Savings bonds, checks, and small chocolate coins wrapped in gold foil-these are the modern incarnations of the traditional gift known as Hanukkah gelt. "Gelt" is a Yiddish term for "money." Although it is an old and cherished custom, the roots of gelt-giving go back much further than the Middle Ages, the era in which the custom is usually said to have originated. Even though it is not mentioned in neither the Talmud nor the Shulhan Arukh (the Code of Jewish Law), the importance of coins in the history of the Hasmonean period is undeniable.

The First Book of Maccabees records that in 142 B.C.E., 22 years after the Temple was recaptured, Simon the Maccabee, the surviving son of Mattathias, finally brought independence to Judea. Syria’s King Antiochus VII declared to Simon: "I turn over to you the right to make your own stamp for coinage for your country." (I Macabees 15:6) The ability to mint its own coins was a concrete expression of the newly-won independence of the Jewish people.

During the following years of the Hasmonean dynasty, the first Jewish coins in history were issued. Most depicted cornucopia, symbolic of the prosperity of the country during these years. One of the coins minted by the last of the Hasmonean kings, Antigonus Matityahu (40-37 B.C.E.), portrayed the seven-branched menorah on one side and the Table of Shew Bread on the other, both symbols of the restored Temple. Some scholars conjecture that these designs may actually have been intended to remind the people of Hanukkah, which had been neglected during the waning years of the Hasmonean dynasty.

When the Second Temple was destroyed in 70 C.E., Jewish coinage ceased until modem times, except for a brief period during the Bar Kochba Revolution (132-135 C.E.). So, no Jewish coins were available to distribute when the custom of Hanukkah gelt-giving emerged as an important part of the festival during the Middle Ages. Then, it was traditional to give Hanukkah gelt to the local Jewish teacher; in fact, it was his primary means of support. When the tradition was expanded to include giving coins to children, it became a way to emphasize the importance of Jewish education and the study of Torah.

Since the founding of the State of Israel, Jewish coinage has become a fascinating part of numismatics world-wide. In 1958, the Bank of Israel initiated a program of striking special commemorative coins for use as Hanukkah gelt. In a brilliantly conceived move to link the modern world with the ancient history of our people, the first Hanukkah coin portrayed exactly the same menorah that had appeared on the Last Maccabean coins of Antigonus Matityahu, 1,998 years earlier. Each year since 1958 (except 1964-71), the Hanukkah gelt coin has honored a different Jewish community around the world. In 1972, a silver coin was struck showing a 20th century Russian menorah, a rather clear message to the world about Soviet Jewry On the 200th anniversary of the United States' Declaration of Independence, the 1976 Hanukkah coin featured a colonial American menorah. Other issues through the years have featured Menorahs from many different lands where Jews have lived.

Whatever your source for Hanukkah gelt, it is always a wonderful tradition to put some of what you receive into a tzedakah box in order to share your good fortune with those in need or for a good cause.