There is a lot going on on this stamp. I thought I would be writing about a newspaper man but instead we get to go back in time to the Roman Empire. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your adult beverage, and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
This stamp celebrates the Jewish New Year. So three ancient Rabbis who worked on the post Jewish rejection of Christ Talmuds. The Talmuds explained Jewish law and Theology. Interestingly the stamps emphasize the Rabbis in addition to their Theological work also had trades. In the case of Rabbi Johanan, he was a sandal maker. This sounds strange until you remember the left government of early modern Israel and the importance they were putting on new Jewish arrivals engaging in physical work to help build the new country.
Todays stamp is issue A303, a 13 Pound stamp issued by Israel on Sptember 4th, 1979. It was a three stamp issue in various denominations. According to the Scott Catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents.
In the period after Christ’s death on the Cross, the majority of Jewish people in the Roman ruled area were in frequent rebellion. The Jewish Temple and indeed much of Jerusalem was leveled. For a few years around 130 AD part of Roman Judea was independent under Simon bar Kokhba before being crushed by the Romans. In revenge, Rome reorganized the area as Syria Palaestina, that took away recognition of the area as Jewish and administration was moved to Antioch.
One can see how this would leave the Jewish people out in the cold and several Jewish Rabbis worked in the area to preserve the faith. One was Rabbi Johannon who was born the son of a blacksmith but very soon lost both parents. His grandparents saw him taught by prominent Rabbi Judah ha-Nasi. When Nasi died Johanan was only 15 but Johanan spent his inheritance to continue his studies. Afterward he opened a school in Tiberius that was controversially open to anyone including non Jews regardless of whether they could pay. This left Johanan in poverty explaining his sandal making. He was thought of as one of the more liberal Rabbis and his Jerusalem Talmud contributions are in the Gemara.
There was one aspect to Rabbi Johanan that was not taken advantage of by the stamp. He was said to have been extraordinarily good looking. He once extolled while sitting outside the public baths. “Let the daughters of Israel look at me when they come from the public baths,(Mikveh), and their children will be handsome like I am and know the Torah as I do”. I guess having a Rabbi pose nude like a male model on a 1800 year later postage stamp wouldn’t do.
Well my drink is empty. It is said the Rabbi lived to be over 100 years old. Hope he didn’t linger too long outside the baths in his later years. Come again soon when there will be another story that can be learned from stamp collecting. First published in 2021.