NOTES & NEWS
NOTES & NEWS Can a Chanukah Stamp Bring in Enough Gelt For the Postal Service? It is not about remaking Chanukah into a 'Jewish Christmas," rather it is about celebrating religious freedom, says...
...It is not about remaking Chanukah into a 'Jewish Christmas," rather it is about celebrating religious freedom, says graphic artist Avrum Ashery of Potomac, Maryland, of his proposal to the United States Postal Service for the issuance of a Chanukah stamp...
...The postal service prints between 80 million and 160 million of each commemorative, available for two to three months in post offices and for up to a year by mail...
...Steny Hoyer (D-Md...
...population, and 15 others awaiting bone marrow donors were matched due to Atlas's efforts...
...Chanukah is the 11th most popular card-sending occasion, according to Hallmark Cards, Inc...
...The three-year JFAS campaign has gathered thousands of signatures on petitions, but has been unable to influence the CSAC...
...She targeted South Africa and Israel because these populations are less likely to intermarry...
...Atlas needed a bone marrow donor and her best chance for a match entailed finding someone from the same genetic pool as her ancestors...
...Atlas underwent the transplant procedure in August at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Institute in Seattle...
...This year the postal service will print 1.85 billion Christmas stamps in two different designs—one traditional and one contemporary...
...Realizing that the majority of Jews in these small towns were wiped out in the Shoah, Sack studied immigration patterns to pinpoint cities where these Jews settled after leaving Lithuania and Byelorussia...
...and Henry Waxman (D-Calif...
...The courts held some years ago that Christmas stamps, including those bearing the likeness of a madonna and child, are not in violation of the U.S...
...Morella wrote: "I believe that a [Chanukah] stamp...would help to educate the public that Chanukah is not Jewish Christmas' but a Jewish observation which dates back many centuries before the birth of Christ...
...this year...
...Stamps...shall not be issued to honor religious institutions or individuals whose principal achievements are associated with religious undertakings or beliefs...
...have written letters of support...
...11 million Chanukah cards will be sent in the U.S...
...Members of Congress Constance Morella (R-Md...
...According to Marilyn Millstone, former JFAS program director, the hidden reason for the postal service's reluctance to issue a Chanukah stamp commemorating religious freedom is economics...
...To help in this search, Sack, along with genealogist Suzan Wynne, provided a genealogical survey of the Atlas family...
...After exhausting the possibility of a perfect match.with immediate relatives, the Atlas family tested more than 50,000 people—the majority of them Jewish...
...Yet each year since 1962, the postal service has issued Christmas commemoratives that prove to be best sellers...
...She discovered that both of Allison's parents, who grew up in the Washington, D.C., area, unknowingly had ancestors from the same small area of Lithuania and Byelorussia...
...The best chance for finding a match would have come from an unknown distant relative or a descendant whose parents both came from the same towns as the Atlas ancestors...
...Constitution," Anthony W. Conway of the Office of Government Liaison wrote last year...
...She is currently recovering...
...According to Sack, although a perfect match did not materialize, those tested through the genealogical survey were more closeiy compatible than the general U.S...
...In spite of all the testing, Atlas's mother Arline remained the closest match, providing four of the six antigens needed...
...Ashery believes that widespread national support is the only way to influence the postal service and the CSAC...
...A postal service representative told her that a Chanukah stamp wouldn't pay for itself...
...The criteria for selecting stamps include events and themes of widespread national appeal and significance, according to the rules of CSAC, a 13-member committee of private citizens appointed by the postmaster general...
...It turned out that the antecedents of both of Allison's parents came from tiny towns that are actually within walking distance of one another," said Sack...
...Theoretically we were looking for a long lost genetic cousin," says brother Larry Atlas...
...Address letters to Jack Rosenthal, Chairperson, CSAC, 475 L'Enfant Plaza, S.W., Room 5800, Washington, DC 20260, or write to the JFAS, 11710 Hunters Lane, Rockville, MD 20852...
...Ninety-six percent of the Jews in Soutti Africa are of Lithuanian descent...
...In 1987, Ashery, with the support of the Washington, D.C., area Jewish Folk Arts Society (JFAS), submitted a design to the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee (CSAC) depicting an ancient oil lamp with the symbol of a flame and the words "Hanukah—Freedom of Religion...
...Genealogists Can Help Save Lives Genealogist Sallyann Amdur Sack volunteered her time and expertise to help save the life of Allison Atlas, a 21-year-old student at New York University, who suffers from leukemia (see "Allison Atlas Needs Your Help," August 1990...
Vol. 15 • December 1990 • No. 6
