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Israel
Shema Israel – “Hear O Israel” State Medal, 5740-1980
1980 Proof Silver Medal 37mm (26.00 grams) 0.935 Silver
Reference: ICMC# 25074375
In stylized Hebrew letters: “Hear 0 Israel”, Deuteronomy 6, together with the
seven-branch candelabra.
HEAR O ISRAEL THE LORD OUR GOD THE LORD IS ONE DT 6,4, Star of David.
Edge Lettering:
STATE OF ISRAEL SILVER 935
Medal Notes;
“Hear 0 Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One”. Reading the passage is a
Biblical commandment “And let these words which I command thee this day, be upon
thy heart” (Deuteronomy 6). “Hear 0 Israel”, a pronouncement that a Jew hears
from the day he is born to the day he dies, constitutes a profession of faith in
the unity between the Jew and his Maker, repeated daily. It is also a
proclamation of the identity of the individual with his people. “Hear 0 Israel”
binds Jews from distant countries who have no other common language. They greet
and introduce themselves to each other with the words “Hear 0 Israel”.
You are bidding on the exact item pictured, provided with a Certificate of
Authenticity and Lifetime Guarantee of Authenticity.
 Israel
(/ˈɪzriəl, ˈɪzreɪəl/; Hebrew: יִשְׂרָאֵל; Arabic: إِسْرَائِيل), officially
the State of Israel, is a country in the Middle East, on the
southeastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and the northern shore of the
Red Sea. It has land borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the
northeast, Jordan on the east, the Palestinian territories of the West Bank
and Gaza Strip to the east and west, respectively, and Egypt to the
southwest. The country contains geographically diverse features within its
relatively small area. Israel’s economic and technological center is Tel
Aviv, while its seat of government and proclaimed capital is Jerusalem,
although the state’s sovereignty over Jerusalem has only partial
recognition.
Israel has evidence of the earliest migration of hominids out of Africa.
Canaanite tribes are archaeologically attested since the Middle Bronze Age,
while the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah emerged during the Iron Age. The
Neo-Assyrian Empire destroyed Israel around 720 BCE. Judah was later
conquered by the Babylonian, Persian and Hellenistic empires and had existed
as Jewish autonomous provinces. The successful Maccabean Revolt led to an
independent Hasmonean kingdom by 110 BCE, which in 63 BCE however became a
client state of the Roman Republic that subsequently installed the Herodian
dynasty in 37 BCE, and in 6 CE created the Roman province of Judea. Judea
lasted as a Roman province until the failed Jewish revolts resulted in
widespread destruction, expulsion of Jewish population and the renaming of
the region from Iudaea to Syria Palaestina.[34]
Jewish presence in the region has persisted to a certain extent over the
centuries. In the 7th century the Levant was taken from the Byzantine Empire
by the Arabs and remained in Muslim control until the First Crusade of 1099,
followed by the Ayyubid conquest of 1187. The Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt
extended its control over the Levant in the 13th century until its defeat by
the Ottoman Empire in 1517. During the 19th century, national awakening
among Jews led to the establishment of the Zionist movement in the diaspora
followed by waves of immigration to Ottoman and later British Palestine.
 In
1947, the United Nations adopted a Partition Plan for Palestine recommending
the creation of independent Arab and Jewish states and an internationalized
Jerusalem. The plan was accepted by the Jewish Agency, and rejected by Arab
leaders. The following year, the Jewish Agency declared the independence of
the State of Israel, and the subsequent 1948 Arab-Israeli War saw Israel’s
establishment over most of the former Mandate territory, while the West Bank
and Gaza were held by neighboring Arab states. Israel has since fought
several wars with Arab countries, and it has since 1967 occupied territories
including the West Bank, Golan Heights and the Gaza Strip (still considered
occupied after 2005 disengagement, although some legal experts dispute this
claim).[41][42][43][fn 4] It extended its laws to the Golan
Heights and East Jerusalem, but not the West Bank. Israel’s occupation of
the Palestinian territories is the world’s longest military occupation in
modern times.[fn 4][49] Efforts to resolve the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict have not resulted in a final peace agreement.
However, peace treaties between Israel and both Egypt and Jordan have been
signed.
In its Basic Laws, Israel defines itself as a Jewish and
democratic state. Israel is a representative democracy[neutrality is
disputed] with a parliamentary system, proportional representation
and universal suffrage. The prime minister is head of government and the
Knesset is the legislature. Israel is a developed country and an OECD
member, with the 32nd-largest economy in the world by nominal gross domestic
product as of 2017. The country benefits from a highly skilled workforce and
is among the most educated countries in the world with one of the highest
percentages of its citizens holding a tertiary education degree. Israel has
the highest standard of living in the Middle East, and has one of the
highest life expectancies in the world.
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