|
|
|
|
Sponsored
Results: Shop in Israel |
|
Best Deals found on the
internet are: |
-
Mile Chai
Online Jewish Catalog for Jewish
Flags, Israeli Flag, Judaica, Jewish Books, Jewish
Jewelry, Jewish Ritual Items, Jewish gifts Jewish
music, Passover Seder Plates, Matzah Covers, and
much more....
www.milechai.com
Aharon's Jewish
Books and Judaica
600 South Holly Street Suite 103
Denver, Colorado 80246
303-322-7345
800-830-8660 |
|
|
-
Judaic
Online store that
provides a wide selection of all types of Judaica,
Jewish gifts, Jewish books, Jewish ritual items and
more
www.judaic.com
|
|
 The
Israeli Flag: The flag of Israel was adopted on October 28,
1948, five months after the country's establishment. It
depicts a blue Star of David on a white background, between
two horizontal blue stripes. The blue color is mandated
only as "dark sky-blue",[1] and varies from flag
to flag, ranging from a hue of pure blue, sometimes shaded
almost as dark as navy blue, to hues about 75% toward pure
cyan and shades as light as very light blue.[2] The flag
was designed for the Zionist Movement in 1891. The basic
design recalls the Tallit, the Jewish prayer shawl, which
is white with blue stripes. The hexagram in the centre is
the Magen David ("shield of David"). It became
a Jewish symbol starting in late medieval Prague, and was
adopted by the First Zionist Congress in 1897.
|
|
|
Origin of the flag
The flag of the
State of Israel is intended to
portray a
star of david on a tallit, the traditional
Jewish prayer shawl.
The Israelites used an indigo colored dye called
tekhelet; this dye is now believed to have been made
from the snail Murex trunculus. This dye was very
important in both Jewish and non-Jewish cultures of
this time, and was used by royalty and the upper
class in dyeing their clothing, sheets, curtains,
etc. (The dye from a related snail can be processed
to form Tyrian purple called argaman.)
In the Bible, the Israelites are commanded to have
one of the threads of their tallit (prayer shawl)
with tekhelet; when they look at this dye they will
think of the blue sky, and of the God above them in
Heaven. Tekhelet corresponds to the color of the
divine revelation (Midrash Numbers Rabbah xv.).
Sometime near the end of the Talmudic era (500-600
CE) the industry that produced this dye collapsed.
It became more rare; over time, the Jewish community
lost the tradition of which species of shellfish
produced this dye. Since Jews were then unable to
fulfil this commandment, they have since left their
tzitzit (tallit strings) white. However, in
remembrance of the commandment to use the tekhelet
dye, it became common for Jews to have blue or
purple stripes on their tallit. [3] The idea that
the blue and white colors were the national color of
the Jewish people was voiced early on by Ludwig
August Frankl (1810-1894), an Austrian Jewish poet.
In his poem, "Judah's Colors", he writes:
“When sublime feelings his heart fill, he is
mantled in the colors of his country. He stands in
prayer, wrapped in a sparkling robe of white.
The hems of the white robe are crowned with broad
stripes of blue; Like the robe of the High Priest,
adorned with bands of blue threads.
These are the colors of the beloved country, blue
and white are the borders of Judah; White is the
radiance of the priesthood, and blue, the splendors
of the firmament.[4]”
In 1885 the agricultural village of Rishon LeZion
used a blue and white flag to mark its third
anniversary. A blue and white flag, with a Star of
David and the Hebrew word "Maccabee", was used in
1891 by the Bnai Zion Educational Society.
David Wolffsohn (1856-1914), a businessman prominent
in the early Zionist movement, was aware that the
nascent Zionist movement had no official flag, and
that the design proposed by Theodore Herzl was
gaining no significant support. He writes:
“ At the behest of our leader Herzl, I came to Basle
to make preparations for the Zionist Congress. Among
many other problems that occupied me then was one
that contained something of the essence of the
Jewish problem. What flag would we hang in the
Congress Hall? Then an idea struck me. We have a
flag — and it is blue and white. The talith (prayer
shawl) with which we wrap ourselves when we pray:
that is our symbol. Let us take this Talith from its
bag and unroll it before the eyes of Israel and the
eyes of all nations. So I ordered a blue and white
flag with the Shield of David painted upon it. That
is how the national flag, that flew over Congress
Hall, came into being. ”
While this flag emphasizes Jewish religious symbols,
Theodor Herzl wanted the flag to have more universal
symbols: 7 golden stars symbolizing the 7-hour
working quota of the enlightened state-to-be, which
would have advanced socialist legislations. [5]
In 1897, an international meeting of worldwide
Zionists was held in Basel, Switzerland, to consider
establishing a homeland for Jews in Palestine.
Morris Harris, a member of New York Havevy Zion,
used his awning shop to design a suitable banner and
decorations for the reception, and his mother Lena
Harris sewed the flag. The flag was made with two
blue stripes and a large blue Star of David in the
center, the colors blue and white chosen from the
design of the tallis, the traditional Jewish prayer
shawl. The flag was ten feet by six feet—in the same
proportions as the flag of the United States—and
became known as the Flag of Zion. It was accepted as
the official Zionist flag at the second
international conference on Zionism held in
Switzerland in 1898, and the state of Israel later
adopted the design as the official flag, upon its
independence from the United Kingdom in 1948.
According to a 1911 edition of the Jewish
Encyclopedia, a flag with blue and white stripes and
a Magen David in the center flew with those of other
nationalities from one of the buildings at the
Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904. [6] It
implied that it flew there in relation to large
meetings of Zionists. That expo was the World's Fair
hosting the 1904 Summer Olympics. |
|
|
