Long before gifts were distributed on Chanuka, there was a tradition to give Chanuka gelt (money in German).
The Rashba (1235-1310) mentions a charitable person who distributed money to widows and orphans during Chanuka.
In the 18th Century, the Magen Avraham (Orach Chayim 670) describes the custom where poor yeshiva students would knock on the doors of Jewish benefactors on Chanuka and receive money.
Why are coins specifically given?
The First Book of Maccabees 15:6 mentions that the Hasmoneans were permitted to mint their own currency after their military victory. King Antiochus VII told Shimon, the Kohen Gadol (High Priest): “I permit you to mint your own coinage as money for your country.”
The Hasmoneans were depicted on many coins during their reign. The distribution of gelt may have been inspired by those coins.
Through the years, archeologists in Israel have discovered batches of coins from the Hasmonean period.
In 2016, bronze coins were revealed near Modiin with the names of Hasmoneans including Yochanan, Yehuda, Yonatan and Matityahu.
In 2022, fifteen silver coins from the time period of Antiochus IV were found in a box during an excavation in the Wadi Muraabat caves (Nachal Darga) in the Judean desert.
Last Chanuka, 160 coins that belonged to Yehuda Maccabi’s great nephew (grandson of Shimon), the Hasmonean King Alexander Jannaeus, were unearthed along Nachal Tirza in the Jordan River Valley by the University of Haifa team Dr. Shay Bar and Dr. Yoav Farhi from the Zinman Institute of Archeology. This is one of the largest coin finds in Israel.
What better Chanuka gift could we have received than proving that the Jewish people have been living in Israel for thousands of years?
This Chanuka, aside from just enjoying foil covered chocolate coins and jelly donuts, go hit the museums and check out the gelt which proves our long history in the Land of Israel.
