Every year since 1992 Israel Post has released a variable value stamp for the Christmas season. It’s been more than 30 years of uninterrupted issues that show the evolution of the equipment and postal kiosks used by this postal administration; first there was the Klüssendorf vending machines, then Amiel from 2004, and aCon SPU STAMPS postal kiosks since 2015.
Without doubt this is an interesting collection, easily affordable for any collector, which can be complemented with the official first day covers produced for each issue. One could even take this collection to the next level with the sets of basic postage values programmed in the machines, tracking the evolution of postal rates in this country.
The 2024 “Season’s Greetings from the Holy Land” issue is a design by Ronen Golberg. The illustration depicts a sculpture of the Virgin Mary with her child in her arms, bathed in the rays of the sun.
The illustration on the official first day cover and the postmark are dedicated to the visit of the Magi and their offerings of gold, frankincense and myrrh, in accordance with Christian tradition.
The most striking thing about these 30 years of issues is that almost 80% of Israel’s inhabitants are Jewish and only 2% are Christian. Jewish tradition regards Mary as just another Jewish mother, does not recognize Jesus as a messiah or the son of God, and therefore does not celebrate his birth or the visit of the Magi … but year after year they release Christmas issues …
Israel Post released this latest festive issue on November 24th 2024. Like previous Christmas variable value stamp issues, the design was available with three different codes – 000001 printed by the back office equipment used by the philatelic service, plus codes 00101 and 00987 from the postal kiosks installed at the Jerusalem and Nazareth main post offices, respectively. The six programmed values at postal kiosks were NIS 4.00 (domestic mail) – 4.40 – 9.00 – 9.10 – 13.70 – 17.40.
(English edition rewritten by J. Gareze – May 2025)
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