Israel's Bank Notes Highlight Jerusalem's Old City Gates

Israel's Bank Notes Highlight Jerusalem's
Old City Gates

by Howard M. Berlin

     In ancient and medieval times when a city was founded, it was often enclosed by a wall with several gates. The wall, affording primarily protection from the city's enemies, generally had multiple guard towers, turrets, and ramparts. The use of gates controlled the travels of its citizens and visitors who could enter or leave only in the daytime.
     The ancient city of Jerusalem had three city walls over the millennia. The present wall which surrounds the Old City was ordered built over Crusader ruins by the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman I, who was also known as Suleiman the Magnificent. The gates themselves were constructed over Hasmonian, Herodian, and Crusader ruins. Until 1887, each gate was closed before sunset and opened at sunrise.
     The limestone walls, averaging 40 feet high and seven feet thick, run for almost two miles, encompassing the Christian, Armenian, Jewish, and Muslim Quarters. There are 43 towers, the most famous of which is the Tower of David, and eight gates: Jaffa Gate, New Gate, Damascus Gate, Herod's Gate, Lion's Gate, Golden Gate, Dung Gate, and the Zion Gate, all but one which are open. Suleiman had four of these gates – Damascus, Zion, Lion's, and Jaffa Gates – positioned according to the North, South, East, and West compass directions respectively, and whose roads also led to major cities.
     In 1973 the Bank of Israel released banknotes of its Fourth Pound Series, which featured five different gates of Jerusalem's Old City on the back of the notes in denominations from 5 to 500 lirot (pounds). These were the Lion's, Jaffa, Damascus, Zion, and Golden Gates. In addition, these notes for the first time were issued with a standard width of 76 mm to minimize production costs.
     In 1978, the shekel was declared Israel's legal tender and a new currency was needed. The same designs and colors were used as the banknotes of the Fourth Pound Series except a zero was dropped from the value. 10 lirot now became 1 sheqal (the official Bank of Israel spelling). Because of this 10-to-1 devaluation, there were originally only four notes: 1, 5, 10, and 50 sheqalim, and the Lion's Gate was the only picture from the original Fourth Pound Series that was not continued to the new series. However, inflation required higher-valued notes and a view of Herod's Gate was added as the fifth note in the new series in 1979.

The Lion's Gate

View of the Lion's Gate which leads immediately to the Muslim Quarter and the Via Dolorosa.

     The lowest denomination of the original Fourth Pound Series is the 5-lirot note issued in 1973 featuring the Lion's Gate on the back. Located in the Old City's eastern wall, the gate was built in 1538 and faces the direction of Jericho.
     Known in Hebrew as Sha'ar ha'Arayot, the gate derives its name from the two pairs of lions near the top of both sides of the gate. There is a legend that Suleiman placed the figures there because he believed that if he did not construct a wall around Jerusalem he would be eaten by lions. The gate is also known as St. Stephen's Gate, as Christian tradition holds that the saint was stoned to death at this site. Muslims call the gate Bab Sittna Maryam (Gate of the Virgin Mary), as the traditional burial place of the Virgin Mary is nearby in the Valley of Jehoshaphat. The gate leads immediately to the Muslim Quarter and the Via Dolorosa, the path taken by Jesus to his crucifixion on Good Friday.
     The note's face includes a portrait of Henrietta Szold, the founder of Hadassah, and the Hadassah Hospital on Mt. Scopus in the background. In addition, there are three raised dots in the lower left-hand corner as the identifying aid for the blind.

1973 5-lirot note (back shown)

One of two pairs of lions near the top of both sides of the gate
that gives the gate its name.

The Jaffa Gate

     The second lowest denomination of the Fourth Pound Series is the 10-lirot note of 1973 with the picture of the Jaffa Gate. With the introduction of Sheqal Series, the Jaffa gate also appeared on the 1-sheqal note when it was first issued in 1978.
     The Jaffa Gate is located as part of the Old City's western wall next to the Citadel and Tower of David. It was built in 1538, as is it marked by the Hijira date of 945 on the arch outside the gate. The gate has a narrow, L-shaped passageway, a tactical method employed to slow down the advance of armies.
     Known in Hebrew as Sha'ar Yaffo, the gate gets its name from the road that once led from this point to the Mediterranean port of Jaffa. The gate is also known by local Arabs as Bab al-Khalil (Gate of the Friend – i.e., Abraham) – the Arabic name for the city of Hebron where the Patriarch Abraham is buried. The Jaffa Gate is only one of two gates where a mezuzah is attached to the gate's entrance; the other being the Zion Gate.
     Between the Jaffa Gate and the Citadel, there is a break in the wall. This was ordered made in 1898 by Sultan Abdul Hamid II to enable the visiting German Kaiser Wilhelm II to enter the city in his carriage rather than having him dismount and walk though the L-shaped gate. On December 11, 1917 British Gen. Edmund Allenby, after defeating the Ottoman Turks, rode into Jerusalem on horseback through this opening. Today, the original gate and this opening in the wall are generally taken together to mean the Jaffa Gate and it is the busiest of the seven open gates for pedestrians and vehicles.
     Passage through the gate leads immediately to Omar Ibn el-Khattab Square – a mixture of tourist shops, hostels, and local peddlers. From here, David Street continues, dividing the northeastern Christian Quarter from the southwestern Armenian Quarter.

