Stamp Act : Students Celebrate Unveiling of Hanukkah Postage Design

The day they had been waiting for was finally here. Dressed in festive costumes to celebrate the Jewish holiday Purim, students at Kadima Hebrew Academy gathered in their schoolyard Monday for the West Coast unveiling of the first Hanukkah stamp issued by the U.S. Postal Service.

The students had mounted a letter-writing campaign lobbying government officials for the stamp last year. Throughout the years, the Postal Service had received thousands of requests for a Hanukkah stamp. But it was only after receiving the letters and designs from Kadima’s 300 students that Postmaster General Marvin Runyon issued the stamp.

The celebration was tempered, however, by the recent bombings in Israel. As Jewish people everywhere struggled to understand the renewed campaign of violence raging in the Mideast, Kadima Headmaster George Lebovitz said it was a good time to reflect on the importance of religious freedom.

“Getting this stamp reminds us that we live in a free country where we can express our opinions and we can be proud to say that we are Jewish,” he said.

The nation’s first Hanukkah stamp was officially unveiled by Runyon at the B’nai B’rith Klutznick National Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C. The stamp will be a joint issue with Israel, which will release a stamp with the same design.

The design, which features a colorful menorah on a white background, is the handiwork of Hannah Smotrich, a graphic designer at the Corcoran School of Art. Smotrich said she paid particular attention to the colors to emphasize the upbeat nature of the playful, joyous holiday, which is also known as the Festival of Lights.

Timing of the Hanukkah stamp’s unveiling coincided with Purim festivities at Kadima. The holiday celebrates the time Queen Esther saved the Jews from the hands of Haman, the prime minister of Persia. The carnival aspect of the holiday provided a suitable backdrop for the stamp ceremony and the words of hope and inspiration.

“When we express ourselves, it is important to understand when our opinion is not accepted, but this time--it was,” Lebovitz said.

The Postal Service will print 142 million of the Hanukkah stamps in self-adhesive sheets of 50 stamps and ship them to local post offices this fall.