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Eitan Steve will take with him into space a Jewish coin that is about 1,900 years old
In preparation for the "Sky" mission, the Israeli astronaut visited the laboratories of the Judean Desert scrolls and borrowed the ancient Jewish coin from the Bar Kochba revolt, which bears the name of Shimon Bar Kochba.
Eli Escozido, Director of the Israel Antiquities Authority: "This is an exciting encounter between the ancient world and the pinnacle of human innovation"
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Thursday, August 19, 2021, 11:00 p.m.
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The symbolic object that Eitan Steve will take with him into space as part of the 'Sky' mission: a Jewish coin that is about 1,900 years old. The director of the Israel Antiquities Authority, Eli Escozido, earlier this week handed over to the astronaut Eitan Stiva a Jewish coin from the days of the Bar Kochba revolt, bearing the first name of the revolt leader and Israeli president, Shimon Bar Kochba.
The coin - from the second year of the Jewish revolt against the Romans - was recently unveiled in the Cave of Horror in an operation conducted by the Israel Antiquities Authority's challenging Judean Desert survey, in which volunteers and members of pre-military preparatory schools participated. As part of the operation, about half of the desert caves were surveyed in search of ancient finds. The state operation took place in cooperation with the Judea and Samaria Chief of Archeology Officer in the Civil Administration, and funded by the Ministry of Jerusalem and Heritage.
The Sky Project, led by the Ramon Foundation and the Israel Space Agency in the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology, is intended to inspire the younger generation, to promote and expand the Israeli space industry.
The mission will enable Israeli entrepreneurs, scientists and researchers to advance innovative ideas and will provide a rare opportunity for them to examine their initiatives in a unique research environment and thus contribute to the benefit of research and the Israeli and international space industry.
In addition, the mission will make diverse educational activities accessible to the benefit of all Israeli children.
In fact, this will be the first time that Israeli children and teenagers will be able to gain access to the International Space Station - in Hebrew.
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Eitan Steve receives the coin from Eli Escuzido (Photo: Official Website, Israel Antiquities Authority)
Steve visited the laboratories of the Judean Desert scrolls in Jerusalem, where he was presented with excerpts from the 2000-year-old scroll of Enoch, written in Aramaic, which describes a meeting of Noah's paternal grandfather with angels. According to Scripture, these showed Enoch, who ascended to heaven, the sun, moon, and stars.
During the tour, researchers from the Israel Antiquities Authority presented Steva with a unique camera, developed with special technology from the US Space Agency (NASA), and adapted to document and preserve the scrolls. The Judean Desert scrolls include, among other things, the oldest copies of Most of the 20th century. This camera records each section of a scroll in 12 different wavelengths, some of which are invisible. It enables accurate scientific photography with completely stable parameters, and monitoring of their condition over time, at the pixel level.
At the end of the tour, the director of the Antiquities Authority, Eli Escozido, gave Eitan Steve the coin he would take with him on loan to space.
On both sides of the coin are symbols that characterize the Jewish art of the Second Temple period: on the inside of the coin, the palm tree and the inscription Shimon (the letters Maan can be identified) and on its back - a vine leaf, and the inscription Israel.
The coin from the days of the Bar Kochba revolt (Photo: Official website, Israel Antiquities Authority)
The other side of the coin (Photo: Official Website, Clara Amit, Israel Antiquities Authority)
"The coins of the Bar Kochba revolt were minted in Israel by the Jewish rebels between 132-136 CE," says Dr. Gabriela Bikowski, a coin expert at the Israel Antiquities Authority. "Apparently, the reason for the revolt was the declaration of the emperor Hadrian on Ilia Capitoline - formerly Jerusalem, as a Roman colony. It is interesting to know that the rebels used the existing Roman coins and re-imprinted their messages on them. These are coins with symbolic significance, which were not used for trade but for Jewish propaganda. "
According to Eitan Steve, "For the 'Sky' mission at the International Space Station, I will take with me a personal bag with objects of special significance. It was clear to me that among the objects I would take, there would be a symbol of Jewish history. The love of the land and the aspiration of the inhabitants of the land during these years for independence. "Culture also embodies the right for me to bring a 1,900-year-old coin to the International Space Station, a coin that represents the history of the Jewish people."
The director of the Israel Antiquities Authority, Eli Escozido, said that "the fact that Eitan chose to take an ancient item of symbolic significance with him into space is very exciting and valuable. This is a historic encounter between the ancient world and the pinnacle of human innovation. Their lives and independence, surely did not imagine in their wildest dreams that hundreds of years later, this object will make its way out of the atmosphere by a Jewish astronaut, who lives in the independent state of Israel! "His name has become established in the Kochba tradition. Today, this nickname takes on another symbolic meaning."
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