Commemorating the High Holidays Atonement...and the Profane September 2001 1 | 2 | 3 | HOME On Yom Kippur, the Biblical readings include the story of Jonah with its theme of God forgiving repentant sinners. This was the subject of the 1963 New Year set (#242-4). Leviticus 16, which tells of the ceremony in the Temple on the Day of Atonement, is also read. Part of the ceremony involves the incense altar, which was pictured on a stamp (#916) from the 1985 New Year set. Also read that day is Isaiah 57; a quote from that chapter appears on the tab of a 1976 stamp (#617). Part of the liturgy on Yom Kippur is an account of the suffering and death of the Ten Martyrs. In many synagogues, this portion of the liturgy now makes specific reference to the Holocaust. The opening words of the significant prayer "Shma Yisrael. . . (Hear O Israel. . .)" was depicted in flames on one 1962 Israel stamp while another used six candles to honor the 6,000,000 Holocaust martyrs (220-1). The profanity of the Holocaust can be illustrated by a number of stamps noting events which occurred, or were issued, in September. For instance, on September 13, 1940, the Jews of Luxembourg were ordered to leave by the next day, which was Yom Kippur. Luxembourg issued a stamp depicting its Civilian and Military Deportation Monument (#682) in September 1982. The Babi Yar Massacre, in which 34,000 Jews were executed, occurred on September 28 and 29, 1941; it was memorialized on a 1983 Israel stamp (#843). On September 1, 1941, all Jews in the German Reich were ordered to wear a yellow star (effective September 15); a stamp issued by the Netherlands in 1985 depicts this (#665). East Germany issued Holocaust related stamps depicting concentration camp memorials in the month of September a dozen times between 1956 and 1989 (see #B28, B43, B54, B70, 1491, 1687, 1943, 2212, 2294, 2573, 2702, 2772). Other nations issuing Holocaust related stamps in September include Czechoslovakia's touching set of paintings by children at the Terezin camp (#1556-8) issued in 1968 and a Terezin memorial stamp (#2670) issued in 1987. Poland issued a stamp depicting the memorial at Majdanek in September 1969 (#1684) and the Lodz memorial in September 1984 (#2638). Belgium issued a stamp for the liberation of concentration camps September 1962 (#584). My dictionary gives two definitions of profane — one is anti-sacred, and the Holocaust certainly meets that definition. But an alternate definition is merely "non-sacred." In that context, I call to call to your attention the comedian booklet issued by the United States in September 1991. A Jewish-born artist, Al Hirschfield, drew the stamps, and the subjects include Jack Benny and Fanny Brice. Hirschfield's trademark has become the hiding of the name of his daughter, Nina, in each of his caricatures. So, the whole booklet is clearly Judaica philately. L'shana Tova! Happy New Year! 1 | 2 | 3 | HOME © 2001, J-Stamps/Murray Frost. All Rights Reserved. froststamps@yahoo.com