A Good and Fruitful Year, 1960s

This is a Shana Tova postcard from the 1960s with an image of Theodor Herzl in his famous posture, originally captured on the balcony in Basel after the First Zionist Congress. In this picture, however, he is overlooking Haifa harbour as a ship, the Theodor Herzl, comes into port. The Theodor Herzl is pictured here as a large luxury liner decorated with festive flags. To the left of the ship part of a crane can be seen. Two smaller ships are also in the harbour. The ship pictured here is the second ship to be named for Theodor Herzl. The first was was used to bring Holocaust survivors to pre-State Israel as part of the Aliyah Bet.

Discussion Questions

Observation

• What is written on the postcard?
• What is the date on the postcard?
• Where was the card printed?
• Describe the scene depicted on the postcard.
• Describe the man pictured on the postcard.
• What is the name of the ship?

Reading Between the Lines

• What is the purpose of the postcard?
• What city is shown in the picture?
• Who is the man?
  Why is he depicted in this picture?
  Why is he in this specific pose? What is it supposed to be reminiscent of?
• There were two ships with the name Theodor Herzl.
  The first was used to bring European refugees to Israel during the period of the British Mandate.
  Find out more about this ship. What happened to it? What happened to the people on the ship?
• The ship pictured in the postcard is the second Theodor Herzl. It was built in 1957 and was a luxury liner owned by the Israeli shipping company Zim and paid for with German reparations funds. Why do you think this second ship was named the Theodor Herzl?
  What were the German reparation funds?
• Is this a realistic drawing?
  Could the events depicted have taken place? Why or why not?
• What do you think Herzl might have thought had he seen the Theodor Herzl in Haifa harbor?
• Why do you think this illustration was chosen for a Shana Tova card?
  What message is the picture sending to the recipient of the card?

Connections

• Both of the Theodor Herzl ships were named after the Zionist visionary and leader, Theodor Herzl.
  Were you named after anyone? If so, who and why did your parents want to name you after that person?
• What do you think Herzl would think if he saw Israel today?
  What would he be happy about?
  What do you think he would want to change?

Creative Ideas

• Imagine you are Theodor Herzl in the illustration.
  Write a diary entry explaining what you are seeing and how you are feeling.
• Design a Shana Tova card depicting a significant event in Israeli history. Why did you pick that event to be remembered at the beginning of a new year?

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