How ironic Shas MK MK Aryeh Deri talking of bank notes, well i guess he should know after he served 3 years in jail for theft, missuse of public funds and deception. Maybe when they decide to issue bank notes with well known criminals they could use his picture?

I am sure that they can come up with a list of non-Ashkenazi "Paytanim" (and yes they are poets) for Ms. Raz and the Committee.

origin can tell you that there aren't many Sephardic Jewish intellectuals in Israel. However, the same cannot be said for Sephardic Jews living elsewhere including France, Canada and South America. Examples of prominent Sephardic Jews outside Israel include Bernard-Henri Lévy, Jacques Derrida, Hélène Cixous, Richard Attias, Jacob ben Abraham Faitusi, Shemariah Catarivas, Isaac Israeli ben Solomon, David ibn Merwan al-Mukkamas and Ya'qub Bilbul to name a few.

Did the Committee deliberately choose the category of "Poets" in order to exclude Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews? Well, find a different category. How about "Heroes of the State?" We can start with Eli Cohen, z"l, and work from there.

As it will be another 10 years before new bills will be introduced Ms. Raz and the government have time before they will need to have an answer to the question: "Who are the non-Ashkenazi poets of the past 20 centuries?"

Hasn't Israel got enough to contend with? This can wait until we get back the 40 billion shekels that Bibi threw away

Is Ashkhenazis in The Land of Canaan(no pun). "Can't find no Sephards", this sh-t is pittifull, racism follows this beast whereever it goes.

french Nobel prizes in physics. But to be honest Askala is an ashkenazi job. It's enough to read "From Berlin to Jerusalem" from Gershom Sholem, to realize that when Europe was fertilized by ashkenazi jews in the end of 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, we were stuck in the past in north africa, living at best on the only heritage of Rambam. We got a few musicians and rabbanim, but poets ore intellectuals? None. It's sad but true. We must thank our ashkenazi brothers to have wakened up us to the modern world.

Why have they mixed up the colours and currency denominations? Other than the blue 200 all the others appear to be the same colours as they are now but rather than just replacing the purple 50 with the blue one they have decided to made it green like the current 20. Wouldn't it be much more local to keep all the other denominations same colour and make the 50 blue as the purple is not included in the new lineup? They also chose an awful picture for the guy on the 200, he looks so depressed. Maybe he just doesn't want to be involved with this controversial confusing money. We should have gone back to the early days of the Lira when looking for inspiration for the new notes. Why not landscapes of different places in Israel like the Negev & Galilee. Maybe we could instead have notable Israelis who are neither politicians or poets. Can be a whole range of individuals from Illan Ramon, spies like Eli Cohen, or soldiers like Yonni Netanyahu. People from all walks of life who in some cases gave their lives in service to the state and have earned the right to be on the money because they did things for the state not because they were politicians or artistic figures who never did anything for the country. I am bored with the traditional lineups lets have something revolutionary new that doesn't leave anybody feeling left out and they doesn't create a whole load of confusion with colours being mixed round.

Well, appropriate poets aside, the bills are of interesting design. From the coins, bullion strikes, and notes I've seen over the years, they know their business well over at the Israeli mint.

jail, like Deri or Katav.They will look nice on our bank notes and I am sure there are many more.

Pardon my ignorance, but in these 2 lists of f Sephardic intellectuals can you name one (or more) that meet the 2 requirements? 1- Must be poet 2- Must have photo available to use

Katzav, Arye Deri and olmert are not ashamed to show their faces in public let alone going back to politics as in the case of Arye deri. In the US they would have all gone to jail for decades. In order to reduce organised crime, Israel must dish out very harsh punishments for even the smallest of crimes.

let's have money for S'fardim, separate money for Ashkenazim, and separate money for non-Jews. This way no one needs to touch money from a group he dislikes.

poet I could think of was Nissim Ezekiel whom I had to study his poem in my English class a few years ago. It seems that Sephardic Jews tend to go more into business than academics.

