Dusan D. asks: Maybe the question is stupid, but I am still the beginner: How can I read the year (Hebrew date) on Israel coins? I don’t know their numerals and system writing dates. Thank you.
There are 22 consonant letters in the Hebrew alphabet and these are also used to represent numbers. The letters are read from right to left. If you get a chart of the Hebrew alphabet you will be able to translate the date. Here are the rules:
- The Hebrew calendar dates from the biblical age of the earth.
- Modern Israel began in 1948, or in the Hebrew Calendar 5708.
- The first digit “5” is understood and usually left off.
- There are 3 or 4 characters with the final one separated by what looks like a Quotation mark (“). The mark identifies it as a number and not a word.
- For example the year 1975, or in Hebrew 5735 appears as 735. The first two characters are the years in hundreds, tav=400, shin =300, then in 10’s, lamed=30, next comes the quotation mark and then the letter heh=5. If you add those together they equal 735 or the date 5735.
