Stamp review: Festivals 5781 -- Mandalas (2020-09-08)

Festivals 5781: Modern Jewish Art -- Mandalas is a set of three stamps issued by Israel Post on 8 September 2020 on the occasion of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. Face valued at ₪2.50, ₪7.40 and ₪8.30, each stamp in the set features a unique mandala design centering on a theme from the Rosh Hashanah liturgy. The theme of the ₪2.50 stamp, whose dominant color is red, is kingship; ₪2.50 corresponds to the postage rate for a domestic unregistered 0-50g letter. The theme of the ₪7.40 stamp, whose dominant color is blue, is remembrances; ₪7.40 corresponds to the postage rate for international 0-100g airmail to Group 3 countries (Denmark, Portugal and Sweden). The theme of the ₪8.30 stamp, whose dominant colors are green and gold, is shofars; ₪8.30 corresponds to the postage rate for international 0-100g airmail to Group 1 countries (United States, Ireland, Norway, Finland, Canada, South Korea, and Thailand). The tab below each stamp features an additional mandala design. The stamps were designed by Rinat Gilboa (רינת גלבוע), who has been a designer of Israeli stamps since 2013.

Kilkhor Mandalas of Mahayana Buddhism
Bhutan Post (1986)
Source: stampsofbhutan.blogspot.com

As a religious art form, the mandala's historical timeline is difficult to establish with certainty due to an absence of early archeological remnants. Sunday Moulton of SUNY Buffalo speculates that the mandala's roots date back to the first century BCE¹ while Kimiaki Tanaka of the University of Tokyo posits that the mandala did not properly emerge until the fifth and sixth centuries CE.² What scholars do broadly agree on is that the mandala originated in India and spread from there as India's Dharmic religions expanded their influence in Asia. Mandala traditions thus sprang up in areas like Bhutan, Tibet and Japan, with each area developing its own unique style, technique and, in some cases, spiritual paradigm. Given this diversity, how the word "mandala" is defined depends largely on who is doing the defining and for what purpose. For practicality's sake, this review relies on a description proposed by American mandala artist Martha Bartfeld:

Mandalas (the name comes from the Sanskrit word for "circle") are symmetrical geometric designs, usually enclosed within a circle, a square, or a rectangle, that serve as cosmograms and as focal points for meditation.
[...]
Although the forms and functions of various kinds of mandalas differ, even within the Hindu tradition, mandalas have in common several qualities: a central point, the geometric nature of the design, the symmetry of the pattern, and the purpose of representing the oneness of the universe formed of multiple, diverse, and sometimes seemingly chaotic elements.³

Most remarkable among the mandala traditions commonly practiced today is the sand mandala. Primarily associated with Tibetan Buddhism, the sand mandala stands out not only for its dazzling array of colors, symbols and geometric forms but also for the technique it involves and the life cycle it undergoes. Whereas other mandalas are static, in the sense that viewers engage with them as finished products, sand mandalas are crucially a process, in which the notion of "finished product" is performatively rejected by sweeping away the mandala sands shortly after the design's completion and then starting the process over from scratch. If there is a philatelic lesson to be learned here, it is echoed by Colin Fraser of the Fédération Internationale de Philatélie in the latest issue of Flash: Reject attachment, embrace impermanence. Which is to say, do not cling stubbornly to old habits and expectations; recognize that evolution is a law of nature and be proactive in adapting to change.⁴

מועדים לשמחה תשט"ז: שופר
Festivals 5716: "Shofar"
Israel Post (1955)

The tradition among Jews of referencing three special themes as part of a modified Rosh Hashanah worship service dates back to antiquity. By the time the Mishnah was compiled, circa 200-300 CE, the tradition was already firmly established, with only some lingering disagreement concerning the order of the Kingship prayer within the service and whether or not to blow the shofar after it.

The order of blessings [in the Musaf Amidah of Rosh Hashanah]: He says "patriarchs," "powers" and the "sanctification of the name" and includes the kingship verses with them and does not blow [the shofar]. The sanctification of the day and blows [the shofar], the remembrance-verses and blows [the shofar]. Then he says the blessings of the Temple service and "thanksgiving" and the blessing of the priests, the words of Rabbi Yohanan ben Nuri. Rabbi Akiva said to him: if he does not blow the shofar for the kingship-verses, why should he say them? Rather he says: "patriarchs," "powers" and the "sanctification of the name" and includes the kingship verse with the sanctification of the day and blows the shofar, then he says the remembrance-verses and blows, and the shofar-verses and blows. Then he says the Temple service and "thanksgiving" and the blessing of the priests.⁵

The convention today, in both Ashkenazic and Sephardic communities, is to follow the arrangement prescribed by Rabbi Akiva.

