Jan 31, 2013

Why Stanley Fisher opposed In God We Trust

"In God We Trust" is the motto of the United States of America and it graces the currency on both paper and coins.

In Israel there is no such statement on the currency. in Stanley Fisher's previous term as Governor of the Bank of Israel, there was a movement to start including the same phrase, in Hebrew of course - "בה' אנו מאמינים" - In God We Trust.  Fisher opposed the idea, and it was rejected due to that opposition.

The Director of the lobby for Jewish Values, Ofer Cohen, who had led the movement back then has now explained Fisher's opposition. Fisher had said he opposes it because he did not want to see God's name [on currency] that might be thrown out in the garbage, or mistreated.
(source: Bechadrei)

Though, it must be noted, that the document displayed on Bechadrei's website (see link above), signed by the Minting department, gives other, more official reasons, for having rejected the idea. Despite that, Fisher's reason for opposing the idea, so as not to see God's name on a surface that might be defaced or mistreated, is a more Jewish reason...


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6 comments:

  1. If it has the letter "He" and the Geresh, is it really his name?

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    Replies
    1. it doesnt sound to me like Fisher was making a halachic decision. it seems to me he felt it was simply disrespectful.

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  2. I remember reading the Theodore Roosevelt opposed placing "In God We Trust" on American currency when it was first proposed, for more or less the same reason, so Fisher is in good company.

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  3. You mistranslated maameeneem as "trust" it means believe. Trust would be "bot'him"

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  4. He's actually just following Chazal... 3 Tishrei was made into a chag because the Rabbis stopped the Chashmonaim from putting "shnat ABC l'kohen gadol l'kel elyon" on all contracts on that day, since the contract would be thrown into the garbage.
    In Megillat Ta'anit (and Masechet Rosh Hashana).

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  5. It's good to find zchuyot for Fischer these days. Since he announced is resignation, some of the media feels that they can now take off their gloves and accuse him of everything bad about the economy, mainly the surge in housing prices. The day he made is announcement, you could find many articles wondering what would happen next, the local stock market fell 1%, but the day after - open season, talking about if he was going to stay in Israel or go back to his family after eight years here and giving up his US citzenship. Pathetic tabloid journalism.
    Josh

    ReplyDelete