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  • Issue: September 1962
  • Designer: C. Menusy & Ch. Ornan
  • Plate no.: 66 -68
  • Method of printing: Photogravure on yellowish paper

The prophets of the Bible bequeathed to mankind a vision of the future that became the guiding star of generation after generation. Perhaps the most lyrical picture of the "last days" is to be found in the inspired words of the prophet Isaiah. In his majestic vision of the Golden Age there will be peace between the nations, justice, universal brotherhood, happiness, and plenty.

Isaiah's vision stirred mankind to look forward toward a world where deserts will blossom like the rose, wherein knowledge will fill the earth as water covers the seas, and where serenity will reign, for "men will beat their swords into plowshares and no longer learn the arts of war." These miraculous changes found their expression in the verses "the wolf shall dwell with the lamb and the leopard lie down with the kid, and the suckling child play over the hole of the asp" (Isaiah. 11:6, 8).

Down the centuries the courageous leaders of men who have championed the cause of the dispossessed and the exploited have echoed the cry of the prophet: "Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field till there be no place." Social reformers of modern times who have planned a better world for mankind have found a source of inspiration in the ideal social order envisaged by Isaiah wherein "men shall be judged with righteousness and reproved with equity."

Isaiah's vision of the Golden Age and particularly his belief in the "saving remnant" which would bring about the redemption of the Jewish people and ultimately that of humanity has had a profound effect on Jewish life and thought. The expectation and faith in a better future sustained the Jewish people during their long and tortuous journey through history and was one of the prime sources that gave rise to the modern movement of national redemption.

Although deeply concerned with the salvation of the Jewish people, Isaiah's message is characterized by a stress on universality - the universality of God and the unity of the world and humanity. "Look unto me and be ye saved all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is none else," says Isaiah. This, Isaiah's belief in one God and one world inspired all the great monotheistic religions of our world Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

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Festivals 1962