Israel Stamp Reviews

The idea that stamps are a window into a nation's culture and history presupposes that culture and history are matters of national consensus. In reality, culture and history are abstractions. Culture is an abstraction of values, and history is an abstraction of narratives. Values and narratives are never static; they exist in states of perpetual internal tension. Most of the time these tensions are minor, even healthy -- the stuff of dinner table discussions -- which is what allows societies to function and develop as stable systems. Controversy is what ensues when values or narratives clash. When controversy rises above a certain pitch or when there is too much of it for too long, it starts to undermine the society's stability. It signals that values or narratives have moved so far apart from each other that they can no longer peacefully coexist. Controversy offers observers the most penetrating insight into a nation's culture and history, because it exposes the fissu...

2010 "Malta and Gozo" stamp | בול איי מלטה January is a tricky month of the year to travel. While there are astonishingly cheap flights out of Israel, the real bargains are to high-latitude European countries where the days are short and the weather is bone-chillingly cold -- which largely defeats the purpose of the vacation. My original plan for January 2020 was to shell out a little extra on airfare and spend eleven days in relatively warm Morocco, including a few days in Fes to run the international marathon there. However, various circumstances conspired against that idea. When a $100 round-trip ticket to Malta appeared on the radar, serendipitously overlapping a 10K race in the town of Ħ'Attard, the matter was settled: Malta would be the first travel destination of 2020. Ben Gurion Airport, 10 January 2020 The sudden change of plans, which coincided with a period of mounting pressure at work, meant there wasn't time to properly research the country I was...