The Jewish National Fund was established at the 5th Zionist Congress in 1901. The JNF operated in various ways to collect donations to finance its operations. One of them was the printing of series of stamps, the revenue of which was a contribution to the JNF. The "Stamp of Zion" was the first stamp printed in 1902 and was distributed in 17 different countries. The JNF stamps were received enthusiastically by supporters of Zionism in Europe. Official letters of the Zionist institutions bore the stamps and Jews all over the world pasted them along with the official stamps of their countries, sometimes at the risk of receiving fines and prison sentences. After the establishment of the State of Israel, the JNF stamps were used as the official stamps of Israel until new ones were printed. As of today, the JNF has printed about 5,200 different stamps and about 1,500 series of stamps on subjects such as Zionism, Israel’s landscape, history, aspects of the Jewish legacy, environment and nature.
The CZA holds many series of JNF stamps, and for Independence Day we have chosen to display stamps that were printed for the Holiday.