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Israel’ independence was declared on the 5th of Iyar TASHACH (May 14, 1948). It is celebrated around the country in a festive manner, following the memorial day for all those who have fallen in defense of the country.
The theme for the two commemoratives issued for Israel's second Independence Day reflects immigration to the country, pre- and post-independence.
Prior to the establishment of the State, immigration was not free and the Mandatory authorities created barriers to it. Undaunted, the Jews instituted "illegal" immigration whereby people made their way to the country - if not caught - on small, unseaworthy crafts following "secret routes" and landing in unexpected places to avoid the British blockade. On the stamp appears an overcrowded "tub" and an immigrant smashing a barbed-wire barricade. The tab is inscribed, in Hebrew, with the biblical phrase "with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great awesomeness" (Deut. 26:8).
The post-independence situation of free immigration by land, sea, and air is represented on the other stamp. A Hebrew phrase written by the poet Saul Tchernichowsky is inscribed on the tab, "and from the East also our sun shall rise."
