Spotlight: Krakow-Jerusalem (incoming mail)

Hobby, identity and community are distinct but closely related concepts. The distinction is one of experience: a hobby is a thing we do, an identity is a thing we have, and a community is a thing of which we are a part. The relationship, meanwhile, is one of progression: engaging in a hobby can form part of a person's identity, and people with common identities tend to cling to one another and form communities. Not everyone who collects stamps will identify as a stamp collector, and not everyone who identifies as a stamp collector will join a philatelic community; however, the distance from point A to point B and from point B to point C is shorter now than at any time in the past. What has shortened the distance has been the rise of social media, because social media has increased the visibility of identities and made accessing communities virtually effortless.

Case in point: Had it not been for social media -- specifically YouTube, and more specifically Graham Beck's Exploring Stamps channel -- this blog would likely not have come into being. Rather than develop into a public passion, collecting stamps would have remained a private and sporadic pursuit. What Graham Beck did, which was nothing short of groundbreaking, was expand the definition of "stamp collector" to include a new offshoot identity or sub-identity, namely, stamp explorer. The reason this was groundbreaking was because, in its most reductive sense, "stamp collector" describes a person who spends hours of his free time alone in a room filing away tiny pieces of paper with designs on them in storage albums. The identity that Exploring Stamps projected was in many ways an antithesis of that image: a stamp collector who is collaborative, outgoing, adventurous, innovative, energetic, and hip.

Philately. Lately. – A website about stamps

What has this to do with the Krakow-Jerusalem cover featured above? The envelope was mailed by another stamp explorer, Octavian, the man behind Philately. Lately. – A website about stamps. For those who aren't familiar, Philately Lately is, much like Israel Stamp Reviews aspires to be, a collection of philatelic voyages -- extensively researched, encompassing a vast array of topics, and composed with a mind to being accessible and appealing to the experienced collector and to the uninitiated alike. Israel Stamp Reviews has only logged thirty-one such voyages to date; Philately Lately has embarked on over eighty. If someone consults Google looking for information about a philatelic topic, there's a good chance that Philately Lately has covered it and that its content will appear high in the search results.

Topics covered on Philately Lately run the gamut from cheerful and lighthearted (Easter eggs, the Smurfs) to somber and serious (Kafka, the Holocaust). That range also applies to the contents of the Krakow-Jerusalem letter. It arrived with stamps featuring children's drawings and kites on the one hand, and stamps commemorating the Jews' expulsion from Spain and the end of World War II on the other. Rather than present the contents here by year or by topic, which is how stamps are typically presented, they are arranged primarily by designer. The motivation for this is purely personal preference -- to give designers, especially those whose names recur often in Israel's stamp catalog, more recognition and to highlight any stylistic features that might be unique to a particular designer. The first stamp, however, is an exception to this format:

בול לא לגזענות
"No to Racism" stamp
Israel Post (1986)

"No to Racism" was designed by Raffi Dayagi (רפי דייגי) and issued by Israel Post in July 1986. In the context of Philately Lately, the stamp is significant for two reasons: one, its message; and two, its denomination. The message is significant because many of the stamps covered by Philately Lately champion human rights causes -- indigenous rights, LGBT rights, refugee rights, and so on. It stands to reason that a stamp enjoining the public to denounce racism occupies a special place in Octavian's collection.

"No to Racism" was an initiative of Amnon Rubinstein, at the time Israel's minister of communications, and he conceived it as a response to the ideology of Rabbi Meir Kahane, whose party Parliament and the Supreme Court would ban in 1988.¹ Of relevance to postal historians, 1987 saw the same Amnon Rubinstein successfully motion to revoke Rabbi Kahane's parliamentary privilege of mailing official letters postage-free after letters he sent out were found to contain threatening language.²

1986 was the year Israel, in a fierce battle against hyperinflation, changed currencies from the shekel to the new shekel. The change explains why one of the last stamps issued in 1985 had a face value of 600 shekels while the first stamps of 1986 had face values of 0.01-0.50 new shekels (₪). In the course of communicating with Octavian, it became clear he wished to send stamps that were valid for postage -- presumably, in a pay-it-foward spirit, so that the stamps would be used to send out letters and not live out their days hidden away in a stockbook. "No to Racism" was launched with the fifth round of new issues in 1986, making it one of the first stamps to bear a face value in new shekels and one of the oldest Israeli stamps still valid for postage today.

