Israeli rabbi forbids looking at 50 NIS-note

The Times of Israel reports that a controversy has broken out in Israel over the use of the 50 NIS-note which was issued in 2014. The controversy started when influential Sephardic rabbi Benzion Mutzafi said he folds the banknote face down in his pocket to avoid seeing the face of poet Saul Tchernichovsky.

And what, may you ask, has provoked the rabbi's discomfort? Apparently the fact that Tchernichovsky married a Christian woman who kept her faith during their marriage. "Dr. Hagi Ben-Artzi, brother of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's wife, Sara, said that the use of the Russian-born poet’s image on the bill was "an outrage."".

Reading the article you suddenly understand a little better why so many 'holy' wars have been raging in this region for the past milennia....