"Dad," said Little Johnny, "I'm late for football practice.  Would you please do my homework for me?"

The father said irately, "Son, it just wouldn't be right."

"That's okay," replies Little Johnny. "Give it a try, and I’ll fix it when I get home."

Sometimes it seems that the lessons that we attempt to convey to our children, fall on deaf ears.  Perhaps we can gain some valuable insight in how to raise moral children, from a coin that was minted by Avrohom, the first Jew. 

The images found on coins are intended to express the character and highest aspirations of the nations that mint them.  Since currency circulates throughout a country and beyond, careful consideration goes into the design that will appear on a coin.  When a country designs its small change, it asks big questions, like what ideals and beliefs does this coin convey?

The ancient Romans, for example, engraved a coin that depicted an eagle with powerful talons poised to strike its prey. This proclaimed an insatiable ambition to conquer and rule the world.

On American coins there are two inscriptions. On one side, there is the statement, "In God We Trust," and on the other, "E Pluribus Unum" -- "Out of many – one." There is also a design of a sheaf of grain, to represent the willingness to feed the hungry plus a picture of a great American President or the Statue of Liberty.

The inscription "In God We Trust" is self-explanatory. It simply affirms the historic fact that America was built on faith in God and on religious freedom.

"E Pluribus Unum" represents the ideal of unity that comes from diversity.

Our sages tell us that Abraham also coined his own money. When he bought the meorat hamachpelah -- the burial plot from Ephron the Hitite, he paid 400 shekels of silver that came from his own mine. The Torah declares that it was “over la'socher”, that this money was accepted by all the merchants and tradesmen of that day.

Now what kind of a coin did Abraham issue?  What did he inscribe on both sides?  The rabbis offer the following description: Zakein uzekeinah mitzad echad. On one side of the coin there was the image of an old man and an old woman, and bachur ubetulah mitzad sheni, and "on the other side that of a youth and a maiden" (Baba Kama 97b).

This unusual design which appeared on the coin of Abraham is very meaningful to each of us today. It addresses itself to the bachur ubetulah – to the builders of the future – to the man and woman of tomorrow. It urges them not to break with the wisdom of the past, nor to dissociate from the traditions of the zakein uzekeinah – of the elders who preceded them.

No human being can claim that he is a completely independent entity. Each of us represents the total experience of those who came before us; and we, in turn, will add a little something to that experience and hand it over to those who will come after us. We are but a small link in an endless chain; and it our duty to be a true and loyal link in that chain.

If one looks only on one side of the coin, one sees only the bachur ubetulah – vigorous and enthusiastic youth moving steadily ahead. To them the future belongs; they will inherit the earth. But when the coin is turned there is the image of the zakein-uzekeinah --the parents and grandparents who are responsible for a great share of the progress that is now being made.

This, in brief, is the message of Abraham's coin. It urges that there must be no gap between the old and the young. We are of the same metal and design, the products of the same history and tradition.

In our glorious past, our ancestors fostered an eternal hope that the future will bring a rectified, Messianic world.  We have the obligation to take the final steps to make those aspirations real and true to all who live in the Messianic era. 

When the enthusiasm and energy of youth is blended with the wisdom and piety of the past, then, it will be our youth who will forge the Jewish personality of the future. The products of such a partnership will be Jewish men and women who are mentally sound and spiritually alert.

Gut Shabbos!