About This Stamp
Spanning eight days and nights, Hanukkah is a joyous yearly festival celebrated by Jews around the world. The holiday commemorates the successful revolt of the Jews led by Judah Maccabee against the oppressive government of Antiochus IV and the Seleucid Empire in 165 B.C.E.
Hanukkah is the Hebrew word for "dedication." Tradition relates how a miracle took place during the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem, which had been desecrated. The remaining supply of sacramental oil, thought to be enough for only one day, burned for eight days.
The eight days and nights of Hanukkah begin on the 25th of Kislev in the Hebrew calendar, a date that falls in late November or December. Hanukkah begins on December 11 in 2009 and on December 1 in 2010.
During Hanukkah, family members gather each night during the festival to light candles on a special candleholder called a menorah. Other Hanukkah traditions include singing, the exchange of gifts, and the spinning of the dreidel, a four-sided top. Children typically use chocolate gelt (coins) to make bets on the outcome of each spin of the dreidel.
The 2009 Hanukkah stamp is the third U.S. issuance to commemorate the holiday. The Postal Service issued its first Hanukkah stamp, which featured a stylized illustration of a menorah, in 1996. A design featuring an ornate dreidel followed in 2004.
Stamp Art Director, Stamp Designer
Carl T. Herrman
As an art director for the U.S. Postal Service® for more than 15 years, Carl T. Herrman designed more than 50 stamps and guided more than 250 stamp projects, including Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, Humphrey Bogart, and Comic Strip Classics. He also served as art director for five of the Celebrate the Century stamp panes. He has won more than 260 awards for design and design management, including two gold medals from the Society of Illustrators.
Herrman’s career has included positions as Director of Creative Services and adjunct professor at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville, and Director of Marketing and Publications for the University of California at Irvine. He has provided consulting services for the Smithsonian Institution, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and numerous academic institutions. Herrman lives in Carlsbad,California.
Photographer
Ira Wexler
Ira Wexler, an award-winning advertising photographer, has been creating compelling images for more than forty years. A native of the Jersey Shore, Wexler has lived in the Washington, D.C. area since the early 1970s, working with clients such as Citibank, Coca-Cola, Exxon, Hilton Hotels, GlaxoSmithKline, Hewlett-Packard, Miller Beer, and McDonald’s. Prior to establishing his studio, Wexler was personal photographer to guitarist and singer-songwriter Stephen Stills of Crosby, Stills and Nash.
Founding president of the D.C. chapter of the American Society of Media Photographers and a national board member, Wexler is the author of The Business of Commercial Photography (Amphoto Books, New York) and is a frequent college lecturer.
Wexler's photographs appear on the Teddy Bear (1998), Purple Heart (2003), Hanukkah (2009), Purple Heart with Ribbon (2011), and Purple Heart Medal (2012, 2014, 2019) stamps.
Wexler lives on a mountaintop in Maryland near Camp David with his wife, Paula, and their three pugs.