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This message brings from the Trustees of JHSE and me, your President, the warmest wishes to all our members – those who celebrate Rosh Hashana and those who do not – every good wish for better times, more peaceful, less anxious, in all areas of our lives.
Many of us will open the new Jewish Year with the age-old customs, at family tables, with friends, and in synagogues, whose symbolism summons plenty, renewal, sweet optimism, and renewal in nature and in ourselves. As historians we appreciate the legacies of the past and our own roles in making that Jewish history in our work, research, and lives.
This image captures that combination of cyclical continuity, sweetness, and the delights of sharing food:
Jews have also developed a custom of sending written, printed, or visual greetings, and expressed their identities. This custom was particularly lively in Germany and Poland, and it did not stop with emigration from those countries. As a gem from the Hidden Treasures collection shows us below (and the link allows you to read more about this card from the 1920s):
Those who had left Europe and made the US their home continued the custom in the fraught 1940s:
In very recent years many have turned to digital formats that are more environmentally friendly, a trend also evident in the exchange of Christmas cards. Even so, we can all find ways to express our wishes an feelings, to reach out and to share company and food.
At JHSE we look ahead with a series of activities aimed at reaching out to new publics and raising our profile in the public sphere. We have also scheduled interesting lectures for you:
Professor Martin Goodman of Oxford will speak to us on Thursday 31 October, at 8pm,The Truth about Herod the Great, in connection with his acclaimed recent book. During Herod’s time Jewish sovereignty in Judaea declined and Christianity was born. He is a figure much maligned, a Jewish king under Roman rule. So come to hear all about it, and the details are here: https://www.jhse.org/event-details/the-truth-about-herod-the-great
And speaking of beginnings, I am delighted to share with you news of an emergent branch of JHSE in Manchester, and a re-emergent one in London. More details will follow in future messages from me. This is, of course, also an occasion to thank the continued work of all our branch leaders.
So again, wishing you all the best in the New Year, in the Jewish tradition it will be 5785.
Shana tova umetuka, a good and sweet year to you all, Miri
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