A heated exchange on the ultra-Orthodox program "Black Kippahs" reached an unusual peak when a representative of the Jerusalem Faction pulled out a 50-shekel bill to argue his case. The clash began after reserve major and lawyer Yitzhaki Glick, from the El Hadagel movement, accused the Jerusalem Faction of recycling "old statehood slogans," such as bans on sidelocks and secular coercion, which he said no longer fit today.
In response, the Jerusalem Faction speaker held up the note and pointed to the portrait of poet Shaul Tchernichovsky. "I have a 50-shekel bill in my pocket. On this bill appears a man named Shaul Tchernichovsky. The State of Israel saw him as a source of pride, one of the greatest Hebrew poets, part of the elite, and put him on its official bill," he said. He then argued that Tchernichovsky had been married to a non-Jewish woman for 40 years, describing her as a devout Christian who wanted to be buried in an Orthodox Christian cemetery.
He said the bill was not just paper, but proof of what he called the state’s conceptual distortion. "Everyone has a bill in their pocket and Wikipedia on their smartphone," he said, adding that this showed how the state had "completely confused" people by teaching them to mix up "Jewish" and "Zionist," and to blur Israeli identity with what he called true Judaism. "There is no connection between them," he declared.
The segment aired on "Black Kippahs," hosted by Yossi Sargovsky, which the article describes as a central platform on the Kikar HaShabbat website. Readers were directed to watch the full episode, which drew attention online.
