Episode Details

Nathalie Fortier is the postmistress of Disraeli, Quebec. She runs the only post office in town, which was named after Benjamin Disraeli, the British prime minister who was born Jewish, faced antisemitism and supported a homeland for Jews. As far as Fortier knows, there aren't any Jews living in Disraeli—and she had never heard of the namesake—until Canada Post approached her a couple of months ago, asking for Disraeli to become the first and only post office in the country with a special permanent Jewish postmark.

Released just in time for Hanukkah, the postmark shows four dreidels and a fully lit hanukkiah. And while it was only supposed to be available until the end of the holiday, like the miracle of oil that lasted longer than expected, the Disraeli postmaster loves the image so much, she's decided to continue and broaden the initiative.

Irv Osterer, an Ottawa-based graphic artist and stamp collector, designed the postmark, and joins today to share how he did it and what his hopes are for the future of this work.

What we talked about:

• Read about the postmark at canadianstampnews.com
• Learn how to receive a piece of mail with the postmark at canadapost-postescanada.ca (the address is Maitre de Poste, 210 rue St.- Joseph Est, Disraeli, Quebec, G0N 1E0)

Credits

The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Victoria Redden is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We're a member of The CJN Podcast Network; find more great Jewish podcasts at thecjn.ca.