Shana Tova [Happy New Year's], Israel Defense Forces

Authors

Object ID

2015.2.83

Object Name

Postcard, Picture

Date

1949

Files

Content Warning

The Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection consists of images, documents, and artifacts related to the Holocaust. The collection contains materials that depict a number of topics that may be difficult for viewers to engage with, including: antisemitic descriptions, caricatures, and representation of Jewish people; Nazi imagery and ideology; descriptions and images of German ghettos; graphic images of the violence of the Holocaust; and the creation of the State of Israel. For more information, see our policy page.

Description

Six black and white photographs. From top left: Soldiers holding bayonets, Israeli and other flags, soldiers in white marching with bayonets, tank and soldiers, soldiers on horseback, soldiers in tanks with airplanes flying over head. Several phrases printed in Hebrew. Back: Black printed Hebrew in middle. Message and address both written in Hebrew on either side. Green pasted stamp with illustration of a coin. Black circular hand stamp over pasted stamp.

Information Provided by Michael D. Bulmash:

The custom of sending Jewish New Year's cards dates to the Middle Ages. Shana Tova, meaning "Have a good year" in Hebrew, reflects the belief that one's fate is sealed for the coming year on Rosh Hashanah, and thus Rabbis would encourage congregants to begin letters sent during the Jewish month of Ellul with the blessing "May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year." The custom has continued over the years even as the thematic content of the Shana Tova card has changed to reflect changing social and historical needs and circumstances. If early cards reflected biblical themes and motifs, later ones referred to religious customs and practices often staged in a studio using amateur actors. Later scenes depicted the religious and social life of East European Jews in a nostalgic manner, often with the intention of preserving traditions, customs and social life lost in the Holocaust. With the mass immigration of Jews to the shores of America in the first decades of the twentieth century, Shana Tova cards depicted the new homeland as a beacon of hope, prosperity, and religious freedom. Other cards focused on Zionist ideology and contemporary views of the land of Palestine. Secular views were more commonly expressed in Shana Tova cards with images of pioneers working the land and building kibbutzim. With World War II there is the obvious focus on Jewish immigration, of refugees fleeing a Europe devastated by the Holocaust, with ships and boats bringing immigrants to the shores of a Palestine still under the British mandate. We see as well the burgeoning of an enormous pride that reflects a people at last feeling more in control of their fate, not only raising families and celebrating holidays but images of an intense self-reliance, images of the "tough" Jew hardened by working the land, raising a defense force with both men and women as co-participants, as well as scenes depicting Israelis in a celebratory mood, dancing the hora or singing Hatikvah.

Dimensions

3 1/2 x 5 1/2"

Keywords

Airplane, Soldiers, Stamps, Shana Tova, Early Israel Defense Force, Doar Ivri, New Year's, Rosh Hashanah, Ellul, Palestine

Subcollection

Shana Tova

Recommended Citation

"Shana Tova [Happy New Year's], Israel Defense Forces" (1949). Bulmash Family Holocaust Collection. 2015.2.83.
https://digital.kenyon.edu/bulmash/316