This appeared in the September 2014 Enews of the American Numismatic Society

A half a dozen members of the Ozarks' Coin Club attended this lecture, some with littleknowledge of the subject. Not to worry. The lecture might well have been titled. "A FunnyThing Happened on the Way to the Temple." David Hendin has a very mobile face reminiscentof Jack Gilford who played Hysterium on Broadway and in the film, A Funny Thing Happened on theWay to the Forum. Hendin was Hysterium in modern dress and with nary a note told his audiencethe story of the coins of the Bible hop scotching from myth to fake to hoard all in timelineorder.

The Widow's Mite... not so fast. The Shekel, well... which one? The 30 Pieces ofSilver...just a standard price for treachery with many historic precedents. And then the story ofthe money changers in the temple illustrated by Rembrandt with Hendin's Hysterium playing allthe changers shouting out their rates to get your attention.

It was fascinating. This reviewer knew most of the terms before, if only from doing cross wordpuzzles and being a Shabbes goy, but Hendin brought this collection of old numismatic stufftogether into a coherent whole from high priest to king to procurator and back again with dozens ofcoin illustrations to help identify the players.

Should this lecture play at a local Temple or Forum near you, it is highly recommended.