1973 10-lirot note (top) and 1978 replacement 1-sheqal note.

Also pictured on the note to the right of the Jaffa Gate is the Citadel with the Tower of David. The minaret, built in 1665 as part of an adjacent mosque inside the compound is often mistaken for the Tower of David.
The note's face includes a portrait of the British philanthropist Moses Montefiori with the Mishkenot Sha'ananim (Dwellings of Tranquility) – the first area of Jewish settlement in Jerusalem outside the Old City walls, now called Yemin Moshe, along with the large windmill to serve the milling needs of the residents. In addition, there are two raised dots in the lower left-hand corner as the identifying aid for the blind.

The Jaffa Gate, as it looks today as part of the Old City's Western Walls.

The Tower of David, one of Jerusalem's best known landmarks,and the accompanying minaret located next to the Jaffa Gate

The Damascus Gate

The largest and most impressive of the Old City gates is the Damascus Gate. It appears on the 50-pound note of 1973 and the redenominated 5-sheqalim note when it was first issued in 1978. The gate was built in 1537 at the city's northern periphery and is easily recognized by its distinctive crenellated wall. Outside on both sides of the gate, there are a pair of towers, each with machicolations - openings in the floor between the supporting corbels of the defensive wall through which stones could be dropped on attackers at the base of the wall. Rows of steps lead from the Sultan Suleiman Street down to a plaza in front of the gate's entrance where vendor's set up their carts.

1973 50-lirot note.

1978 replacement 5-sheqal note.

The Damascus Gate today with its distinctive crenellated wall. Rows of steps that lead from the street down to a plaza in front of the gate's entrance where vendor's set up their carts.

     The ancient road to Damascus began from this point, hence the gate's name and its Hebrew language equivalent, Sha'ar Damesek. Like the other gates, this gate has several other names, depending on the era and the community. The old road to Damascus traveled through Nablus, known in Hebrew as Shekhem, and the preferred Hebrew name for the Damascus gate is Sha'ar Shekhem (Nablus Gate). The gate's Arabic name, Bab al-Amud (Gate of the Column), owes its name from a large column with a statue of the Emperor Hadrian that supposedly stood just inside the gate in Roman times.
     Like the Jaffa Gate, the Damascus Gate is also L-shaped, leading directly to the Khan el-Zeit market and the Old City's Muslim Quarter. Before the Lion's Gate also became known as St. Stephen's Gate, an old Christian tradition held that St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr, was stoned to death near the Damascus Gate. Eventually this was changed during the Middle Ages whereby the Lion's Gate was made the place of St. Stephen's martyrdom.
     The note's face includes a portrait of Chaim Weizmann, the first president of Israel and the Wix Library at the Weizmann Institute of Science. In addition, there is one raised dot in the lower left-hand corner as the identifying aid for the blind.

The Zion Gate

     The Zion Gate appears on the fourth highest denomination, 100 pounds for the 1973 series, and the 10-sheqalim note of the 1978 redenominated series. Facing South on Mt. Zion towards Hebron from where it gets its name, Sha'ar Tzionin Hebrew, the Zion Gate is the southern-most gate of all the Old City gates.
     Built in 1540 as an L-shaped gate, small cars are miraculously able to pass through the gate only in one direction – exiting the city. Entering the gate to the Old City, you are at en-Nebi Daoud (Prophet David) Square which accesses the Armenian Quarter in front and the Jewish Quarter to the right.
     Upon leaving the Old City through the gate, one faces Mt. Zion and is only about a hundred yards from the traditional sites of both King David's Tomb and the Coenaculum – the room of the Last Supper. Because David is also revered as an Islamic prophet, the Arabic name for the gate is Bab el-Nebi Daoud (Gate of the Prophet David). Also nearby the gate is the grave of Oskar Shindler, the subject of the 1993 movie Schlinler's List. Visitors to the outside of the gate will notice stark reminders of Israel's 1948 War of Independence – the many bullet holes from the heavy fighting that are still clearly visible in the stones surrounding the gate.
     The note's face shows a portrait of Theodor Herzl, the father of Zionism and the entrance gate to Mt. Herzl in Jerusalem.

