A PERSONAL SELECTION
Following on from a theme first selected in May 2020, namely, showing what we consider the best stamp of the year, and indeed the best of the last eight decades, here we are with our selections for 2023, 2013, 2003, 1993, 1983, 1973, 1963, and 1953.
The stamp chosen by us as best from the 2023 Israeli stamp issue (illustrated below), was the 3.30 NIS value ATM stamp, or postage label, celebrating 75 Years of Israeli Independence. Designed by Miri Nistor Sofer, the stamp was issued from 19 April 2023. We especially liked the link to the past – the early years of Israel in the 1940s and 50s – invoked by the water-tower, and we liked the chain dance (possibly), the lad wearing his kippah or yarmulke, the flag, and fireworks. There is a lot going on in the motif.
The selection from 2013 (below) is the 9.50 NIS stamp designed by P. Hamo and T. Kurz and issued on 2 April 2013, honoring the 70th Anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. The stamp and tab bear the inscriptions, ‘Flags Over the Ghetto’ , and ‘Pawel Frenkel Jewish Military Organization, Warsaw (ZZW, Żydowski Związek Wojskowy)’, or Yidishe Militerishe Faraynikung. The stamp features Pawel Frenkel (1920-43), commander of the Jewish Military Organization, against the background of the building on Muranowski Square, Warsaw, that was set ablaze by the Germans. The Zionist and Polish flags raised by the ZZW fighters are visible on the roof. The portrait of Pawel Frenkel was painted by Gil Gibli (born 1957).
Could Frankel, the young fighter, have had any notion at that moment, that within five years of the Uprising, Jews would have their own state, and that sadly, 75 years later, when his generation were in their nineties, a new holocaust would unfold in southern Israel, 7 October 2023, starting yet another major war?
Designed by Zvika Roitman and issued on 9 September 2003, this 1.30 NIS stamp (below) from a set of three celebrating Festivals, and Jewish year 5764, and honoring the country’s olive oil production, is our favorite stamp from the 2003 issues. Olives are of course, one of the Biblical Seven Species that grow in abundance in Israel: ‘a land of wheat and barley, of vines, figs and pomegranates, and land of olive trees and honey’ (Deuteronomy 8.8).
We like the oily shininess of the dark olives, captured so well on the stamp.The tab shows the gathering of olives, and the different varieties.
Our favorite stamp from 1993 is the 80 NIS stamp (below) designed by Y. Gavish, and issued on 22 August 1993. The stamp urges citizens to: Respect Your Elders. The stamp marks the International Day of the Elderly (1 October).
Israelis respect and esteem those who pioneered the state in the earlier decades and who now make up a significant part of the country’s elderly population. In Israel today, some 10 per cent of the total population (Jewish and non-Jewish) are elderly, that is: women over the age of 60, and men over the age of 65. Of these, 95 per cent live in normal community environments, and only about 5 per cent live in institutions on a long-term basis.
We liked the stamp for its tree motif, with old roots though still green, and with luscious foliage.
In 1983, Israel issued a set of stamps, honoring Israel Military Industries, and we especially liked the sleek lines of the Reshef class, fast missile boat, which was illustrated on the 18 Israeli Shekels value (below). Designed by Asher Kalderon, the set was issued on 13 December 1983.
Our choice from the 1973 Israeli stamp issue was the 5 Israeli Pounds value (below) marking the 30th Anniversary of the Rescue of Danish Jews, designed by Asaf Berg, and issued on 23 October 1973.
The rescue of Danish Jewry took place in a transfer to Sweden in October 1943. The country’s Jewish citizens plus 1,500 Jewish refugees – some 8,000 people altogether. Over two to three weeks, 7,200 men, women, and children were transferred to the safety of Sweden. Less than 500 were rounded up by the Germans and sent to Theresienstadt, but even then, the Danish government took steps to protect them, preventing transfer to Auschwitz.
The stamp depicting Jewish refugees being smuggled by boat was chosen because of its still modern design. The tab inscription is: ’30th Anniversary of the Rescue of the Jews in Denmark’. The stamp bears the same inscription in Danish.
Favorite stamp of 1963 is the 1 Israeli Pound value (below) designed by Cyla Menusy (Tzila Menosi) and Ch. Ornan, and issued on 16 December 1963. The stamp shows the luxury passenger vessel SS. ‘Shalom’ operated by the Israel Navigation Company, ZIM, between 1963 and 1967, and sailing from Haifa to New York.
The ship was of its time, with twin funnels adjacent and closer to the stern, similar to SS ‘Canberra’ in the P&O fleet from 1961 to 1997.The tab is decorated with a compass motif and the ZIM logo and flag.
Mid-20th century design is obvious in the favorite stamp from 1953, the 200 Prutot value designed by Abram Games, issued on 22 September 1953, and marking the ‘Conquest of the Desert’ Exhibition held in Jerusalem. The International Exhibition and Fair was dedicated to the reclamation and population of desert regions, and was the country’s first major exhibition as an independent state.
The stamp shows the exhibition emblem, a hand, clutching a flower, rising from the desert. The inscription is: ‘The Conquest of the Desert’. The same motif appears on the tab with the inscription: ‘Jerusalem 1953’.
You may wish to read more about the Exhibition and Abram Games in the post from November 2018: Art, Artists, and Stamp designers month – Abram Games
The other three posts in the Favorite stamps series may also be of interest: III. Favourite Israeli stamps – Chosen from issues appearing in 2022 etc; II. Favourite Israeli stamps – Chosen from issues appearing in 2021 etc; and I. Favourite Israeli stamps – Chosen from issues appearing in 2020 etc
Israeli postage stamps בולי דואר ישראליים 