Shana Tova (Happy New Year) for 5785!

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Shana Tova and a happy new year to everyone celebrating! 


Every autumn, Jews celebrate the anniversary of the creation of the world. According to Jewish tradition, this year will be the 5785th orbit of the earth around the sun.

I hope everyone had a restful summer. I was fortunate to explore Provence in Southern France – from the foothills of Alps to the Calanques near Marseille at the edge of the Mediterranean. Stunning and fascinating, the region was a fitting subject for Van Gogh and Cezanne’s landscapes. According to Catholic tradition, it’s where Mary Magdalene lived out her final days. It’s also the site of the dramatic departure for some of Europe’s greatest minds fleeing Nazi occupation, including Max Ernst, Marc Chagall and Hannah Arendt (as dramatized in Netflix’s recent series Transatlantic).

Featured NY Tour: Jewish Brooklyn


Brooklyn is one of the most dynamic and diverse places on Earth and also hosts one of the greatest Jewish stories of the diaspora. The borough has been home to some of the twentieth century’s most influential thinkers, including Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, Mark Rothko, Barbara Streisand and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. 


I recently led the HAZAK group from Temple Beth Shalom in Cherry Hill, NJ on a full-day tour of Jewish Brooklyn. Here are a few highlights:

  • We spent the morning exploring Mel Brooks’s old stomping grounds in Williamsburg – both the current hipster and the Hasidic side of the neighborhood. 

  • Then we passed the location that once hosted Ebbets Field, the home of the Brooklyn Dodgers and their star pitcher, Sandy Koufax. 

  • We saw Erasmus High School, the alma mater of Neil Diamond and Barbara Streisand en route to the best falafel in New York City, at Falafel Tanami in Midwood. 

  • We wrapped up the tour at the Chabad-Lubavitch headquarters at 770 Eastern Parkway, arguably the most recognizable synagogue on Earth today after the Western Wall. 

 


To create your ideal New York City or Brooklyn trip, email me at info@ciceronetravel.com. We’ll work together to curate an incredible experience for your organization, group, or family.


Fun Fact: Rosh Hashanah Tashlich on the Williamsburg Bridge


When the Williamsburg Bridge opened in 1903, it provided the avenue for Jewish immigrants in the Lower East Side to a better life in the newly developing borough of Brooklyn. So many took this path in pursuit of the American Dream that the bridge became known as the “Jews’ Highway.” 



Above is a photo of immigrants observing tashlich on the bridge, symbolically casting their sins into the river in the form of breadcrumbs to prepare for Yom Kippur, the holiest day on the Jewish calendar.



Wishing everyone the sweetness of apples and honey for the new year. And may it be a year of peace. 



Thanks for reading, 




Jonathan Goldstein
Tour Guide and Operator, Cicerone Travel