The Holy name of God on a stamp
A couple of years ago, a stamp which was about to be released in South Africa got destroyed in great haste.
Reason : the stamp mentioned God’s name in Hebrew characters. In order not to offend orthodox Jews (the name of God may only be used for religious purposes), the emission was abandoned.
Remarkably, it is now an Israeli stamp which causes a similar problem. In the ‘The twelve months of the Hebrew calender’ series, it is the Elul stamp (which was released in February) depicts a holy book which, after detailed research, appears to contain a number of prayers of thanks for after dinner. In the printed text, the Hebrew name for God occurs several times.
Arye Shulman, a prominent rabbi at Teiz Stone (Israel), said – after having studied the stamp – that Jews cannot use the stamp. They cannot buy nor sell it and, when they would receive post stamped with it, it cannot be thrown away nor burnt, it can only be buried.
The Israeli post services doesn’t want to give any comments ; it’s investigating the matter.
More info:
Maandblad Filatelie
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