431

  • Issue: October 1968
  • Designer: O. Adler
  • Plate no.: 239
  • Sheet of 15 stamps Tabs: 5
  • Method of printing: Photogravure

The name of the the Exhibition is driven from Hebrew initials which means Stamp Exhibition in Jerusalem. The word is a combination of two words: Ta stands for the first vowel of taarucha (exhbition) and Bira (the Capital City of Israel Jerusalem.

The Lions' Gate In Jerusalem

The Lions' Gate is in the eastern wall of the Old City facing the Mount of Olives. The term "Lions' Gate" has been used only by Jews, after the two pairs of lions carved out of stone on each side of the entrance. Israeli paratroopers made the first breakthrough into the Old City in the Six-Day War via the Lions' Gate.

An earlier gate had been built by the Turks in 1538, in the days of Suleiman the Magnificent, 21 years after Jerusalem was conquered by his father, Salim I. A legend is connected with the name of Suleiman, who was said to have dreamed that two lions would tear him to pieces if he did not build a wall around the Old City to protect its inhabitants.

When work was completed, he ordered the builders to sculpt two lions out of stone at the spot where the work had begun, in memory of the two lions which appeared in his dream and by so doing, motivated him to build the wall.

Above and inside the Lions' Gate is an inscription which tells of the construction of the gate: "The one who commanded that this blessed wall be built is Sultan Suleiman, son of Salim Khan, may Allah eternalize his reign." The inscription is dated 945, according to the Moslem calendar, which, by Western reckoning, is 1538-9. Under the Arabic inscription, carved on the lintel, is a Star of David.

Christians call the Lions' Gate "St. Stephen's Gate," due to the belief that St. Stephen, the first Christian martyr, was led through this gate to the near slopes of the hill where he was stoned.

The Arabs refer to the Lions' Gate as "Bab Sitt-Mariam" the Gate of the Lady Mary. This stems from the belief that Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, was born in a house adjacent to the gate. The street leading from the gate into the city is also named after Mary.

In the Middle Ages, the gate was called "Jehoshaphat's Gate," because the road through it leads to the nearby Valley of Jehoshaphat. Rabbi Benyamin of Tudela, about 1173, mentions this gate and it is also marked on Crusader maps of Jerusalem from the 12th century.

The Arabs also called this gate "Bab el Asbat," Gate of the Tribes, referring to the Tribes of Israel who would go up to the nearby Temple Mount. This name is today used for another gate close to this one, through which one enters the Temple Area.

Israeli paratroopers entered through this gate and from here reached the nearby Western (Wailing) Wall, holiest shrine of the Jews, on the historic day of June 7, 1967.

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TABIRA-National Stamp Exhibition