The Valero
Bank
The first Hebrew bank , 1848-1915
The exhibit deals with the banking
activities that took place in the JewishYishuvin Jerusalem in the
19th and early 20th centuries. Financial documents, shares, bonds,
bills, checks and other documents will be on display. Today, when
shares are simply recorded on the computer, it is hard to imagine
the work that was invested in planning share certificates that were
issued in those distant times. They incorporated decorations and
motifs that carried an ideational and Zionist message.
Jakob Valero, who founded the first Jewish financial
institution in Pa
lestine, opened his bank in 1848. It
served mainly as a conduit for transferring monies that supported
the Jewish community in Palestine, also on behalf of thePekidim and
Amarkalim[Clerks and Administrators] in Amsterdam which was the
chief European body that engaged in raising donations for the
residents of the country and thekolelim( Jewish communities in
Palestine that received financial support from thehalukkahfund].
The bank also provided services for the Ottoman government and
carried out financial transactions with numerous banks in Palestine
and throughout the world, among them banks that belonged to the
Rothschild family.
Curator: Cecilia Meir
Closes: June 30, 2013
