BRADDOCK HEIGHTS, MD — The Braddock Heights Post Office will be hosting an event commemorating the issuance of the Hanukkah Stamp by offering a special cachet and pictorial cancellation on Wednesday, December 9 at 4707 Schley Ave, Braddock, MD.

Local resident and nationally acclaimed photographer Ira Wexler will be available from 2:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. to sign a limited number of copies of the special cachet. Join Ira at 4:00 p.m. to hear about the development and process of the stamp. He also created the images for the original ‘Teddy Bear’ stamp, as well as the popular ‘Purple Heart’ stamp.

The Hanukkah stamp was dedicated on October 9, 2009, in New York, NY at the Mega Stamp show. The new 2009 Hanukkah design, by Carl T. Herrman, features a photograph of a menorah with nine lit candles. The menorah was designed by Lisa Regan of the Garden Deva Sculpture Company in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and photographed by Ira Wexler of Braddock Heights, Maryland. Thirty-five million of the 44 cent First-Class stamps were printed.

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, as a joint issue with Israel, in 1996. A design featuring an ornate dreidel followed in 2004.

Hanukkah, also known as the Festival of Lights, is a joyous eight-night Jewish holiday commemorating the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem in the 2nd century BCE. The festival is observed by the kindling of the lights of a special candelabrum, the nine-branched Menorah, one light on each night of the holiday, progressing to eight on the final night. This year Hanukkah begins at Sundown on December 11th.

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