The custom of sending greeting cards before the Jewish New Year began in Germany in the late Middle Ages and gradually spread to Eastern Europe and the United States. The early twentieth century was the “golden age” of postcards, and among Jews, the Rosh Hashanah greeting card was easily the star of this particular show. With the rise of electronic communications, the custom has naturally faded, and today it is likely that most of the New Year greetings we receive arrive via other mediums.
This is a Shana Tova card printed in Israel in 1958. At the center of the card is an ostensibly typical Israeli family: a mother, father and three boys. This may have been a personalized Shana Tova card, or this family may have been chosen as the model of an Israeli family. Around the photograph there are different motifs of the New Year. On the top of the card are the words "שנה טובה" – "Happy New Year." The year תשי"ט) 1958-9) appears on a ribbon carried by a bird and below it is a horseshoe, a popular (non-Jewish) lucky charm.
Beneath the family is a drawing of a Torah scroll and to the side an elaborate depiction of the Exodus of the children of Israel from Egypt.
The custom of sending greeting cards before the Jewish New Year began in Germany in the late Middle Ages and gradually spread to Eastern Europe and the United States. The early twentieth century was the “golden age” of postcards, and among Jews, the Rosh Hashanah greeting card was easily the star of this particular show. With the rise of electronic communications, the custom has naturally faded, and today it is likely that most of the New Year greetings we receive arrive via other mediums.
This is a Shana Tova card printed in Israel in 1958. At the center of the card is an ostensibly typical Israeli family: a mother, father and three boys. This may have been a personalized Shana Tova card, or this family may have been chosen as the model of an Israeli family. Around the photograph there are different motifs of the New Year. On the top of the card are the words "שנה טובה" – "Happy New Year." The year תשי"ט) 1958-9) appears on a ribbon carried by a bird and below it is a horseshoe, a popular (non-Jewish) lucky charm.
Beneath the family is a drawing of a Torah scroll and to the side an elaborate depiction of the Exodus of the children of Israel from Egypt.
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