(particularly relative to the writings of Rambam)

I don't think Ms. Raz should exclude herself from the rank and file's of the Israel establishment: They all are on the same level. Saddly, it is the education system that perpetual the absence of the Sepharado-Mizrahi cultures, achievement their History and the narrative of their Ethos. According to the 'legend' Alya A, B, G,...is the beggining of the Jewish revival as people in its own Land of Israel....and they call it Zionism (ideology borrowed from, Greece, the Balkan, Italy....). So, for over 1500 years when the Jewish History was Sepharadic, in the great state of current Israel, those centuries have been oblitared from the conscienness of the new generations. How come: Well the Sepharado-Mizrahi, acording to reality on the ground are "just Props" in the Ashkenaze scenario. Even the actual interest shownreluctantly by Nahum Goldma towards the Moroccan Jewsish Communities was due to the opposition of the Muslims in the 1920s and thirties that the Yeshuv is basecally a European colonies. Then, after the Independence it was untenable that Israel will, or should, be mostly populated by the Ashkenazes. Then started the complots: Yemeni Jews, Iraki Jews, Egyptians Jews (OH) Moroccan Jews...props. And it is still a prop even today when the majority of Israel population is made up of Sephardo-Mizrahi. Go figure: why are the Sepharadim not getting involved in the Shamna and Salta of the activities...ignorance you say, which way I answer!

.... to return to using the beautiful scenes of Israel. That should make everyone happy, and won't leave anyone out. And how could a picture of the Kinneret offend anyone?

well, I am also a little bit of a physicist and I can say that sometimes physics is not far to be poetry :-) But no, they are not poets. For the second question, yes there are pictures of them, actually they are still alive ;-) On the list of #3 I would pull off Bernard-Henri Levy. But I would say that I support #9 proposal to put Israel heros on banknotes. I don't want to say that poets are not heros, but it would be less controversial.

I know of a great poet, a Sepharadic one, his name is Jacob Bitton and his poems are the talk of any literature department in any Israeli University. Fortunately he is still alive and can create more, so nobody can put him on a note. But I was very much surprised to learn that Sari Raz never heard of him, I thought she was one with great knowledge of modern Hebrew literature. I do not want to think she deliberately ignored him when she say she never heard of a Sepharadic poet in the 20th century.

...the problem is - they are still alive, like AB Yehoshua and Eli Amir! The ones honored today are dead and from a period during which there were less sepharadi writers contributing (most came during the fifties). Personally, I find it preferably for an author to be alive and celebrated than dead and printed on a banknote. And Sari Raz's argument is valid: Don't complain, suggest someone if you think he or she has been unjustifiably omitted.

I hope you know seriously the field that you are talking about : History of the Sephardo-Mizrahi diaspora, of course that includes the North African communities. Add to the list of Nobel Prize winners Orof. Baruch Benassaraf, Nobel Prize Laureate for Medicine in the 1980's. Please, you have the Internet, you might get a start in the investigation of your origines, and how proud you ought to be. Todah..

Thank you

The US has never had a person of color, a Jew or a Muslim on any minted coin or printed currency. We only had one Catholic president and never had a woman president or vice president.

I just forgot the name. As I said I'm a mathematician and a bit a physicist, whatever. But what I said is not false, compared with the success of our ashkenazi brothers and sisters, we are behind. But it doesn't bother me too much, we are, Jews, a one family. No ? :-)

So you've had a catholic and Obama. Get this, Israel NEVER had a Sephardic/Mizrahi PM or chief of staff. We did have Golda though. She was kind of manly looking, so maybe we should only count it as half. They'd sooner make Bar Rafaeli PM than a Mizrahi.

nor... nor... nor... Deri's trick of playing the ethnic card is growing stale.

It was a Sephard, Hasdai, who brought this Ashkhernazi(Khazar) to the Hebrew Faith several hundred years ago. Give us a break, this is just plain racism, 'Can't think of any Mizrahi Poets", I beleive Hasdai have some poetic works being in the employ of the Muslim leader in Andulus, Spain.

on the currency but rather symbols and works of Judaism, such as menorah, shofar, the ark, the laver, the altar and other parts of the Temple. Also you can show the holy books and commentaries such as Tanach, Talmud, Shulkhan Aruch, Zohar and other great works, many, if not most, of them by Sephardim and Mizrachim. And, btw, I am Ashkenazi!

Israeli Heroes(No polIticians!!) like Ro'i Klein,Ilan Ramon,Eli Cohen ,Sara Aharonson ,Hanah Szenes,Yosef Trumpeldor,Yair Stern,David Raziel,Yoni Netanyahu.....We have photos of them all!!!