Here’s a more upbeat ACT NOW item that’s easy to do:

A timely message from IsraelLives reader, Robert Shulman.   

CHANUKAH STAMPS

Just a quick note to let you know that for the first time in 6 years, the post office has issued a new Hanukkah stamp, this one featuring a wooden dreidel carved with what appears to be a Jerusalem landscape and set on a background of a stylized 'HANUKKAH.'

I encourage everyone to make a point of purchasing these stamps to support the post office's decision to acknowledge and honor our holiday (Chinese New Year gets a new stamp each year; even Kawanza and a Muslim holiday merit stamps).  Please ask for these stamps at your local post office (apparently they are not always on display) or order them when when you next need stamps by mail or online.  Use them for your everyday mailing in addition to your holiday cards.  Unless there's sufficient interest in the form of sales, the post office won't issue special Hanukkah stamps again. 

For those who prefer the original stamp designed 6 years ago – hurry and scoop them up while the supply lasts.

From the US Post Office website

http://www.usps.com/communications/news/stamps/2004/sr04_069.htm

NEW YORK - A new 37-cent Hanukkah stamp was issued today by the U.S. Postal Service at the Postage Stamp Mega Show in New York City. Art director Ethel Kessler combined two elements in the design of the stamp: the type in the background spelling out Hanukkah, designed by Greg Berger, and a photograph of a dreidel (a four-sided top), made by Elise Moore. The dreidel is from the collection of Rabbi Lennard and Dr. Linda Thal, who purchased it in Jerusalem.

The 2004 Hanukkah stamp is available at the show and New York City Post Offices today and will be available at Post Offices nationwide beginning tomorrow.

"This stamp represents the season, offering a unique moment on the doorstep for our friends, families and customers, who eagerly look forward to the delivery of their holiday cards and letters," said S. David Fineman, Chairman of the presidentially appointed Postal Service Board of Governors, who dedicated the Hanukkah stamp.

Joining Fineman at the ceremony were Elizabeth Pope, President, American Stamp Dealers Association, Inc. (ASDA); Rabbi Morton Howard Pomerantz, Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, who served as Master of Ceremonies; and Daniel Hadar, Intellectual Property Attorney, U.S. Postal Service.

Hanukkah is a joyous yearly festival spanning eight days and nights that is celebrated by Jews around the world. The holiday commemorates the successful Jewish revolt led by Judah Maccabee against the oppressive government of Antiochus IV in 165 B.C.

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.

The eight days and nights of Hanukkah begin on the 25th of Kislev in the Hebrew calendar (in November or December). Today, 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. Dreidels commonly bear a Hebrew letter on each side, the first letters of a phrase meaning, "a great miracle happened there." Children typically use chocolate gelt (coins) to make a bet on the outcome of each spin of the dreidel.