Significantly, two of the four are women: the poet known simply as "Rachel," or "Rachel the Poetess" (Rachel Bluwstein; 1890-1931), 
and Leah Goldberg (1911-1970). The other two are Shaul (Saul) Tchernichovsky (1875-1943)
and Natan Alterman (1910-1970).
I have long admired the poetry of all four of these poets, and I look forward to seeing -- and reading -- the new banknotes. (In addition to their portraits, selections from their poetry will appear on the bills.)
Women's groups cheered the inclusion of the two women. But the choices engendered controversy nonetheless, for these poets are all of European descent. None is Sephardic or Mizrahi. (The term "Mizrahi" generally refers to Jews from Near Eastern, Arabic-speaking, countries.)
Predictably, Arye Deri, the leader of Shas (Israel's ultra-Orthodox Sephardic political party), saw the exclusion as deliberate and part of a pattern of abuse: "This ... is a symptom of the government's behavior toward the Mizrahi public. ... Mizrahim are excluded from the Supreme Court, academia, the media, the Israel Prize, and the current government, and now it's reached our banknotes."
Arye Deri has long been quick to decry discrimination against Mizrahim in Israeli society. When he was indicted for corruption in the 1990s, he argued that he was being targetted because he was a Mizrahi political leader. (He was later convicted.)
But he has a point. Mizrahi Jews faced terrible discrimination during their arrival in Israel in the 1950's and '60's, and beyond. Even today, the vestiges of past discrimination are still present, and it's easy enough to consider this one of them. If the faces on Israel's banknotes are intended to represent the nation, they should be representative, and not simply be drawn from one "edah" ("community") within the nation.
Incidentally, it also did not go unnoticed that no Arab has yet appeared on an Israeli banknote. "During the public debate on whether to put a Mizrahi portrait on the new banknotes, we didn't see even a hint of intent to put a non-Jew on the bills," complained Issawi Freij. Freij is a 42-year old accountant who represents the Meretz party in the Knesset. Freij is right; no groundswell of support has yet arisen to put an Arab face on Israeli money.
Regarding the absence of Mizrahi portraits, retired Supreme Court Justice Jacob Turkel, who was responsible for recommending the new designs, didn't seem to appreciate the hurt feelings.
"I'm not belittling anyone -- some of our greatest spiritual masters came from Spain, but this obsession is silly," he said. "I can't even define what I am, since my ancestors were exiled from Spain to Turkey and from there to Galicia 500 years ago. It seems pretty insignificant to me, but maybe there are people for whom this is important."
Indeed there are. Identity politics is alive and well in Israel. There are other groups as well who also see themselves on the margins; for example, ultra-Orthodox Jews.
Although it has probably never occurred to anyone to put the late Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, on Israeli currency (after all, he never came to Israel), for a while there was interest in creating a banknote with the portrait of Rav Abraham Isaac Kook, the first Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi (1865-1935).
Perhaps, as one editorial in today's paper put it, a little sensitivity is called for. True, modern Zionism arose in Europe, so it isn't surprising that the greatest classical Zionist poets were of European background. But surely there are Mizrahi poets or scholars or community leaders whom it would be proper for the State to honor. Prime Minister Netanyahu tried to "make shalom." He recommended that the next person to be portrayed on Israeli currency should be Yehudah Ha-Levi, the great medieval Sephardic poet. Yehudah Ha-Levi did come from Spain, and he did compose beautiful and heartfelt odes to Zion, but I would think that a more contemporary figure would be more suitable (and more responsive to the concerns that have been voiced).
A recent op-ed in Haaretz recommended several 20th century Mizrahi writers, including Jacqueline Kahanoff (1917-1979), a Jewish-Egyptian writer who eventually emigrated to Israel.
Although she wrote in English, Kahanoff has been influential among several generations of Israeli Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews.
Thinking about this subject has given me a great idea: to teach a course on modern Zionism in which the stories behind those portrayed on Israeli banknotes are presented. What a great way to teach the history of Zionism! After all, can you imagine understanding the history of Zionism without being introduced to writers like Chaim Nachman Bialik and S.Y. Agnon? Or philanthropists like Moses Montefiore and Edmond de Rothschild? Or community leaders like Henrietta Szold? Or pre-state political leaders like Theodor Herzl, Zeev Jabotinsky and Chaim Weizman? Or Zionist supporters from abroad, like Albert Einstein (who almost became Israel's first president)? Or early Israeli leaders like David Ben Gurion, Yitzhak Ben Zvi, Zalman Shazar, Levi Eshkol and Golda Meir?
In any event, I hope that the next time the Bank of Israel recommends new banknotes, they pay more attention to the range of communities that make up Israel's increasingly heterogeneous society.
