FLAG

There are indications that banners or emblems were in use among the Israelites even in biblical times (see banner ). The expression אֹתֹת לְבֵית אֲבֹתָם – "the banner (or ensign) or their patriarchal house" (Num. 2:2) – appears to denote the physical emblem of a tribe, a patriarchal house, or a family, and it was thus understood in the Midrash (Num. R, 2:7), which gives the following description of the flags of the 12 tribes, with proof verses where the reason is not immediately obvious: „ There were distinguishing signs for each prince; each had a flag „ (mappah) and a different color for every flag, „ corresponding to the precious stones on the breastplate (lit. "heart") „ of Aaron. It was from these that governments learned to provide „ themselves with flags of various colors. Each tribe had its own prince „ and its flag whose color corresponded to the color of its stone. „ Reuben's stone was ruby, the color of his flag was red, and „ embroidered thereon were mandrakes. Simeon's was topaz and his flag „ was green, with the town of Shechem embroidered thereon. Levi's was „ smaragd (= emerald) and the color of his flag was a third white, a „ third black, and a third red; embroidered thereon were the Urim and „ Thummim. Judah's was a carbuncle and the color of his flag resembled „ that of the heavens; embroidered on it was a lion. lssachar's was a „ sapphire and the color of his flag was black like stibium; embroidered „ thereon were the sun and moon. Zebulun's was an emerald and the color „ of his flag was white, with a ship embroidered thereon. Dan's was „ jacinth and the color of his flag was similar to sapphire; embroidered „ on it was a serpent. Gad's was an agate and the color of his flag was „ neither white not black but a blend of black and white; on it was „ embroidered a camp. Naphtali's was an amethyst and the color of his „ flag was like clarified wine of a not very deep red; on it was „ embroidered a hind. Asher's was a beryl and the color of his flag was „ like the precious stone with which women adorn themselves; embroidered „ thereon was an olive tree. Joseph's was an onyx and the color of his „ flag was jet black; the embroidered design thereon for both princes, „ Ephraim and Manasseh, was Egypt because they were born there. A „ bullock was embroidered on the flag of Ephraim. A wild ox was „ embroidered on the flag of the tribe of Manasseh. Benjamin's stone was „ a jasper and the color of his flag was a combination of all the twelve „ colors; embroidered thereon was a wolf. The word nes, mentioned in the Prophets (Isa. 5:26; 62:10; Jer. 4:6; Ps. 60:6), is also close to the modern "flag," standing as it does for a signal which may flutter in the breeze raised on a high place. It is also used to denote a sail (Isa. 33:23, also in the Mishna, BB 5a). Murals depicting Jewish ships, as found in Bet She'arim tombs and "Jason's tomb" in the Rehaviah quarter of Jerusalem, reveal that the ships bore emblems. From Targum Jonathan to Numbers 2:3 it becomes apparent (see Num. R. 2:7; Midrash Aggadah (Buber ed. 79) Arugat ha-Bosem (Urbach ed.) A, 287/8) that during the time of the Targum colored flags, made of silk, were already known. The term degel used in the Bible, especially in the description of the order in which the people of Israel pitched their tents and their battle array (Num. 2:1–3, 10–18, 25), was thought to have its present-day meaning – "flag." In fact, the term as employed there denotes a division of the people's army. This is the sense of Akkadian diglu (from dagālu; "to see," "behold,"), Aramaic degel of the fifth century B.C.E. elephantine papyri, and this is also the sense in which the term is mentioned in the Midrash (e.g., Num. R. 2:7; Song R. 6, 10); the Arabic word dajjala also means a very large group of men. Rashi (to Num. 2:2) explains degel in accordance with the examples he saw among the military formations of his time – a colored symbol identifying a military unit. In the Dead Sea Scrolls – e.g., the "War of the Sons of Light with the Sons of Darkness" – the term degel is used in its biblical sense: an organizational unit, a battalion (ibid., ed. Yadin 1955, p. 274; for other attestations DCH II, 415). The same scroll, however, devotes two chapters (ibid., pp. 274–282, 284), to a description of the otot סֶרֶךְ אוֹתוֹת כּוֹל הָעֵדָה ("the customary