Hanukkah 2024 Stamps

Description

2024 Hanukkah

Issued in honor of the Festival of Lights
Part of the Holiday Celebrations series

Stamp Category: Commemorative
Set: Holiday Celebrations Series
Value: 73¢ First Class Mail Rate (forever)
First Day of Issue: September 19, 2024
First Day City: Washington, DC
Printing Method: Offset, Microprint
Format: Pane of 20,

History the stamp represents: Hanukkah or the Jewish Festival of Lights, as it is sometimes called, begins on the 25th of the Hebrew month Kislev and lasts for eight days. On the first evening, just after dark, one candle is lit on the menorah, a special eight-branched candelabrum. Each night, another candle is lit until on the last night there are eight candles burning.

The origins of Hanukkah can be traced back more than 2100 years ago when Judah Maccabee and his followers liberated Jerusalem from Antiochus IV Epiphanes. Devoted to the political and cultural ideas of ancient Greece, Antiochus had enacted a number of anti-Jewish decrees and defiled the Holy Temple in an effort to destroy the Jews’ religion. Eventually they rebelled, and amazingly, after a three-year struggle, were able to defeat the Greek Army.

After their victory, the Jews set about cleansing and repairing the Holy Temple. When it came time to kindle the Holy Light, only one small jar of oil could be found – enough to burn the light for one day.

Miraculously, the light burned for eight days and nights, long enough to prepare a fresh supply of consecrated oil. The next year the leaders of Israel declared that every year on the 25th of Kislev all Jews should celebrate the miracle of Chanukah (dedication). Today, the menorah’s flame has come to symbolize tolerance, diversity, strength, and perseverance.