The commemorative coin was minted to mark the 300th birth anniversary of the Vilna Gaon and the 700th anniversary of the Jewish history in Lithuania.
"This year is exceptional for Lithuania and its Jewish community spread across the whole world today. We are marking the important anniversaries and paying respect with the Jewish community's contribution to Lithuania's multi-century long history," Nauseda was quoted as saying in a statement issued by his press service.
The coin dedicated to the Vilna Gaon features inscriptions in the Lithuanian and Hebrew languages. It was minted to honor the memory of the Vilna Gaon, Rabbi Elijah ben Solomon Zalman, a famous 18th-century Talmudist who used to live in Vilnius and whose intellectual heritage brought renown to the city of Vilnius across the entire global Jewish community.
Making use of the occasion, the Lithuanian president congratulated in his letter the Israeli president, a descendent of the Vilna Gaon, on these important anniversaries and invited him to visit Lithuania after the coronavirus pandemic.
The Seimas of Lithuania declared 2020 the Year of the Vilna Gaon and the History of the Jews in Lithuania.