The moon sent its silvery rays into the room through the slits in the window blinds. The silvery light combatted the blackness of the frightening shadows that covered the walls. Suddenly the light vanished and a grey shadow encompassed the room.

Stars are twinkling in the sky. Light and darkness struggle on earth. I am sitting and looking at the pinkas in which I have just pasted a stamp. How beautiful the stamp is. The map of the land of Israel is drawn on it. Deep longings are aroused in me to the land of our fathers…

The map in front of my eyes is getting bigger and bigger until I see not just a map but an unfolding land. Suddenly a rose blossoms on a high stem and out of its perfumed petals an angel appears. I bend on my knees and ask the angel “what is this strange sight?” The angel answered:

“A marble box rests under the feet of God and in it a treasure: Light! When the people of Israel will sit on their land, each under his vine and fig tree, their culture springubg out of the earth with the smell of freedom – then an abundance of light will shine from the box and will light the land of Israel from one edge to the other. This light will penetrate the hearts of the people of Israel and will kindle a fire of love for the land and for freedom. It will help them in all their endeavors and battles.

Satan was jealous of this light and wished to destroy the land of freedom. He sent his emissaries to entice the people to do wrong.

God’s anger and wrath trampled the land of Judah and hid the light in this marble case. The Jews were exiled from their land to be slaves in foreign lands, and there was darkness in the whole land of Israel.

Bad times descended on the People of Israel. Their backs were bent under exile, and they wandered in the dark two thousand years until the great visionary, Theodor Binyamin Herzl, rose and urged the people of Israel to reach for the light – to redeem their land from the hands of foreigners and thus be redeemed from their slavery.

Now, whenever the sound of a coin falling into the blue box, and whenever a stamp of KK”L is bought, a beautiful rose will blossom and out of its petals an angel will fly to the sky, will tear a piece of shadow that covers the light in the marble case… When many stamps will be bought, the land of Israel will be redeemed and then the shadow will vanish from covering the marble case and the Godly light will shine bright. The People of Israel will return to be like all other peoples – owning a land and language of their own.”

Again I am sitting next to the small map drawn on the stamp.

“Dear stamp, do you know how many hopes the children of Israel expect of you? How many stories you tell the Jewish child who pastes you to his pinkas?

גנ"ן  [GN"N], 5th grade