אד ואן אויין
Ad van Ooijen

The stamps shown directly above are credited to Ad van Ooijen, also known as Adth Vanooijen. They include a 1990 ₪0.75 stamp featuring a school in Kibbutz Degania planned by architect Richard Kauffman, two duplicate 1991 ₪1.40 stamps featuring the Weizmann House in Rehovot planned by architect Erich Mendelsohn, a 1992 ₪0.80+1.10+1.40 minisheet commemorating 500 years since the Jews' expulsion from Spain, a 1995 ₪1.00 stamp commemorating fifty years since World War II ended and the camps were liberated, a 1999 6×₪0.90 mininsheet (no. 306361) celebrating Jews who made outstanding contributions to world culture, a 1999 ₪2.15 stamp featuring a Jewish woman from Yemen, and a 1999 ₪3.25 stamp featuring a Jewish woman from India. The 1999 minisheet is notable in that each of its six stamps is credited to a different designer. The Emile Durkheim stamp is credited to van Ooijen, as is the minisheet as a whole. A characteristic feature of van Ooijen's designs is his play on angles and alignment. In the architecture-themed stamps, for example, he tilted the face values to align with an element in the building. A prolific designer of Israeli stamps from 1980 to 2006, if ever there is an official Israeli philatelic hall of fame, van Ooijen is sure to be one of its first inductees.

יגאל גבאי
Igal Gabay

The eleven stamps shown above were designed by Igal Gabay. They include a 1995 ₪1.50 stamp featuring a folding Hanukkah lamp from the Lodz Ghetto in Poland, three duplicate 1995 ₪1.80 stamps celebrating the sport of model aviation, a 1996 ₪1.05 stamp commemorating fifty years since eleven Jewish settlements were established in the Negev, two 2002 ₪0.30 and ₪1.00 stamps featuring a depiction of the Holy Temple's menorah, and four 2003 ₪0.20, ₪0.40, ₪0.50, and ₪1.30 stamps also depicting the menorah. Igal Gabay has been a designer of Israeli stamps since 1992. Many of his designs are characterized by a ground-up verticality suggesting height that relies on and emerges from a firm lower base.

חיימי קיבקוביץ
Haimi Kivkovich

The ten stamps shown above were designed by Haimi Kivkovich. They include a 1993 ₪2.80 stamp discouraging drug use, two duplicate 1994 ₪3.00 stamps celebrating the computerization of Israel's post offices, three duplicate 1996 ₪4.65 stamps commemorating seventy years since the establishment of the Israeli Cattle Breeders' Association, a set of three 1996 ₪1.05, ₪1.60 and ₪1.90 stamps featuring holiday-themed drawings by Down syndrome artist Sahar Pick, and a 2004 ₪1.30 stamp featuring imagery from a memorial garden to Israel's MIAs in Jerusalem's Mount Herzl Cemetery. Kivkovich's 1993 anti-drug design was his first to appear on an Israeli stamp, and his last design appeared in 2011. Boxes, containers and square frames are common motifs in Kivkovich's designs.

משה פרג
Moshe Pereg

The six stamps shown above were designed by Moshe Pereg. They include a 1988 ₪0.40 stamp commemorating Memorial Day, two duplicate 1988 ₪0.40 souvenir minisheets celebrating Israel's 40th Independence Day, and three duplicate ₪4.40 stamps commemorating seventy-five years since Israel's Veterinary Services department was established. Pereg was a designer of Israeli stamps between 1972 and 2013. His designs avoid depicting human and animal forms in a direct, literal or otherwise unmediated fashion.

אסף ברג
Asaf Berg

The eleven stamps shown above, of which six are duplicates, were designed by Asaf Berg. They form part of a set of nine stamps issued between 1996 and 1998 featuring popular competitive and recreational sports in Israel. The eleven stamps include a 1996 ₪1.05 mountain biking stamp, two duplicate 1996 ₪1.90 paragliding stamps, a 1996 ₪2.00 women's volleyball stamp, a 1997 ₪5.00 archery stamp, and six duplicate 1998 ₪2.20 whitewater rafting stamps. Berg's designs appeared on Israeli stamps from 1970 to 1998, although he succumbed to cancer in 1997. His stamps are characterized by a central image that is clearly defined and immediately recognizable with few peripheral details to divert the viewer's attention.

