Friday, September 10, 2010

L'Shana Tova -- Happy New Year








The Jewish New Year high holidays are here...Rosh Hashanah has just passed, and Yom Kippur begins at sundown next Friday night. May it be a year of happiness, growth, tolerance and peace.
The greeting cards above were published somewhere around 1900-1920 by the Williamsburg Art Company. Each has the Hebrew inscription "L'Shana Tova Tikatavu" which roughly translates into "May you be inscribed in the Book of Life for a good year." The other wording on the postcards is in the Yiddish language, however I have translations for only a few of the over 100 different cards in my collection. Any Yiddish speakers out there want to translate?


11 comments:

Life Goes On said...

Beautiful vintage postcards. I have not seen any like them before. Thanks for sharing.

Postcardy said...

I don't know what any of them say. Try posting them on the Vintage Postcard Forum. There is a topic for Jewish New Year cards and also bicycles. (My favorite is the bicycle card)

Aimee Dars said...

What a wonderful collection! I am not Jewish myself, but many friends and students are celebrating this week.

Paul van Yperen said...

The first card is exquisite and hilarious. I like the one with the bikers too. L'Shana PFF!

Beth Niquette said...

I adore these postcards. I love the Jewish people...they are wonderful, ruthless, wise and most of the time, kind and thoughtful. The traditions they keep are are very special, as are they as a people.

What a lovely lovely post. I enjoyed every postcard and your description, too.

Happy PFF!

Lyneen said...

What wonderful postcards... I too have not seen any like them... what a great collection you must have.Thanks for Sharing... Happy PFF

Snap said...

Wonderful collection. New to me! Happy New Year!

Linda said...

Uh, Beth: Stereotypes about any ethnic group make me uneasy. Ruthless? Wise? Kind and thoughtful "most of the time?" I don't think any ethnic group has a corner on negative or positive qualities. I deleted my earlier comment about the cards being "truly wonderful"--don't get me wrong, they are. I just realized it wasn't sufficient for me to say nothing about comments I find disturbing. Thanks for listening.

Max said...

Linda, Thank you for your comment. I have the authority to remove any comments I don't like, but I hesitate to in this instance, as I believe the insights on stereotyping you share with us are more valuable than just erasing Beth's comment,

Unknown said...

Dear Mr. Gordon,
I am working on an article focusing on old shana tova cards. If the article is accepted for publication, I would like your permission to use your hot air balloon shana tova card.
If you are agreeable to letting a magazine post this card, please let me know.
Best.
Deborah Rubin Fields

Max said...

Deborah, please contact me at
mgwh686@gmail.com with your email address. Thanks!