גליונית מזכרת תביל
A theory proposed by Shabtay Shiran sees in the Beth Alpha
mosaics a representation of Kingship, Remembrances and Shofars.⁶
Tabil souvenir minisheet
Israel Post (1957)

In contrast to the Mishnah, whose analysis of the three prayers is mostly technical in nature, the Babylonian Talmud, completed circa 600 CE, reflects a more etiological curiosity. Specifically, it seeks to identify where the tradition of reciting the three prayers came from.

The Gemara asks: What is the reason that all the blasts and blessings are indispensable on Rosh HaShana? Rabba said that the Holy One, Blessed be He, said: Recite before me on Rosh HaShana Kingship, Remembrances, and Shofarot. Kingship, so that you will crown Me as King over you; Remembrances, so that your remembrance will rise before Me for good. And with what? With the shofar. Since these blessings constitute a single unit, one who did not recite them all has not fulfilled his obligation.⁷

While Rabba, short for Rabba bar Nahmani, attributed sounding the shofar and reciting the three prayers to God, a passage later in the chapter distinguishes between the obligation to sound the shofar, which it attributes to the Torah, and the obligation to recite the three prayers, which it suggests is of more recent provenance: "Sounding the shofar is a mitzva by Torah law, whereas the additional prayer applies by rabbinic law."

מועדים התשפ"א: מנדלות
מעטפת יום ההופעה
Festivals 5781: Mandalas
First Day Cover
Israel Post (2020)

At the same time that each stamp in the Mandalas set develops a different theme, collectively they have in common basic structural features such as tetramerism, concentricity, and an identical perforation pattern. Starting from the center, or bindu, each stamp consists of an inner circle surrounded by three rings whose widths vary relative to each other but are translationally the same across the set. The outermost ring, whose circumference is perforated, contains the stamp details and a phrase from Scripture; and the rectangular area surrounding the ring, whose perimeter is perforated, features a floral pattern that, when two or more stamps are joined at the corners, resembles a lotus flower. All three stamps make use of the Kedem typeface.

גליון מלכויות
"Kingship" 4×2 stamp sheet, #011962
Israel Post (2020)

1. "Kingship" (₪2.50)

The bindu features a plygonal golden crown, symbolizing God's preeminence, i.e. kingship. Within it, set like a jewel, is an outline of a small pomegranate crown, pomegranates being a fruit traditionally consumed on Rosh Hashanah. With respect to its vertical axis, the bindu exhibits the property of mirror symmetry. The polygonal crown is circumscribed by a narrow ring of four alternating light and dark scarlet quarter-arcs. This narrow ring is surrounded by a wide middle ring containing a central quatrefoil, i.e. four-petaled lotus, with lobes in the shape of pointed arches. Each lobe contains two lotus flowers whose tips lean into each other and a closed lotus flower between them. Outside the quatrefoil, each pair of lobes supports an elliptical golden crown, which the stamp's release notes indicate represents a Torah crown. Accounting for color, the middle ring has a rotational symmetry of order 2; disregarding color, its rotational symmetry is of order 4. The outermost ring features four golden trapezoids resembling shafts of light emanating from the Torah crowns. Within each shaft is a pomegranate crown, which appears mounted to the Torah crown like a finial. The phrase appearing in the outermost ring is from Deuteronomy 33:5: "And He was king in Jeshurun," recited on Rosh Hashanah as part of the Kingship prayer included in the Sanctification of the Day blessing.

