Both sides of the same coin.

This is the newest Israeli coin: the "Shnekel" - שנקל which is short for Shney Shekel - שני שקל = two Shekel. It sounds like Yiddish and would be written in that language like שנעקעל and is almost like another word in Yiddish I cannot mention here.

I guess that in Arabic it would be like شنيقيل, in German: Schneckel, in French: Chnekle and in Dutch: Sjnekkel.

But in fact it should be Sheklayim - شيقيلين - שקליים because in Semitic languages there is a special plural for a couple.

The Shnekel reminds me of the joke about a team of money forgers that got caught when they tried to use the 13 Shekel notes they printed.

http://picasaweb.google.com/uriahyaniv/TheThirdSideOfTheCoin/photo#5159157863658592578

Tel Aviv one century young.

If Jerusalem is like an union and you have to peel one layer to find another one, Tel Aviv is like a quilt, it has many pieces that apparently don't have any connection to another, but which make one big blanket together.

When I lived in a Kibbuts, which is a small village, I thought that Tel Aviv is the ugliest place in the country, only later I understood, that it is so different from the place where I lived, but it definitely isn't ugly, but different.
Now I like it and every time I visit Tel Aviv I find something new and different. Tel Aviv is the entertainment capital of Israel, it also is the centre of commerce and economy. The Tel Aviv people have a different state of mind and a different attitude to life and all this make it a fascinating place to visit.

An Israeli song written by Natan Alterman says:

"בכל זאת יש בה משהו, כן, יש בה איזה משהו, לא טוב שהוא, לא רע שהוא, אבל כיום זה משהו"

"Anyway there is something about her, she has something, not good and not bad, but still it is something."

It is about a girl, but for me it is THE metaphor about Tel Aviv.

Enjoy!