December 2015During the past decade, a wave of nostalgia has swept through Israel and the world. This nostalgia stems from a sense that the progressive world in which we live, with its rapid technological advances and terms such as “global village” and “virtual world” creates feelings of alienation, as opposed to the intimacy remembered from earlier times.

Thus, we look back to a place where we felt content, comfortable and safe – to childhood, to the past, to the pleasant realm of nostalgia. The Tembel Hat, Soda Siphon and Sussita car featured in this stamp series are examples of things that remind us of days gone by and fill us with pleasant memories of the past.

Tembel Hat
In the early days of the State of Israel nearly everyone wore Tembel hats, making it a common symbol of “the Israeli”. This is how renowned caricaturist Dush represented the mythological Sabra Srulik, along with his short khaki pants, open collared shirt and sandals. The Tembel hat was popular because it was inexpensive (it was produced from scraps of textile fabrics), it could be used to wipe sweat from the wearer’s face, folded into a triangle that fit comfortably into a pant pocket, and was easy to wash.

Soda Siphon
The Soda Siphon was a metal container used to produce “homemade” soda. Water was turned into soda when gas from a small container attached to the siphon released bubbles into the device.

The Soda Siphon was so popular in its day that it became a common wedding gift. In a wellknown skit called “Wedding Photographer”, Israeli comedian Gadi Yagil said, “… do you know that you got 100 Soda Siphons? What do you do in your spare time? Make soda?…”.

Sussita
The Sussita car was assembled in Israel from 1960 to 1975 at the Autocars factory in Tirat Hacarmel. The body was made of fiberglass. According to a common tale, the Sussita was favored by camels in Southern Israel, because they could bite off chunks and gleefully eat them. A number of Sussita models were manufactured: a 2-door model that looked like a box and was nicknamed accordingly; a station wagon; and a Sussita pick-up truck that had a passenger-cab in the front and a load cab in the back.

—David Sela
Chairman, Council for Promoting Israeli Heritage
Editor of the Israeli Online Nostalgia website

The themes for the stamp series were selected based on a survey of the 202,281 members of the Online Nostalgia website. Of those surveyed, 13,103 gave the most votes to the selected items. Our thanks to David Sela and the Online Nostalgia website for their assistance.