Jewish groups send WSJ reporter Evan Gershkovich Rosh Hashana notes

Evan Gershkovich stands inside a defendants’ cage before a June hearing in Moscow.

Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP via Getty Images

Rosh Hashana — the Jewish New Year — starts Friday night, beginning a 10-day period of prayer, self-reflection and repentance.

Many American Jews will observe the holiday by attending services, hearing the sounds of a shofar (ram’s horn), lighting candles and eating symbolic foods, among other traditions.

And a considerable number are also sending New Year’s well-wishes to a single stranger thousands of miles away: Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who has been imprisoned in Russia since March.

Gershkovich, the son of Jewish parents who emigrated from the Soviet Union in 1979, was raised in New Jersey and had been living and working in Russia for six years at the time of his arrest on espionage charges that he denies.

The U.S. is working to secure his release, with President Biden saying in July that he is “serious about a prisoner exchange.”

Gershkovich’s family, employer and other supporters have been increasingly vocal about his plight in recent days, in hopes that other countries will show their support when they come to New York for high-level U.N. General Assembly meetings next week.

More than 2,000 letters show the strength of community

In the meantime, Jewish people around the world want Gershkovich to know he’s not alone.

Jewish Federations of North America, an umbrella organization representing hundreds of Jewish communities throughout the U.S. and Canada, organized a campaign inviting people to submit a letter to Gershkovich ahead of the holiday through an…