Israeli Sheqel

A law passed in the 1960s had required the currency's foreign name, lira, to be replaced with a Hebrew one, and the change finally took effect on 24 February 1980, at a rate of one sheqel to ten lirot. The new sheqel was divided into 100 new agorot. Its name revived the shekel of the Bible, originally a weight of silver: Abraham paid 400 shekels for the Cave of Machpelah (Genesis 23), and the half-shekel was the sanctuary offering of every Israelite (Exodus 30).

The change was as much national and linguistic as economic, completing the Hebraization of Israeli money. But it arrived when inflation was already above 100 percent a year and still accelerating; within five years the sheqel lost almost all its value and was replaced in 1985 by the new Israeli sheqel.