Spaniards on banknotes, or will they have banknotes

December 8, 2015   

The question of placing important Mizrahi figures, such as poets and rabbis, etc. on the banknotes that are renewed from time to time, has recently come up again, but it only brings out what the state's captains and leaders, those who consider themselves the 'elite', think about the Spanish public in general. It is certainly possible that, as the sages said, "Your table is greater than their table" - these great ones do not need this honor, but the general public and the common people do, and similar to the distinction that the sages made between a person who reads a book and a person who reads a book... The head of the yeshiva, the Rabbi of Mazuz, said that it was not in keeping with Rabbi Ovadia's dignity that he was superior to this. I agree that he is superior! Even the Maimonides who was on a banknote - is superior, but it is definitely for the honor of the public and society.   Therefore, apart from the smell of arrogance that emanates from this behavior, it also indicates the wretchedness and ignorance of the very committee that is unable to find suitable Mizrahi figures to put on banknotes... And to Aryeh Deri who brought this up: יפה אמר מישהו פיקח, שבמקום שהוא ידאג שהספרדים יהיו על השטרות, עדיף שידאג שלספרדים יהיו שטרות וזה אפשר רק על ידי השכלה ומקצוע. שכן, בהנצחת העוני וחוסר ההשכלה בניגוד למסורת הספרדים מדורי דורות, אריה דרעי לא עוזר לספרדים - הוא רק מזיק להם.