The Zion Gate today, facing Hebron, showing the many bullet holes that are still clearly visible from the heavy fighting from Israel's 1948 War of Independence.

1973 100-lirot note.

1978 replacement 10-sheqal note.

The Golden Gate

     The highest denomination of the Fourth Pound Series is the 500-pound note of 1973 with the picture of the Golden Gate. When the Sheqal Series was introduced in 1978, the Golden Gate also appeared on the 50-sheqalim note.
     Of the Old City gates and city wall that Suleiman built, the Golden Gate was not built by him, it having been built about 644 when Omayyads controlled Jerusalem on the site of the original Eastern, or Shushan entrance to the Second Temple.
     The name "Golden Gate" probably owes its origin to Christianity as its tradition holds this was the gate through which Jesus entered Jerusalem. The Golden Gate, known in Hebrew as Sha'ar ha'Rahamim (Gate of Mercy) and in Arabic as Bab al-Zahabi, is actually divided into two gates. The northern or right-hand gate as seen from outside the Old City walls, is known as the Door of Repentance (Bab al-Tauba) and the southern gate is the Door of Mercy (Bab al-Rahma).
     Jewish tradition holds that the Messiah will enter Jerusalem through the Golden Gate on the Resurrection Day and Suleiman had the gate sealed off, around 1540, to prevent the Messiah from entering through the gate. The Messiah also by tradition is both a descendent from the House of David and a descendent of Aaron who is a kohen – a priest. As such, he is prohibited from going near or through a cemetery. Suleiman then placed a Muslim cemetery in front of the Golden Gate. What Suleiman didn't understand was that this prohibition only applies to a cemetery where Jews are primarily buried.
     The note's face shows the portrait of David Ben-Gurion, Israel's first prime minister, and the library at kibbutz S'de Boker, Ben-Gurion's home in the Negev. A raised black oval in the note's lower left-hand corner of the front is the identifying aid for the blind.

1973 500-lirot note.

1978 replacement 50-sheqal note.

The Golden Gate today showing the two sealed gates by Suleiman. In front is the Muslim cemetery he erroneously placed to prevent the entrance of the Messiah into Jerusalem.

The rear of the Golden Gate as seen from the Temple Mount esplanade. In view is the Door of Repentance (Bab al-Tauba). To its right hidden from view is the Door of Mercy (Bab al-Rahma).

Herod's Gate

1979 100-sheqal note.

     The 100-sheqalim note issued in 1979 shows Herod's Gate with the word "Yerushalayim" – Hebrew for Jerusalem, in vertical microprint in the background. Facing north and located near the wall's northeast corner "Stork Tower," the gate lies east of the Damascus Gate and across Sultan Suleiman Street from the Rockefeller Museum. The gate originally was a small, wicket type, but in 1875 a newer gate was built to handle the increase in the pedestrian traffic in both the surrounding Bab al-Zahra neighborhood and in and out of the Muslim Quarter.
     The gate, known by the corresponding Hebrew and Arabic names Sha'ar ha'Perachim and Bab al-Zahra (the same name as the Arab neighborhood), was originally called the Flower Gate, based on the large stone rosette on the outside wall just below the ramparts. The name, Herod's Gate, was applied sometime in the 16th century from the misidentification by pilgrims of a structure thought to be the palace of Herod Antipas, to whom Jesus was sent by Pontius Pilate on the night before his crucifixion. Actually, Herod's palace was part of the Citadel next to the Jaffa Gate.
     The note's face includes a portrait of Ze'ev Jabotinsky, the Zionist and Irgun leader, with the old "Shuni" fortress between the towns of Binyamina and Zichron Ya'akov in northern Israel. In addition, parallel horizontal lines, narrow in the middle and wide in the upper and lower sides, are in the lower left-hand corner as the identifying aid for the blind.

View of Herod's Gate today east of the Damascus Gate.

The large stone rosette on the outside wall just below the ramparts that gives the gate its "Flower Gate" nickname

Old City Gates Not Pictured on Notes

The Old City wall that Suleiman the Magnificent built has eight gates, six of which are pictured on Israel's banknotes. Each gate has its own rich history and significance. However it is not clear why the Bank of Israel did not include for completeness the two remaining gates – the Dung Gate and the New Gate. The Dung Gate has history back to the second century and is the gate closest to the Temple Mount. The New Gate, as its name implies, is the newest of the Old City gates, built in 1887 to permit entrance to the Christian Quarter from the northwest.

All photographs were taken by the author and are copyrighted. All banknote images were supplied by Yigal Arkin.