When this project was launched two years ago, in October 2019, it sought to develop content along two vectors: review Israeli stamps in much the same way film critics review movies, and document my experiences as an aspiring stamp collector learning to navigate the philatelic scene in Israel. Since that time, in line with my personal evolution in the hobby, the blog has evolved to cover a wider range of topics -- but the content that was the most enjoyable and rewarding to produce was always the stamp reviews. Why that is has to do with my opinionated nature and penchant for writing. Stamps o ..read more

'Twas the night before World Postcard Day, and all through the town Not a pen wasn't stirring, oh-so-much to write down Some wrote by lamp light with coffee beside Others 'neath candles with red or white wine "I've written ten!" said one girl with joy "I'm up to twenty," came the voice of a boy And Mamma in her 'kerchief and I in my cap Both knew that tonight there would be no nap A marathon of writing, a celebration of mail Not with keyboards and pixels but on cards and by snail Messages of love and of friendship sincere The farther they travel, the more they're held dear From Krakow, Kin ..read more

To travel or not to travel? There was a time when that was a rhetorical question. If a vacation was on the horizon, it was only a matter of where. Then the coronavirus pandemic hit. There were small and intermittent windows of opportunity to leave the country, and some Israelis had slipped through them -- only to find themselves stranded overseas without a return flight or forced into a quarantine facility immediately upon return. Headlines repeated promises that this country was in talks to open its borders to Israeli tourists or that airline was about to resume regular flights, but they wer ..read more

To travel or not to travel? There was a time when that was a rhetorical question. If a vacation was on the horizon, it was only a matter of where. Then the coronavirus pandemic hit. There were small and intermittent windows of opportunity to leave the country, and some Israelis had slipped through them -- only to find themselves stranded overseas without a return flight or forced into a quarantine facility immediately upon return. Headlines repeated promises that this country was in talks to open its borders to Israeli tourists or that airline was about to resume regular flights, but they wer ..read more

NetBul 2021: Virtual National Stamp Exhibition was launched on March 1st as Israel's first philatelic exhibition to be held entirely online. Organized by the Israel Philatelic Federation (התאחדות בולאי ישראל) and lasting for the duration of the month, it featured seventeen exhibits put together by twelve exhibitors in five classes: Postal History (3), Thematic Philately (6), Maximum Cards (1), Picture Postcards (4), and Modern Philately (3). Exhibit sizes ranged from one frame to six. Fourteen exhibits were in English; three were in Hebrew. The first official notice that preparations were un ..read more

On Monday, March 1st, Israel Post announced the launch of a direct postal route, for the first time in history, between Israel and the Kingdom of Bahrain. The announcement followed January 20th's equally historic launch of a direct postal route between Israel and the United Arab Emirates. Both came on the heels of the Abraham Accords, signed by Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in August 2020. When the Israel-UAE postal route was launched, Israel was under lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. SARS-CoV-2 infection rates were setting new records daily, schools and stores were clos ..read more

The "Ludwig van Beethoven, 250 Years" stamp was issued by Israel Post on 15 December 2020 to mark the semiquincentennial of Ludwig van Beethoven's birth. Face valued at ₪11.80, corresponding to the postage rate for domestic priority 100-300g mail, the stamp depicts an image of Beethoven based on a portrait of him by Joseph Karl Stieler and the iconic opening notes of Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67. The tab below the stamp proper illustrates the opening notes of Symphony No. 5's second subject and features a "Philately Day" inscription indicating that proceeds from the stamp's s ..read more

2020 was, in one word, a frustrating year. Plans unraveled, goals weren't reached, and it was often the case that preparations made one day were rendered irrelevant the next. It was a year whose engine never really got started but in some ways still hasn't cooled off. Along with the setbacks, however, there were moments of triumph; and along with the disappointments, rewards. Last year this second paragraph was devoted to an overview of my collection, but that too feel apart as I abandoned Colnect for personal reasons and haven't found a viable alternative. Moreover, despite my best efforts ..read more

Today was the last day of my school's winter break. I woke up feeling little in the way of pressure to do anything or go anywhere. Instead, I fired up the laptop and cycled robotically through the usual sequence of news and social media sites. Nothing particularly dramatic had happened while I was alseep. On a whim, I visited the Israel Post website to check if there was any information about next month's new stamp issues. There was not. There was, however, a new update in the "Announcements" section: "Country added for overseas delivery -- United Arab Emirates." This was dramatic news. And ..read more

Hobby, identity and community are distinct but closely related concepts. The distinction is one of experience: a hobby is a thing we do, an identity is a thing we have, and a community is a thing of which we are a part. The relationship, meanwhile, is one of progression: engaging in a hobby can form part of a person's identity, and people with common identities tend to cling to one another and form communities. Not everyone who collects stamps will identify as a stamp collector, and not everyone who identifies as a stamp collector will join a philatelic community; however, the distance from p ..read more