2018-08-04 Sat

Israel post celebrates 70 years of Independence with an entertaining and informative set of three stamps. Carricatures and comics being an important part of Israeli culture, these amusing stamps are nothing but comic strips which depict the development of the state since its existence.

The first stamp depicts the “days of innocence” – the days when the state of Israel was a baby nation and the days when the tractor was a popular vehicle and agriculture was a chief profession. The stamp features a man in the tractor with small yet beautiful houses in the background. The stamp also shows transistor, national food – seltzer and falafel.

The second stamp shows the next phase of the nation’s history – the phase of the war. As Israel was involved in four wars in the first 20 years after its creation, the stamp changes its motifs. The tractor gets replaced with a military jeep and the houses in the background became buildings with antennas over them suggesting the emergence of technology. The bottom part of the stamp features the symbols of the time television with a bottle of soft drink and a hamburger.

The third stamp speaks about the modern era of the last 2-3 decades. The stamp depicts a young boy pushing a supermarket trolley wearing the clothes of new fashion. The buildings in the background have got even taller. In the bottom part of the stamps a laptop, glass of wine and a plate of sushi are seen.

Designed by Michel Kichka, these stamps are denominated with 2.5 Israeli new shekel and are inscribed with ‘Israel’ and ‘Israel in Comics and Caricatures-70 years’ in both Hebrew and English. These simple, amusing yet serious illustrations hold the 70 years of history of Israel together.

Image Courtesy: https://history-of-israel.co.il