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Israel - Flag Contest 1948: proposals with seven stars

Last modified: 2011-07-09 by andrew weeks
Keywords: stars: 7 (red) | star: 6 points (red) | stars: 7 (blue) | star: 6 points (blue) | stars: 7 (brown) | star: 6 points (brown) | stars: 7 (yellow) | star: 6 points (yellow) | magen david |
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Proposal no.52 by Yedidya Refaeli or Henry Rachevski

[1948 proposal no.52 (Israel), as in JPG] 3:4      [1948 proposal no.52 (Israel), stretched] 1:2
images both by Thanh-Tâm Lê
Click here for the original image from the Centre of Educational Technology.

A little unclear info in the site: In one place this proposal is from Yedidya Refaeli on July 30, 1948, and in the accompanied letter it says it is from Henry Rachevski on Aug. 5, 1948.

Dov Gutterman, 23 February 1999

I am a bit troubled by this flag. It looks as if it had been horizontally shrunk. What I find strange is that it thus has exactly the same dimension as other flags in the series (namely 187 × 247, which I interpret as 3:4), whereas it appears with normal stars of David once stretched to a 1:2 ratio. Besides, the shade of blue is a bit lighter on my image, but then, so are the white and red.

Thahn-Tâm Lê, 24 February 1999

Proposal no.53 by Reuven Rubin or Zvi Goldin

[1948 proposal no.53 (Israel), dark blue stars]      [1948 proposal no.53 (Israel), dark red-brown stars]
images both by Thanh-Tâm Lê
Click here for the original image from the Centre of Educational Technology.

Another unclear information: this proposal is from either Reuven Rubin or Zvi Goldin. In my opinion, the stars were meant to be dark blue.

Dov Gutterman, 24 February 1999

These proposals are not very clear. I am sending two variants, one with dark blue stars as Dov Gutterman suggested, the other one with dark red-brown stars as shown on the original image. Arguably dark red-brown could have been initially dark red, but this is purely hypothetical.

Thahn-Tâm Lê, 24 February 1999

I believe that it could be argued that the stars were initially golden. At least in some old books where there is golden print, it became rather brownish due to time.

Željko Heimer, 27 February 1999

Proposal no.54 by Ahron Adlersberg

[1948 proposal no.54 (Israel), centered]
image by Thanh-Tâm Lê
Click here for the original image from the Centre of Educational Technology.

I suppose that the yellowish stripes to the left and right are originally white. Santiago Dotor said, "Actual proportions in the CET image are 72:79:96. I think the horizontal assymetry is far too big to be unintentional". If we assume that the blue stripe is to be centered, taking the average of the width of this stripe in the three flags no.54, no. 55 and no. 56, this means that the proportions would be 9:8:9 or even 10:9:10.

If we do not recenter the stripe, the proportions between the stripes are approximately: 9:10:12 (no.54), 3:4:5 (no. 55, leaving aside the golden stripes), 5:5:6 (no. 56). Of course, none of the three images is horizontally centered. But if you consider the central star, you realise it is even more outcentered vertically than horizontally!!! And looking at no.54, I really think that it should be centered vertically. So, frankly, I think that the flag should be horizontally and vertically centered. Not equal stripes, but maybe 9:8:9. Even the size of the central star varies, I am using the one on proposals no. 54 and no. 55.

John S. Ayer said, "Looks to me to be quite close to the proportions 30:33:37 stipulated by the French for their tricolor at sea. Perhaps Mr. Adlersberg meant to create a similar effect?". I thought of that too, and it is a possibility. But the proportions in no.54, no. 55 and no. 56 are not quite the same...

Thanh-Tâm Lê, 26 February 1999

Proposal no.59 by G. Shoken

[1948 proposal no.59 (Israel)]
image by Thanh-Tâm Lê
Click here for the original image from the Centre of Educational Technology.

Proposal no.64 by Reuven Rubin

[1948 proposal no.64 (Israel)]
image by Thanh-Tâm Lê
Click here for the original image from the Centre of Educational Technology.

Proposals no.63, no.64 and no.66 were by artist Reuven Rubin.

Dov Gutterman, February 1999

Proposal at the Jerusalem Post

[1948 proposal (Israel)]
image by Željko Heimer, 24 October 2008The Israel State Archives are having an exhibit of many of their holdings at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.
In today's Jerusalem Post, one of the items shown is a flag proposal, "by an Israeli citizen, June 8, 1948."
It is basically the reverse of the Israeli flag: dark blue with two white stripes.
The Star of David is in gold, and on either side of it are three smaller gold Stars of David, for a total of seven.
Nathan Lamm, 24 October 2008The flag shown in the Jerusalem Post is obviously from the same archives as the other proposals.
Information on the exhibit at <www.imj.org.il>.
Željko Heimer, 24 October 2008