1/2 New Sheqel Hanukkah - Iraqi Lamp

Israel's annual Hanukkah coin series, running since 1958, commemorates a different diaspora lamp style each year. The Iraqi lamp — associated with the Jewish communities of Babylon and Baghdad, among the oldest continuous Jewish settlements in the world — was selected for 2003 as part of a broader effort to document lamp traditions from communities largely dismantled by mid-20th century emigration. Iraqi Jewish population in Israel had swelled following the 1950–51 mass emigration operation known as Operation Ezra and Nehemiah, which airlifted over 120,000 Jews out of Baghdad.