This is a traditional Shana Tova card that was printed at the beginning of the twentieth century. The picture, drawn by a German artist, shows three Jewish men during Rosh Hashanah prayers. The men are each wearing their tallit (prayer shawl) and kittel (traditional robes). On the left is the Ba'al Tokea, the man who gives instructions to the man blowing the shofar who is in the centre of the picture. At the bottom of the picture is the text: תקע בשופר גדול לחרותנו""— "Sound the great shofar for our freedom." At the top of the card is the phrase לשנה טובה תכתבו"" and the German translation "Gluckliches Neujahr," the traditional greeting for a Happy New Year. To the left of the picture is the card's serial number.
This Shana Tova card includes traditional designs that are relevant for the High Holy Days of Tishrei at the beginning of the Jewish New Year. The shofar, made of a ram's horn, is used specifically on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Prayer is also a very important part of these festivals, as is shown on this card. Finally, the traditional Magen David or Star of David is also part of the card’s design.
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Shana Tova Cards - The earliest instance of a written “shana tova” greeting is a fourteenth-century letter written by the Ashkenazi rabbi known as the Maharil (Jacob ben Moses Moelin). This letter affirms the existence of this custom in German Jewish communities at the time. In the eighteenth century, the custom began spreading beyond the German-speaking realm to other large concentrations of Jews in Eastern Europe, especially Poland. By the end of the century, Shana Tova cards began to take on distinct characteristics, such as special writing paper, with the custom spreading throughout the entire Ashkenazi world during the nineteenth century. The postal service emerged around this time, and in the 1880s, Jewish entrepreneurs began to print commercial greeting Shana Tova cards. By this time, Shana Tova cards constituted the main body of postcards sent by Jews, and this would remain so for around 100 years.
Between the end of the nineteenth century and the end of First World War, a time known as the “Golden Age of Postcards,” the vast majority of the mail sent by Jews in Europe and America consisted of Shana Tova cards. Today, in the digital era, cards sent by post have given way to text messages and emails.
