(Jewish Group) Meet the artist behind the new Hanukkah postage stamp

[Behind the Aegis]

Despite the fact that one-third of Americans haven’t mailed a handwritten, personal letter in more than five years, the tradition of the holiday card is not only hanging on but flourishing. Millennials love anything bespoke, and e-cards just don’t have the same charm as receiving a letter by snail mail.

This year, there’s a new stamp to adorn your holiday greetings: The U.S. Postal Service is releasing a new Hanukkah stamp, the first since 2020, created from a brightly colored silk wall-hanging by artist Jeanette Kuvin Oren. It even has a launch party, on Oct. 20 at Temple Emanu El outside of Cleveland.

Oren has designed pieces — including Torah covers, arks, and mosaic installations — for hundreds of synagogues and Jewish institutions, but had always dreamed of creating a postage stamp. She Zoomed in from her studio, wearing striking purple and pink glasses, to talk about how it all happened; that conversation, lightly edited and condensed, is below.

I always did art for fun, but I had every intention of going into public health and working in a health department or university. When I was getting married, the Hillel rabbi here at Yale, where I met my husband, encouraged me to make my own ketubah. That led to making other people’s ketubot. That was 37 years ago, and I’ve been doing Jewish art ever since.

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[Mosby]

1. This is a cool collectable set, including the first day cover.

https://store.usps.com/store/product/stamp-collectors/hanukkah-stamp-ceremony-memento-S_580734