Haim Gitler

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Haim Gitler (Hebrew: חיים גיטלר), born April 13, 1962, in Mexico, is an Israeli curator and numismatist. He moved to Israel in 1974 and studied archaeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, earning his BA and MA, then completed a PhD at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Poland, in 2011. His doctoral research focused on ancient coins from the Late Persian period and the early Hellenistic period in the Land of Israel.

Gitler joined the Israel Museum in 1987 and became Curator of Numismatics in 1994. In 2013, he was named the Tamar and Teddy Kollek Chief Curator of Archaeology, overseeing the Bronfman Archaeology Wing, the Shrine of the Book, and the Rockefeller Archaeological Museum. His research concentrates on the coinages of late Persian and early Hellenistic Palestine, including Philistia, Samaria, Judea, and Edom. He has published extensively—more than 100 articles—and has participated in archaeological expeditions in Israel and Jordan.

In addition to his curatorial work, Gitler has taught numismatics at the Hebrew University (Rehovot campus) and Tel Aviv University. He has served on the Bank of Israel’s Committee for Planning Coins, Banknotes, and Commemorative Issues. He led the Israel Numismatic Society (INS) as president from 2005 to 2016 and again since 2018, and founded its journal, Israel Numismatic Research, in 2006.

Internationally, Gitler was elected in 2022 to the International Numismatic Council as one of nine members and serves as secretary, becoming the first Israeli on the INC Committee. He is also known as a photographer, with several exhibitions to his name.