יצחק גרנות
Yitzhak Granot

The stamps shown above were designed by Yitzhak Granot. They include two duplicate 1995 ₪5.00 stamps issued in the wake of Yitzhak Rabin's assassination, a 1999 ₪2.20 stamp featuring a manuscript of Rabbi Shalom Shabazi, and two duplicate 2001 22×₪0.10 minisheets (nos. 0890990, 1592346) that form part of a set comprising two sheets and one standalone stamp featuring the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The alphabet stamps were designed in collaboration with Ernest Lorentsov. Yitzhak Granot was a designer of Israeli stamps between 1980 and 2006.

דויד בן־הדור
David Ben-Hador

The three stamps shown above were designed by David Ben-Hador. They include two duplicate 1993 ₪1.20 stamps promoting environmental awareness and a 1994 ₪0.85 stamp commemorating Memorial Day. Ben-Hador began designing Israeli stamps in 1980 and continues to design stamps to this day. A 2015 stamp of his was declared the most beautiful stamp of the year at a prestigious award ceremony in Spain,³ but he is probably best known for his 2013 minisheet featuring the Israel Trail. Having entered his fifth decade as a designer of Israeli stamps, Ben-Hador's ouevre could serve as an insightful case study in the evolution of Israeli philatelic design trends. Although the stamps above are neither colorful nor dense to an excessive degree, Ben-Hador's style tends heavily in the maximalist direction, which is to say his stamps tend to be richly colored and densely compressed.

גיל פארן
Gil Paran

The two stamps shown above were designed by Gil Paran. They include two duplicate 1995 ₪1.00 stamps and three duplicate 1995 ₪1.00 stamps that together form a set depicting firefighters in action and celebrating seventy years since the first post-Ottoman firefighting brigade. Gil Paran is credited with no stamp designs other than the two issued in 1995.

רותי קנטור
Ruti Kantor

The two stamps featured above were designed by Ruti Kantor. The include a 1994 ₪2.25 stamp commemorating the International Olympic Committee's 100th year and a 1994 ₪0.90 stamp supporting peace negotiations between Israel and its Arab neighbors. The Olympics stamp is notable in that it features track runners in the lower half above the tab -- one of only ten or eleven Israeli stamps that feature running. Rotem Meller co-designed the peace stamp.

דרור גוטליב
Dror Gotlib

The four stamps shown above were designed by Dror Gotlib for the 1994 Festivals series (5755). Featuring child art, the series includes an ₪0.85 stamp based on a drawing of Adam and Eve by Karmit Krespy, a ₪1.30 stamp featuring a drawing of Jacob's dream by Itay Cohen, a ₪1.60 stamp featuring a drawing of Moses in the ark by Moran Sheinberg, and a ₪4.00 minisheet featuring a drawing of the Israelites crossing the Red Sea by Avital Kaisar. Festivals 5755 was the last time a Gotlib design appeared on an Israeli stamp. The only other design credited to him is a youth philatelic exhibition stamp from 1989.

אשר קלדרון
Asher Kalderon

Asher Kalderon is one of Israel Post's most imaginative designers, which the three stamps shown above unfortunately do a poor job of representing. They include a 1999 ₪2.30 stamp commemorating fifty years since Israel's admission to the United Nations and two duplicate 1999 ₪3.40 stamps commemorating fifty years since Israel proclaimed Jerusalem as its capital. The ₪3.40 stamp features a painting by Ludwig Blum. The first time an Asher Kalderon design decorated an Israeli stamp was in 1960; the last was in 2001. The designer passed away in 2018 at age 89.⁴

עיצובי בעל ואישה
Husband and wife duos

Each of the four issues shown above, comprising a total of twenty-two stamps, was designed by a different husband-and-wife duo: Ora and Eliyahu Schwarts, Mali and Momi Alon, Naomi and Meir Eshel, and Zina and Zvika Roitman. The issues include a 1990 8×₪1.90 sheet (no. 059074) commemorating a folklore festival in Haifa held earlier in the year, three 1993 ₪0.80, ₪1.20 and ₪1.50 stamps promoting child road safety, a 1995 9×₪1.00 sheet (no. 429868) featuring kites, and two duplicate 1999 ₪1.20 stamps celebrating Qiryat Shemona's fiftieth anniversary.

