Friday, September 10, 1999

Greeting card exhibit puts Rosh Hashana tradition on display

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BY JULIE IRWIN
The Cincinnati Enquirer

| ZOOM |

        Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year which begins at sundown today, is cause to reflect, pray — and send greeting cards.

        The Greeting Card Association estimates Americans send 10 million greeting cards each year, wishing each other L'shana tova tikatevu v'tehatemu (May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year). That doesn't include homemade cards and cards sold by fund-raising groups.

        “The whole holiday is greetings. You greet people with "Yom Tov' — have a wonderful holiday,” says Judy Lucas, curator at the Skirball Museum at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, whose collection of American Jewish artifacts includes Rosh Hashana cards from earlier this century.

        “With Rosh Hashana it's a new year, new everything, you wish people good health,” she says.

        The practice of sending New Year's greetings dates back at least 500 years. Rabbis in the Middle Ages urged their followers to include a blessing for the New Year in their correspondence. Soon people started writing letters for the sole purpose of sending Rosh Hashana greetings.

        The custom spread throughout European Jewish communities, and as printed greeting cards began to appear in the 19th century, they were adapted for Rosh Hashana. As immigration to the U.S. increased, New Year's cards became a popular way to stay in touch with far-flung relatives.

        The earliest cards at the Skirball date from around 1910, and they reflect the influence of the Victorian age. Elaborately decorated with daisies and lilies of the valley, the cards are trimmed in gold and have three layers that fold out. In the middle of all the intricate decoration stand traditional figures of Judaism — a high priest, a rabbi holding Torah scrolls.

        “It's sugary sweet. I see a Valentine influence,” Ms. Lucas says. “Valentine's Day has never been a part of the Jewish tradition, but if you take something you like and make it your own, you make it part of your tradition.”

        The museum's cards from just a decade or two later are postcards stripped of elaborate decoration. Some show traditional family scenes around a table; another shows a jaunty couple atop an airplane. After the Holocaust, many survivors sent Rosh Hashana cards to let relatives know they were alive.

        Today's New Year's cards often feature contemporary Jewish artists, and there are e-mail cards with accompanying music.

        In terms of greeting-card sales, the holiday ranks behind Christmas (2.6 billion) and Easter (120 million), but ahead of the non-Jewish New Year (8 million) and Passover (1.5 million), according to the Greeting Card Association.

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