symbols of the entire community"), which appear to have been actual flags. These symbols were of considerable sizes, depending on the size of the unit which they served, and contained various inscriptions: עַם אֵל ("the People of God"); שֵׁם יִשְׂרָאֵל וְאַהֲרֹן וּשְׁמוֹת שְׁנֵים עָשָׂר שִׁבְטֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל כְּתוֹלְדוֹתָם ("the name of Israel and Aaron and the names of the twelve tribes of Israel in the order of their birth"); נֵס אֵל (the pennant of God); שֵׁם נְשִׂיא הַשֵּׁבֶט (the name of the prince of the tribe); etc. To those who went into battle an order was issued "to inscribe on their symbols, as they went forth to war" further inscriptions, and, "when they returned from war" as victors, to add appropriate inscriptions (see DCH II, 166). If the scroll is not a literary fiction but reflects reality, there is here a description of the important role, very similar to that of the modern flag, ascribed to physical symbols in the organization of the community. In the Diaspora, where there was no Jewish army or panoply of state, there was no room for flags in Jewish public life. In the late Middle Ages instances are known of the award of flags to individual Jews of communities by the secular rulers. In 1254 the emperor Charles IV granted a flag to the Jews of Prague; it was red in color and displayed the six-pronged star, which later became known as Shield of David. In 1592 R. Mordechai Meisel, also of Prague, was given permission to display in his synagogue "the flag of King David, similar to the flag in   the Great Synagogue." In 1648 the Jews of Prague were again awarded a flag – still to be found in the Prague synagogue, the Altneuschul – in recognition of their part in the defense of the city against the Swedes; the flag is red and in the middle there is a yellow Shield of David with a Swedish star in its center. When the Jews of Ofen (= Buda) in Hungary welcomed King Matthias Corvinus in 1460, they carried a red flag containing two Shields of David and two other stars. Jewish flags as an expression of national awakening appeared in the campaign of david reubeni among the Jews and the Christian rulers. His deportment was that of a prince and he used flags extensively as an expression of Jewish sovereignty. His flags were white, with the Ten Commandments or verses and names (according to one version, the letters of the word "Maccabee") embroidered on them in gold. Reubeni carried a flag of this kind when he appeared with solomon molcho before Charles V in Regensburg in 1532. Molcho also signed his letters and writings by drawing a flag above his name (see illustrations under autographs ). The Shield of David acquired its status as a recognized Jewish symbol only as late as the middle of the 17th century. Official use of it was first made by the heads of the Jewish Herzls design for a Jewish flag, seven gold stars on a white field, sketched at the end of a letter to Jacob de Haas, probably 1896. The seven stars were intended to symbolize a seven-hour working day. From J. de Haas, The-odor Herzl, 1927. Herzl's design for a Jewish flag, seven gold stars on a white field, sketched at the end of a letter to Jacob de Haas, probably 1896. The seven stars were intended to symbolize a seven-hour working day. From J. de Haas, The-odor Herzl, 1927.   communities of Prague and Vienna, spreading from these places all over the world. The aristocratic Jewish families of Rothschild and Montefiore incorporated it in their family arms. The early Ḥibbat Zion societies used it as a national emblem (e.g., in their official seals), generally inscribing the word Ẓiyyon in it. Theodor Herzl, who was not aware of the emblems used by the Ḥibbat Zion movement, made the following entry in his diary (June 12, 1895): "The flag that I am thinking of – perhaps a white flag with seven gold stars. The white background stands for our new and pure life; the seven stars are the seven working hours: we shall enter the Promised Land in the sign of work." This was also the flag that he proposed in The Jewish State (1896). Under the influence of the Zionist societies he accepted the shield of David as the emblem of the movement, but he insisted that the six stars should be placed on the six angles of the shield of David, and the seventh above it. In this form, with the inscription "Aryeh Yehudah" (the Lion of Judah) in the middle, the Shield of David became the first emblem of the Zionist Organization. The combination blue and white as the colors of the Jewish flag is first mentioned in the latter part of the 19th century. In his poem "Ẓivei Ereẓ Yehudah," written about 1860, the poet L.A. Frankl declaims: All that is sacred will appear in these colors: White – as the radiance of great faith Blue – like the appearance of the firmament. The Zionist flag in its present form – two blue stripes on white background with a Shield of David in the center – was first displayed in Rishon le-Zion in 1885. This, however, was not known to the delegates of the First Zionist Congress, and it was David Wolfsohn who created the flag of Zion on the model of the tallit , which, as he pointed out, was the traditional flag of the Jewish people, adding the Shield of David. In 1933, the 18th Zionist Congress decided that "by long tradition, the blue-and-white flag is the flag of the Zionist Organization and the Jewish people," This was also the flag which, by a special order issued by Winston Churchill, became the official flag of the Jewish Brigade Group in World War II. -Flags of the State of Israel As soon as the State of Israel was established, the question of its flags and emblems arose. Public opinion was unanimous in favor of proclaiming the flag of the Zionist movement as the state flag, but there was some apprehension lest this might cause problems to foreign members of the movement. The Provisional Council of State therefore decided only on flags of the navy and the merchant marine, and it was not until six months after the state had been proclaimed that the form of the national flag was officially determined; it was to be the flag of the Zionist movement, consisting of a white rectangle, with two blue stripes along its entire length and a Shield of David in the center made up of six stripes forming two equilateral triangles. In the original resolution, the color of the stripes and the Shield of David was described as "dark   sky-blue," but this was later changed to "blue" for better visibility at sea. The flag of the Israel navy is a dark blue rectangle, with a white isosceles triangle, with the vertex in the center of the rectangle and the base coinciding with its inner side, and a blue Shield of David inside the triangle. The flag of the Merchant Marine is a blue rectangle with a white oval with a blue Shield of David in its center. The official emblem of the State, which was decided on in 1949, is the menorah, or candelabrum, the ancient symbol of the Jewish people, in the form seen in relief on the arch of Titus in Rome. The menorah is surrounded by olive branches, linked at the bottom by the inscription "Israel." The president's pennant is a square blue flag, with the state emblem in silver inside a silver frame. In the course of time more flags and pennants have been adopted: the flag of the Customs and Excise, a blue rectangle, with the national flag in its upper quarter and the inscription מכֶס וּבְלוֹ (Customs & Excise) inside a circle in the lower outer quarter.; the flag of the Israel Defense Forces, a blue rectangle with a thin gold stripe along three of its sides and in the lower outer quarter the badge of the IDF, consisting of a Shield of David in outline with a sword entwined with olive leaves inside it, and a strip bearing the inscription "צבא הגנה לישראל" (Israel Defense Army) at the bottom; the prime minister's pennant, a blue rectangle with the national flag in its upper inside quarter and the state emblem, superimposed on the IDF badge, in gold, in the lower outer quarter; the defense minister's pennant, similar to the prime minister's, but smaller by a quarter, and with the emblem in silver; the pennant of the chief of staff, the allufim (generals), the commander of the navy, the senior officer in a flotilla; the active service pennant, hoisted on naval vessels on active service; the flag of the air force; and the civil aviation pennant. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: M. Nimẓa-Bi, Ha-Degel (1948); State of Israel, Iton Rishmi, nos. 2, 32, 50 (1948–49); idem, Sefer ha-Ḥukkim, no. 8 (1949); idem, Simlei Medinat Israel (1953). ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: B. Levine, Numbers 1–20 (1993), 146–48 (Michael Simon)