Hanukkah celebrations

A cover from USA ! 

Neon Celebrate usps forever stamps
Since the early 20th century, designers have made use of the fact that neon, argon, and a few other gases, glow when an electrical charge passes through them. In 1910, French scientist Georges Claude (1870-1960) first presented the neon lamp to the public in Paris. During the 1920s, neon signs became a popular form of advertising in the united states after the Packard motor car dealership in Los Angeles displayed the first documented neon commercial sign in the country. Good times call for good wishes, and the U.S. Postal service gets in on the act with the Neon Celebrate forever stamp, first issued in 2011, and reissued in 2015. Bringing an extra wish for happiness to anyone celebrating a special time, this stamp features a brilliantly colored design crafted out of neon and glass that adds a spark to greeting cards, invitations, and gift-bearing envelopes and packages. No matter the occasion-birthday, anniversary, engagement, wedding, new job, retirement-this stamp will add another congratulatory wish to the good times being acknowledged.  

Peace Rose 

Development of what was to become the Peace rose began with a famous rose-breeding family in mid- 1930s France. In 1935, the Meilland family had crossbred hundreds of roses hoping to create new commercially viable varieties. One of the crosses yielded a unique bloom with yellow petals delicately edged with pink, which they named Madame A. Meilland. Years later, as World War II escalated in Europe and France was threatened with invasion, two packages of the new rose’s budwood were sent to plantsmen in Germany and Italy. A third package was entrusted to the U.S. consul, who took it with him as he left France promising to send it on to American grower Conard-Pyle. This U.S. breeder cultivated the rose and sent cuttings to other growers to test the plant in various climatic zones and soil conditions. The trials were so successful that the rose was introduced on April 29, 1945, and made available for sale to the public. With war still raging across the globe, American growers selected a new name for the rose as a reflection of the world’s most fervent desire: peace. Peace has become one of the most popular roses in history. It revolutionized hybrid tea roses with its unique coloring, hardiness, and disease resistance. Peace has been the parent of hundreds of popular hybrids, and millions of the original variety have been planted in gardens worldwide. Art director Ethel Kessler designed the stamp, which features an existing photograph taken by Richard C. Baer. 

Issue : April 2018

USA-Israel Joint Issue 2018 
USA and Israel honoured their 70 years of diplomatic relations with a stamp dedicated to Hanukkah festival.

 

“The new Hanukkah stamp artwork features a menorah created using the techniques of the traditional Jewish folk art of papercutting. Artist Tamar Fishman made a pencil sketch of the design and then with a fine blade, cut the two-dimensional image on white paper. She chose blue-purple and green papers for the background to highlight the central design.

“Behind the menorah is a shape reminiscent of an ancient oil jug that represents the heart of Hanukkah. Additional design elements include dreidels — spinning tops used to play a children’s game during the holiday — and a pomegranate plant with fruit and flowers.”

Hanukkah is a Jewish festival commemorating the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire. It is also known as the Festival of Lights. The name "Hanukkah" derives from the Hebrew verb "חנך‎", meaning "to dedicate". On Hanukkah, the Maccabean Jews regained control of Jerusalem and rededicated the Temple. 

Menorah candles on the second day of Hanukkah in Jerusalem Westerm Wall 

The reason for the Hanukkah lights is not for the "lighting of the house within", but rather for the "illumination of the house without," so that passersby should see it and be reminded of the holiday's miracle-  a small quantity of oil to light the Temple's menorah miraculously lasted eight days.  

Hanukkah is observed for eight nights and days, starting on the 25th day of Kislevaccording to the Hebrew calendar, which may occur at any time from late November to late December in the Gregorian calendar. The festival is observed by lighting the candles of a candelabrum with nine branches, called a menorah (or hanukkiah). One branch is typically placed above or below the others and its candle is used to light the other eight candles. This unique candle is called the shamash(Hebrew: שַׁמָּשׁ‎, "attendant"). Each night, one additional candle is lit by the shamash until all eight candles are lit together on the final night of the festival. Accordingly, lamps are set up at a prominent window or near the door leading to the street. Only when there was danger of antisemitic persecution were lamps supposed to be hidden from public view, as was the case in Persia under the rule of the Zoroastrians, or in parts of Europe before and during World War II.

Menorah candles lighted during Hanukkah in a building opposite the Nazi buildings in 1932.

Other Hanukkah festivities include playing the game of dreidel and eating oil-based foods, such as latkes and sufganiyot ( to reinforce the importance of oil ) and dairy foods.

The dreidel is a Jewish variant on the teetotum, a gambling toy found in many European cultures. Each side of the dreidel bears a letter of the Hebrew alphabet:

 נ‬ (Nun), ג‬ (Gimel), 

ה‬ (Hei), ש‬(Shin),

 which together form the acronym for "נס גדול היה שם‬" (Nes Gadol Hayah Sham – "a great miracle happened there"). In Israel, the fourth side of most dreidels is inscribed with the letter פ‬ (Pei) instead, rendering the acronym, נס גדול היה פה‬, Nes Gadol Hayah Poh—"A great miracle happened here", referring to the miracle occurring in the Land of Israel.

Images of pomegranates are mainstays of Rosh Hashanah cards, Jewish jewelry and a range of Jewish ritual objects, and the fruit itself makes frequent appearances in Jewish cuisine. The pomegranate is one of the seven species of Israel (along with wheat, barley, grapes, figs, olives, and dates) listed in the Torah in Parashat Eikev. In Jewish tradition, pomegranates are a symbol of fertility and love, winning them frequent mention in, among other biblical texts, the Song of Songs. 
The decorative ornaments at the top of many Ashkenazi Torah scroll covers are often shaped like pomegranates and are called rimonim, the Hebrew word for pomegranate. 

Before eating the pomegranate seeds, Jews traditionally say, “May we be as full of mitzvot (commandments) as the pomegranate is full of seeds.”

The pomegranate is often said to have 613 seeds, corresponding to the 613 mitzvot (plural of mitzvah) derived from the Bible. Pomegranates make frequent appearances in the Bible and Talmud. 

Thanks aerobear for this wonderful cover with such lovely stamps !! And I loved the postcard showing the synagogue from Tunisia :)