Ze’ev (Valdimir) Jabotinsky Stamp

Born in Odessa (Russia) in October 1880 and died near New York in August 1940, Ze’ev Jabotinsky was one of the most outstanding leaders of the Zionist movement, following the death of the prophet of the Jewish state, Dr. Theodor Herzl. Jabotinsky was a statesman, one of the most brillian orators of the time, an astute reporter and a writer, poet and translator. He was among the leaders of the Jewish defence movement in Tzarist Russia, and founded the Jewish Legion in the First World War. He served as Commander of the Hagana in Jerusalem during the Arab riots and became a “Prisoner of Zion”. He was also a member of the Zionist Executive and among the heads of the Keren Hayesod. In 1925 he founded the Zionist-Revolutionist movement. Political differences and refusal of the Zionist Congress to allow his demand to define the ultimate objective of Zionism as being the establishement of a Jewish State in the Land of Israel, forced him and his comrades to resign from the Movement and, in 1935, to found the New Zionist Organization. He served as its President from 1937-1940 as Commander of the Etzel in Palestine. Throughout his political activity,he was highly involved in a variety of projects concerning Hebrew education.

The stamp, and its tab, issued December 1990 highlights, amongst other things, the connection between Jabotinsky and the Hebrew language and its rebirth, mainly among Diaspora Jews. Jabotinsky saw in the Hebrew language “a national tongue which came into being together with the Jewish people and which has accompanied it, in one form or another, throughout its long history” (“Betar Ideology” 1933). In the poem “The Vow”, he calls Hebrew “a language living in age, in grief and in anger: a language of work and of thought, my son’s language; an eternal link between the song of Tel Hai and the marvellous thunder of Sinai”.

The stamp with an information sheet are enclosed in a plastic protection sheet