Israel Stamp Reviews

The " Ludwig van Beethoven, 250 Years " stamp was issued by Israel Post on 15 December 2020 to mark the semiquincentennial of Ludwig van Beethoven's birth. Face valued at ₪11.80, corresponding to the postage rate for domestic priority 100-300g mail, the stamp depicts an image of Beethoven based on a portrait of him by Joseph Karl Stieler and the iconic opening notes of Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67. The tab below the stamp proper illustrates the opening notes of Symphony No. 5's second subject and features a "Philately Day" inscription indicating that proceeds from the stamp's sale go to the Philately Promotion Foundation. Gray is the stamp's dominant color. It was designed by Zvika Roitman (צביקה רויטמן), who has been a stamp designer with Israel Post since 2003. בולים של מוצארט, באך J.S. Bach, W.A. Mozart stamps Israel Post (2000, 1991) Beethoven was born on 17 December 1770 and, along with Bach (1685-1750) and Mozart (175...

בול 75 שנה לשחרור מחנות הריכוז: התקומה Concentration Camps' Liberation, 75 Years: Resurrection The "Concentration Camps Liberation, 75 Years: Resurrection" stamp was issued by Israel Post on 21 April 2020. Face valued at ₪8.30, corresponding to the postage rate for an unregistered international 0-100g letter, "Resurrection" features the title page of a report published in September 1945 for the First Congress of the Central Committee of Liberated Jews in Bergen-Belsen. The tab below the stamp shows a group of Jewish children being led out of Florence's Great Synagogue by a Jewish Brigade soldier and several Jewish Agency nurses in September 1944. Blue, gray and orange are the stamp's prominent colors. It was designed by Miri Nistor and Tuvia Kurtz , who have been stamp designers with Israel Post since 2001 and 1998, respectively. Bergen-Belsen in Germany ( Google Maps ) Bergen-Belsen originally served as a Wehrmacht-administered POW camp, f...

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...