רות בקמן מלכא
Ruth Beckman Malka

Of the three stamps shown directly above, the first two from the right are credited to Ruth Beckman Malka and the one on the left is credited to Devorah Haeitan but features artwork by Ruth Beckman Malka. These include a 1996 ₪1.05 Memorial Day stamp featuring a Joseph Assa-designed police monument, a 1999 ₪2.50 stamp honoring the legacy of Simcha Holtzberg, and a 2003 ₪1.20 stamp commemorating fifty years since the founding of Yeshivat Kerem B'Yavneh as the first Hesder yeshiva. A fourth stamp that was designed by Malka was featured earlier: "Rosa Luxemburg," part of the 1999 Ad van Ooijen minisheet. Malka's designs began appearing on Israeli stamps in 1961, and she continued designing stamps until 2012. Most of her designs feature portraits of distinguished Jewish men and women.

מריון קודנר
Marion Codner

The set of three stamps shown above was designed by Marion Codner and issued in 1993 as the 5754 installment of Israel Post's Festivals series. It includes an ₪0.80 stamp depicting a grain stalk, a ₪1.20 stamp depicting a grape cluster, and a ₪1.50 stamp depicting an olive branch. Marion Codner also designed a 1994 set of nine vending machine stamps and co-designed a 2007 set of two stamps with Moshe Pereg.

דניאל גולדברג
Daniel Goldberg

In addition to designing the stamps shown above, two duplicate 1999 ₪4.40 stamps featuring the Baba Sali and his tomb in Netivot, Daniel Goldberg also designed the stamp for mathematician Norbert Weiner included in Ad van Ooijen's 1999 minisheet. Goldberg debuted as a stamp designer in 1996, and the last time a design of his appeared on a stamp was in 2011.

דני זילברמן
Danny Zilberman

The stamps shown above were designed by Danny Zilberman. They are a pair of duplicate 1993 ₪3.60 stamps celebrating the 14th Maccabiah Games and depicting two relay runners at the moment of passing the baton. Zilberman is credited with no other stamp designs for Israel Post.

MVTM; Molcholand

The two stamps shown above, rather than being credited to a specific designer or design duo by name, are credited to a design firm and to an acronym. The 1996 ₪1.05 stamp on the right commemorates seventy-five years of Israel's Public Works Department, and the 1999 ₪2.30 stamp on the left is a joint issue with Belgium featuring a portion of the painting "My Favorite Room" by Jewish Belgian artist James Ensor. The 1996 stamp is credited to "Molcholand," the design firm of Ilan Molcho; the 1999 joint issue is credited to MVTM, an acronym for Belgian designers Myriam Voz and Thierry Martin.

Polskie Abecadlo
Polish Alphabet

The two souvenir sheets shown above, each comprising 13 stamps, were issued by Poczta Polska in 2006. Their stamps' face values range from 10 grosz to 1.30 złoty, and the designs are variously credited to Jerzy Pietras, Maciej Jędrysik, Włodzimierz Terechowicz, Małgorzata Osa, Katarzyna Castellini, Ewa Libera, Anna Niemierko, and Karol Syta.

If the text above reads like an inventory report, it is the fault of the writer and not of the stamps. A stamp's value is context-dependent. At their most basic level, stamps are a means of paying for postage and their value is determined by the denomenation printed on them. On a cultural level, they are symbols and monuments intended by their issuers and designers to convey messages and evoke emotions and their value is a function of impact and demand. The stamps featured in this report function on both these levels and also on a social level: their value is in the bond they create between bestower and recipient. The anti-racism stamp, for example, is meaningful not just because of its face value and its historical background but also because of the identity and morals of the person who sent it. The running stamps, grape stamp and alphabet stamps, similarly, take on an added layer of meaning because of the identity and preferences of the person they were sent to.

Much of the appeal of stamps, even to those who don't actively collect them, is their artistic quality. If they were large enough to frame and hang on a wall, that is where many stamps would end up. What aren't nearly as appreciated are the envelopes to which stamps get affixed -- which is why historically stamps have usually been soaked off and the envelopes bearing them discarded. There are instances, however, where stamps on an envelope form part of a larger composition and the envelope, or "cover," constitutes no less of a work of art than the stamps affixed to it. In these instances, the stamp designers deserve credit for their artistic creativity and the stamp affixers merit appreciation for carefully selecting and arranging their stamps and turning a plain white envelope into a uniquely memorable cover. "Krakow-Jerusalem" is such an instance: beyond filling it with dozens of meaningful stamps, Octavian of Philately Lately made it a cover that will long be admired and cherished.