We got the Rosh HaShanah card at right from an unlikely place: the Jüdisches Museum in Berlin. Who would have thought, in 1939, that there would be such a place — and that it would be sending out new year’s cards for 5771?

We loved it — the infant’s face, crumpled in tears, made us laugh, and the words beneath it, which mean “Learn to laugh without crying,” sent a marvelous wish for the year that we extend to all.

There is so much to cry about. In one place or other around the world there is war, misery, or famine — separately and sometimes, so terribly, together.

We write these words on Wednesday, the day after four Israelis were gunned down by murderers who clearly don’t want the peace talks to succeed. (See below.) Yet we can take some comfort in the fact that they are being held at all.

And our cover story began in a time of tears, but came to a conclusion in redemptive joy.

Dear readers, we send you the traditional Rosh HaShanah wishes for a good and sweet year. May you be inscribed in the book of life — and may you learn to laugh (and have reason to laugh) without crying.

Can the Mideast peace talks, scheduled to begin on Thursday, succeed? And — if such a thing is possible — how will we measure success?

• Will there be a cessation of hostilities? Not likely, since recent aggression has emanated not from Fatah but from Hamas, which is not involved in the Washington meetings. Nor do we have any reason to assume that Hamas will change its stripes. A Hamas leader, dismissing the peace efforts, told the Huffington Post that change will only “be accomplished by force.”

• Will there be immediate agreements over settlements? Unlikely, since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, like Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, has many constituents to please, with some in a position to topple his government.

Whatever happens at the initial three-hour meeting between Netanyahu and Abbas, Bibi has it right in suggesting that only regular, ongoing meetings between the two leaders will bring about any kind of positive change (see page 25).

It is unfortunate, though perhaps inevitable, that the two sides have not yet committed to the agenda for the talks. Still, the very fact that they will take place at all will have to serve as victory enough for now.

Many people do not wish the players well: Hamas has expressed its displeasure by orchestrating the cold-blooded killing of four Israeli civilians near Hebron. That might well be construed as a response to George Mitchell’s oft-repeated statement that the United States would welcome the group’s full participation in talks “once they comply with the basic requirements of democracy and nonviolence that are a prerequisite.”

Less violent but perhaps equally influential, some members of Netanyahu’s own cabinet have vowed to walk out of the government if he compromises in any way on the settlement issue — while Abbas has said he will walk out if Netanyahu does not sustain the 10-month partial moratorium on settlement expansion, which lapses Sept. 26.

Ironically, just as Netanyahu has recognized that real progress — measured not just in greater national security but in economic and diplomatic improvements as well — will take a long time to accomplish, those who do not seek peace have vowed to be equally patient in waging aggression.

As we enter a new year, let us pray that peace — despite its many obstacles — will prevail.

L.G.

Glenn Beck, the Fox commentator, held a big rally on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on Saturday and if you are not a Christian, you should be very, very afraid.

Of course, that is not the conventional wisdom in some Jewish circles. If a person supports tuition vouchers for private schools on the one hand and opposes any territorial concessions by Israel to the Palestinians on the other, that person is cheered, not feared. It is a dangerously myopic view.

The High Holidays bring with them a creative tension: respect for tradition alongside a call for change, a time when we are aware of both our blessings and our responsibilities. We hear this piercing call at the center of our High Holiday liturgy: “Let us proclaim the sacred power of this day,” we pray during Un’taneh Tokef. “It is awesome and full of dread.”

In the past few weeks, some, including William McGurn, a former chief speechwriter for president George W. Bush, have drawn a comparison between the convent built on the perimeter of Auschwitz and the mosque scheduled to be built in the environs of Ground Zero in New York, where pieces of the planes fell. The fundamental argument has been that just as a convent does not belong on the grounds of the largest Jewish cemetery in the world, a mosque does not belong in the place where Americans representing a wide range of religions and ethnic backgrounds were killed. As leader of a group of seven who climbed the fence at Auschwitz in July of 1989 to protest against the convent, I would like to expand upon this comparison.

On Sept. 9, the Jewish community will joyously welcome in the year 5771.

Although Rosh HaShanah is a time of celebration, the holiday also marks the beginning of the serious introspection and reflection undertaken throughout the Days of Awe.

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach wrote a lament Aug. 13 about one-child families. I share his concerns.

I am an only child and the parent of two children. I am amazed and disheartened by recent media focus on one-child families, which supports the “instant gratification” society. Have one child, and a yuppie couple can still consume and be happy. Of course, life is not so simple.

When the Palestinian Authority makes a demand prior to negotiations, it assumes that its demands must be met without any negotiations

This applies to those demands that are insisted on as confidence-building measures, Actually honoring them means they have already been agreed to — a back-door method of achieving something without discussion. Then the Palestinians are free to say, “What have you done for me lately?”