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The sixteenth Hanukka coin was struck in memory of the lost Polish jewry. Among the 5,800,000 Jews exterminated in the Holocaust, 3,200,000 were from Poland. This respectable Jewish congregation in Poland was one of the most veteran in Europe - a thousand years old. It enjoyed wide religious and cultural autonomy for hundreds of years. Jewish communities in Poland also knew bad periods, hard times and persecutions. However, the Jewish population grew continuously until it became, at the outset of the Second World War, the largest Jewish center in the world. It was big in terms of population and also in rich intellectual assets, including pre-eminent scholars, and outstanding creativity in all fields. The "Lamp from Poland", minted this year on the Hanukka coin, is a homage to this lost reputable community.

During the 19th century, Poland became an important center for Jewish silversmiths. The upright Hanukkiya, made of silver and reproduced on this coin, is from the year 1854. It is known as the Polish Lamp - 1981.
On its top is a swan and below it, an embossment of a flower. The Hanukkiya belongs to the Wolfson Collection at the Hechal Shiomo Museum in Jerusalem. The Legend - A Hanukka lamp from Poland in 19th century.
The seventeenth Hanukka coin is from Yemen. Yemenite jewry was ope of the earliest communities in exile. They suffered severe persecution under Muslim rule. Throughout their exile, contacts with Jewish centers and the land of Israel were maintained, and consequently the Yemenite community is distinguished by its fundamental Judaism. It is like a "nature reserve" of the traditional heritage.

The mass aliyah (immigration to Israel) of Yemenite Jewry 100 years ago was inspired by the verse: "I said, 1 will go up into the palm tree"' (Song of Songs 7:9), fulfilling the prophecy of the great Yemenite poet Rabbi Shalem Shabazi. In the 1882 aliyah and thereafter, Yemenite immigrants worked shoulder to shoulder with the pioneers of the Jewish settlement, in reclaiming the land and building the country. With the establishment of the State, all the Jews of Yemen came to Israel, where they made up a community numbering 100,000 people. The Yemen- ites are known in Israel as hard-working and industrious, who live from the fruit of their labor. Their contributions is also recognized in modern Israeli culture. (Professor Yehuda Ratzaby). It is known as the Yemen Lamp - 1982.
The words "Hannukkiya from Yemen - I will climb up into the palm" in Hebrew, with depletion of the 19th century stone candelabrum on background of Yemenite handcrafted work.

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