גליון זכרונות
"Remembrances" 4×2 stamp sheet, #015561
Israel Post (2020)

2. "Remembrances" (₪7.40)

The bindu features a Star of David, symbolizing God's covenant with Abraham and, by extension, the Jewish people. It being a foundational event in the Jewish ethnoreligious mythos, the covenant is frequently invoked in the context of God remembering His promise and coming to the Jews' aid in times of distress. The Star of David circumscribes a hexagram and is circumscribed by an octagon, the octagon is circumscribed by a Lakshmi octagram, the Lakshmi octagram is circumscribed by a regular octagram, and the regular octagram is circumscribed by another octagon. The intricate pattern of miniscule tiles interlocking to form larger complex shapes evokes the khatam-kari technique commonly seen in backgammon boards and picture frames from Iran. The large octagram is surrounded by a narrow ring of four alternating light and dark orange quarter-arcs. This narrow ring is surrounded by a wide middle ring containing a saltire. Each of the saltire's four arms contains what the stamp notes indicate are "fire torches." Each fire torch is flanked by what look like two sperm cells binding to a central ovum. In the right angle formed between each pair of saltire arms, a bird is lodged such that its beak is attached to the innermost ring as though drawing food from it. The middle ring is not rotationally symmetrical; rather, it exhibits the property of mirror symmetry with respect to a diagonal axis at 45° from the horizontal. The outermost ring features four equidistant orange concave octagons, each within a teal trapezoid. The phrase appearing in the outermost ring is from Leviticus 26:42: "And also My covenant with Abraham will I remember," recited on Rosh Hashanah in some versions of the Remembrances prayer.

גליון שופרות
"Shofars" 4×2 stamp sheet, #008791
Israel Post (2020)

3. "Shofars" (₪8.30)

The bindu features a shofar -- literally a ram's horn and symbolically an instrument of spiritual reawakening in much the same spirit as the proverbial clarion call. Rather than being polygonal in nature, the shofar is curved, and it stands out against a background of swirling and twisting green shapes. The shofar is circumscribed by a narrow ring of four alternating light and dark gold quarter-arcs, with the stems of two date palms growing out of the ring's inner circle on opposite sides. The narrow ring is surrounded by a wide middle ring containing a compass-like configuration: two distinct entranceways resembling gates in Jerusalem's Old City correspond to the directions of north and south, two identical images of an eye beneath a pointed dome correspond to the directions of east and west, two identical date palms correspond to the directions of southwest and northeast, a windmill corresponds to the direction of northwest, and a lighthouse or bell tower corresponds to the direction of southeast. "Shofars" being the least geometric of the Mandalas stamps, the wide ring has balance but no internal symmetry. The outermost ring features four equidistant lotus flowers, each within a bowl-shaped vessel. The phrase appearing in the outermost ring is from Exodus 19:16: "And the sound of the trumpet was very loud," recited on Rosh Hashanah as part of the Shofars prayer.

חותמת מנדלות
Mandalas postmark
Israel Post (2020)

The Mandalas postmark, applied to first day covers using gold-colored ink, features an encircled pomegranate at the bindu. Surrounding it is a wide ring containing a quatrefoil with lobes in the shape of pointed arches. Each lobe contains an olive branch, and between each pair of lobes is the tail of a fish whose face extends out to the edge of the ring. Surrounding the wide ring are the postmark details, rendered in the Talizman (טליזמן) typeface.

Bottom line: 5/5 -- Strong buy. A cursory examination of Mandalas might lead one to conclude that the stamp designs are a product of computer software rather than of traditional methods. Closer inspection, however, reveals subtle imperfections like uneven spaces between elements and curves and angles that weren't drawn with hyper-precision, and these serve as reassurances that human hands, not just digital ones, devoted time and good old-fashioned painstaking effort to the compositions. Moreover, the colors, rather than having been uniformly applied by simply clicking a few icons and selecting an area to fill, boast rich shade variations and milky or shimmering textures. One can even see that each pair of stamp and corresponding tab forms a continuous surface, interrupted only by the perforation separating them. To whom will Mandalas appeal? Admirers of geometric art will appreciate the stamps' kaleidoscopic patterns; collectors from parts of the world where the mandala is a venerated art form will appreciate its adaptation by an Israeli artist to showcase Jewish themes and motifs; Jews open to novel artistic expressions of their ancient religious customs will appreciate the intellectual and artistic creativity that went into the design of the stamps; and anyone who appreciates that cultures grow when they freely contribute to and absorb from each other will find in Mandalas an affirmation of human progress.

איימי פגין, מעבר לרצח־עם
צילום: אמיר אפסאי
Ami Fagin, "Beyond Genocide"
Armenian Theological Seminary, Jerusalem
Photo: Amir Afsai (7 December 2020)