Just in Time to Play Dreidel: 2-Shekel Coin Makes Appearance
by Hillel Fendel
(IsraelNN.com) More than a year after it was first announced, the Bank of Israel has issued a new 2-shekel coin on Sunday - the first change in Israeli currency in nearly 20 years. Children will undoubtedly introduce it into the popular Chanukah game of spinning a top called a dreidel, in which scores are often tracked with coins.
The new coin is 2.16 centimeters in diameter - smaller than the 5-shekel coin and larger than the dime-sized 1-shekel coin. As with other Israeli coins, the 2-shekel piece’s design is based on ancient Jewish coins. It depicts the “horns of plenty” filled with grapes and wheat, alongside a pomegranate, that were engraved into the coins of Yehochanan Hyrcanus over 2,000 years ago.
