0 Euro - Chatam Sofer 1762 - 1839

The 0 Euro souvenir note series, produced by Oberthur Fiduciaire under licensing arrangements with the EEBS, occupies an odd corner of notaphily — legal in format, worthless by design, and collected purely as a commemorative object. This example honors Moses Sofer, known as the Chatam Sofer, the Hungarian-born posek and rosh yeshiva whose Pressburg yeshiva became one of the most influential Orthodox institutions in 19th-century Europe. His fierce opposition to religious reform — codified in the phrase "hadash asur min ha-Torah" — shaped the trajectory of Orthodox Judaism for generations after his death.

Oberthur's security printing credentials lend the physical object more gravitas than the denomination warrants.