative coins for the purpose, five of which would come to exactly 117 grams of silver.
Coins
Contemporary religious authorities believe that the Shekel HaKodesh (Holy Shekel) of the Temple was larger and of purer silver content than the standard Shekel used for trade in ancient Israel. Halakha requires that the coins used have a requisite total amount of actual silver. There are varying opinions as to between 100 grams and 117 grams. Coins which do not contain the requisite amount of silver do not result in a valid redemption.
The Israeli Mint has minted special edition 23.4 gram silver commemorative coins for the purpose, five of which would come to exactly 117 grams of silver. Pre-1936 American silver dollars weigh 26.73 grams of 90% silver content and hence contain 24.06g of pure silver, although such coins have become increasingly rare (modern U.S. coins contain no silver). Four American Silver Eagle coins, specially minted coins sold to collectors and investors which contain 31.1035 grams of 99.9% pure silver, or five of the above-mentioned specially minted silver coins of Israel are commonly used for Pidyon Ha-Ben in the United States. One may use silver bullion as well; it is not necessary for it to be a coin per se.
Though the silver coins are the payment to the Kohen under torah law and are one of the twenty-four kohanic gifts , they are sometimes returned by the Kohen to the family as a gift for the child, although halachic authorities stipulate that -for the Pidyon to be valid- the choice of returning the coins as a gift rest entirely upon the Kohen whereas pressuring the kohen to do so would render the redemption invalid.
Coins of sufficient weight and purity of silver to facilitate the ceremony may be purchased from the Kohen or from a Judaica vendor.
Unlike the redemption money, which can’t be via a check, the purchase of the coins can be via check.
 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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