Rahel Yanait BenZvi and Dona Gracia (Nasi) Stamp

Rahel Yanait Ben-Zvi was born in Malin, Ukraine in 1886. In 1905 she was a delegate to the 7th Zionist Congress and a year later participated in the founding committee of the Po’alei Zion Labour party. She immigrated to Eretz Israel in 1908 and dedicated her life to building the country. She became an Israeli author and educator, and a leading Labor Zionist. Ben-Zvi was the wife of the second President of Israel, Yitzhak Ben-Zvi and also became involved in the absorption of immigrants from Arab countries. Among the books she wrote were an autobiography, “Anu Olim” (we are immigrants) that describes characters from the Second Aliyah, and “Sela Adom” (Red Rock) about a journey to Petra. Also with her husband, she wrote “Eli”, about their son who died in the Israeli War of Independence. Dona Gracia Nasi was a famous philanthropist, one of the first generation of Portuguese Marranos (Jewish people who were forced to practice Christianity), born in Portugal around 1510. She married Francisco Mendes, an international banker and 8 years after his death she went to live in Antwerp. She became active in trying to help the Marranos escape and to stop the activity of the inquisition in Portugal.

Later she settled in Venice only to be imprisoned when the authorities were informed she was Jewish. Turkish diplomats intervened and she became known by her Jewish name, Nasi. In 1553 she lived in Contantinople managing a profitable import business, and helped to establish synagogues and centres for Torah study and other charitable activities. Dona Gracia Nasi is well known for her efforts to rebuild the town, Tiberias, in Eretz Israel. She knew how to use her status to help the Jewish settlement in Israel and the news of resettling the land gave hope and expectations to many Jews in the Diaspora. The stamp shows a portrait of Dona Gracia taken from a medal that was minted in Ferrara around 1551. On the tab there is a drawing of Tiberias based on a lithography by the Dutch artist Cornelis de Bruyn 1681, by courtesy of the National Maritime Museum in Haifa. The stamp with an information sheet are enclosed in a plastic protection sheet.