Two new bills in the denominations of 20 and 100 shekel were put in circulation on Thursday morning. The two new notes, bearing the images of poets Rachel Bluwstein, in red on the 20 shekel bill, and Leah Goldberg, in orange on the 100 shekel bill, join the two other new bills adorned by poets: Shaul Treshenichovsky (50 shekel, in green) and Natan Alterman (200 shekel, in blue).

“From now on, for the first time, there is equality which will be a source of pride in the representation of men and women in the State of Israel’s notes,” said President Reuven Rivlin in honor of the occasion.

The new bills feature extra security measures against counterfeiting and each denomination is a different size so as to help the blind and visually impaired to distinguish between notes.

Contrary to previous assessments, the Bank of Israel does not intend to issue an additional note at a value of 500 shekel, because the shekel is now the second strongest coin in the world and in a market without inflation there’s no need for more than a 200 shekel note.

To celebrate, Bank of Israel Governor Karnit Flug went shopping in the shuk with the new bills, which she (almost) literally printed herself. Explaining to the vegetable merchant that he must check the bills for authenticity with their new extra security measures, Flug told him that he was the first-ever person to recieve the brand-new 100 shekel bill.

נגידת בנק ישראל, קרנית פלוג, עשתה הבוקר שימוש ראשון בשטרות הכסף החדשים כאשר ערכה קניות בשוק מחנה יהודה @LiorKenan pic.twitter.com/LK87uVP92H

— חדשות עשר (@news10) November 23, 2017

The older bills in the same denominations will be gradually phased out of use.

With additional reporting by Breaking Israel News