Next year, Eytan Stibbe will be the second Israeli in history to participate in a manned space mission. Michael Bachner describes the historical artifact he plans to take along:
Stibbe has chosen to take [a] 1,900-year-old coin with him on the Rakia mission to the International Space Station, scheduled for early next year. Stibbe said that he is taking the artifact with him as a symbol of his Jewish heritage.
The coin . . . dates to the second Jewish revolt against the Romans, also known as the Bar Kokhba revolt, bearing the name of its leader, Shimon Bar Kokhba. It was found in recent years and unveiled last March along with countless rare artifacts from the “Cave of Horror” in [the Judean desert], including dozens of 2,000-year-old biblical scroll fragments—the first such finds in 60 years.
Both sides of the coin—which is from the second year of the revolt—bear Jewish symbols typical of the Second Temple period: a palm tree with the inscription “Shimon” . . . on one side; and a vine leaf with the inscription “Year two of the freedom of Israel” on the other. Stibbe said that for him, the coin “represents the connection to the land, the love of the country, and the desire of the population of Israel in those years for independence.”
Read more on Times of Israel: https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-astronaut-to-take-1900-year-old-bar-kochba-revolt-coin-to-space/