The Vilna Gaon, Eliyahu ben Shlomo Zalman, was born in 1720. To commemorate 300 years since his birth, the Bank of Lithuania is going to be issuing a commemorative coin in 2020.The commemorative coin will bear an inscription that is a play on words of "Vilna Gaon" - that is vil nor gaon, meaning if you will it you can become a gaon, a genius.
The back side of the coin will bear an image of the Hebrew letter "shin", whose gematriya is 300. As well, the shin is symbolic of the famous picture of the Vilna Gaon wearing tefillin with the shin on the head tefillin standing out. I did not know this, but that significance of that image is that the Jewish year has 300 days devoted to prayer, not including Shabbos.
source: Lithuanian Jewish Community website
1. very cool
2. It seems Europe does an awful lot to commemorate its rich Jewish history. They do little to cultivate the current Jewish presence and its future...which is probably not a bad thing..
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