Juha

JOHA
Official Medal 2009/5770
5th Medal in the "Jewish Folktales" Series

Joha—the name gives away its origin as coming from a Semitic language—is a character prominent in humorous folktales recounted through generations among the Jews of "Sefardic" origin and especially told in Ladino, the Judaic-Espanol language spoken by and among Jews dispersed around the Mediterranean basin.
Joha's image is not constant and varies from tale to tale. Sometimes he is young and sometimes old; sometimes wise and sometimes foolish; sometimes married and sometimes a bachelor. He represents 'everyman', sometimes the victim and sometimes the perpetrator. He gets into and out of scrapes and situations and stands equally before kings and scoundrels.
A typical tale recounts Joha and a friend strolling through the open air market stalls, where a beggar sits and reads the newspaper. Joha asks him how this is possible, since the day before the beggar claimed to be blind. When the beggar did not reply, Joha turned to his friend and stated that,"today he must be deaf!"
In this medal, the obverse side shows Joha riding a donkey, sitting backward, facing its tail. The reverse side is in common with all of the medals in this series, showing a grandfatherly figure telling a tale to his grandchildren and strengthening the ties that bind the generations, old and young alike, together.

Obverse: Joha riding a donkey, sitting backward, facing its tail.

Reverse: The reverse side is in common with all of the medals in this series, showing a grandfatherly figure telling a tale to his grandchildren and strengthening the ties that bind the generations, old and young alike, together.

Edge:
Gold and Silver medals: Smooth.
Bronze medal: Milled.

Designer: Aharon Shevo.

Engraving: USA.

Mint:
Silver and Bronze medals: USA.
Gold medal: ICMC Mint.