Last modified: 2014-09-13 by andrew weeks
Keywords: israel | yisra'el | isra'il | medinat yisra'el | daulat isra'il | star: 6 points (blue outlined) | star of david | magen david | shield of david | stripes: 2 (blue) | candelabrum | menorah |
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8:11 | stripes 3+5+16+5+3
image by eljko Heimer
Flag adopted 28th October 1948 (25
Tishrei 5709), published 12th November 1948
See also:
Other sites:
Israel became independent on 14th May 1948 according to the United Nations resolution of 29th November
1947. [Previously] the area which is nowadays Israel was part of
the British Mandate on Palestine-Eretz
Israel and therefore [Israel] couldn't have an
[internationally recognized] official flag. The current Israeli
flag is based on the Zionist movement flag
- now about 100 years old - which represented the Jewish
population in the Mandate era but had no
official standing.
Dov Gutterman, 7 March 2001
The Israeli national flag is used by sport fans as a basis to
fan flags, as is the case with Maccabi
Tel-Aviv Basketball Club and Hapoel
Tel-Aviv Football Club.
Dov Gutterman, 5 December 2001
The Magen David (Shield of David), the six-pointed
star made of two triangles, appeared according to Jewish
tradition on the shield of King David. According to the same
tradition the same symbols appeared also on King Solomon's ring
and therefore it is also called the Seal of Solomon.
This symbol was considered to have magical powers and as a
defence from the evil spirits. Such symbol without any connection
to Judaism was found in India.
The symbol was also considered as magical by the Moslems (as
Solomon Seal) and appeared as the symbol of Nigeria.
It was also used by the Ethiopian monarchs
who, according to their tradition, were the descendants of King
Solomon and the Queen of Sheva, and was also known there as
Solomon Seal.
The Magen David was used by Jews for decoration and
appeared as an official Jewish symbol for the first time in 1354
when the Jewish community in Prague
received the right to have a flag of its own and chose the Magen
David as the symbol on the flag. In the 15th Century the Magen
David was used as a trademark for Jewish printers in Prague, Amsterdam
and Italy, and in 1655 it was used on Vienna Jewish community seal and soon
afterwards also by the Jewish community in Amsterdam. In the 19th century the Magen
David was used almost by all Jews as their symbol and it was
used for synagogue decoration, seals and letters.
When the first Zionist groups (Bilu,
Hovevei Zion etc.) started their activities in 1881,
they adopted the Magen David for their symbols. The Magen
David also appeared at the first edition of Herzl's
newspaper Die Welt in 1896.
Even though the Magen David is known as the Jewish
symbol, the Jews had another symbol which is the Menorah
which is also the emblem of the State of Israel and its origin is
already in the Bible. The emblem is based on the engraving of the
Menorah of the Temple in Jerusalem as it appears
[engraved] on Titus Gate in Rome. The destiny of the original Menorah
is unknown.
Sources: Hebrew Encyclopedia; Encyclopaedia Britannica
(Hebrew version); From the Foundation, 1986.
Dov Gutterman, 4 March 1999
The Magen David is not an ancient
Jewish symbol nor a religious one like the cross. It originated
in Bohemia around 500 years ago.
Nahum Shereshevsky, 22 April 2000
There is absolutely no archaeological evidence of David's
existence. I am not suggesting that he did not exist, just that
there is as yet nothing extra-biblical. Therefore it would be
impossible to pin the Magen David on him.
T.F. Mills, 22 April 2000
From most accounts, the Magen David was originally chosen (on the flag of the Jewish community of Prague, in the middle ages) for decorative purposes in other words, as a star, with no other meaning, in an age when heraldic stars had six points (easier to make). Explanations about 'shields' and 'seals' came much later.
Actually, the earliest known use of the six-pointed star by
Jews was in the decoration of Classical (Greek/Roman) Era
synagogues. The six-pointed stars are used alongside five-pointed
stars and, of all things, swastikas. All are clearly meant only
for ornamentation (just perhaps with a shared mystical
background), with no further purpose. The six-pointed star
doesn't arise again in Jewish iconography - again as a secular
symbol - for another thousand years, on a flag. Use in other
areas proliferated after that.
Nathan Lamm, 6 February 2004
For those interested in the history of the Magen David, there
is a book by W. Gunther Plaut, "The Magen David: How the
six-pointed star became an emblem for the Jewish people",
published by B'nai B'rith Books (1991).
Albert Kirsch, 8 February 2004
You can read about the origin of the two "Solomon
Seals" at <www.jewishencyclopedia.com/artid=38>
and <www.jewishencyclopedia.com/artid=895>.
Dov Gutterman and António Martins-Tuválkin,
13 February 2005
About the history of the Magen David see also Star
of David blog.
Ron Lahav, 30 December 2007
Gershom Scholem, a German-born scholar who taught Jewish
mysticism at the Hebrew University, wrote what's pretty much the
final word on the subject of Magen David as an article in
Commentary Magazine back in 1947. The material was later
reprinted (somewhat edited, I suppose) in the Encyclopaedia
Judaica and in collection(s) of Scholem's work.
In short: It was used as a purely decorative symbol by Jews in
the classical era, was used as a mystical symbol (but not as a
symbol of Judaism as such) starting in medieval times, and began
life as a specifically Jewish symbol when it appeared on the flag
of the Jewish community of Prague in
the Middle Ages, eventually spreading throughout the Jewish
world.
Of course, it was used for similar purposes- mystical and
decorative- by many world cultures, and it probably arose in
Prague simply as a star, and stars, as used by everyone and in
usage that survived for many centuries and even to this day,
tended to have six points back then.
Nathan Lamm, 3 January 2008
Under the national flag (top of this page) we have "Flag
adopted 12th November 1948, coat-of-arms adopted 11th November
1949". However, the (excellent) Ministry of Foreign
Affairs' webpage
about the flag and arms claims that the adoption dates are 28
October 1948 (25 Tishrei 5709) and 10th February 1949 (11 Shevat
5709). Why that difference?
Santiago Dotor, 10 October 2001
This is easy to understand looking at the proclamation. The
proclamation was signed on 28 October 1948 but was published in
the official gazette on 12 November 1948. According to law, the
publishing date is the crucial one, but I guess that in this
subject, they chose the signing date. The 1949 Flag and Emblem
Law also uses 28th October 1948. Concerning the emblem,
it was signed on 10th Febuary 1949 but published also later.
Dov Gutterman, 10 October 2001
On Wednesday April 21st 1999, we shall celebrate our 51st
Independence Day. All the streets are already decorated with
flags which are usually the national flags and the municipality flags. Also most of the houses
and cars are also decorated with the national flags. As usual,
most national flags do not keep to the official proportions of
8:11 but are 2:3 instead. Some public buildings are also
decorated with the vertical variant (Magen
David rotated 90 degrees) and those range from 2:3 up to 1:5
or even longer. The day before Independence Day is our national
IDF [Israel Defence Force] Memorial Day,
and all the national flags on public buildings will be lowered to
half mast. According to Jewish tradition the day lasts from
sunset to sunset and therefore at 8 pm on April 19th all Israeli
flags are lowered to half mast as the IDF Memorial Day begins and
24 hours later, the flags are raised back as Independence Day
begins.
Dov Gutterman, 15 April 1999
Fifteen years ago, you could hardly see any flag while
traveling in Israel. Not even government buildings hoisted the
national flag on a regular basis. The 1986
amendment of the law which obligated hoisting the flag on
government buildings etc. was the beginning of the change which
brought to the current situation where you see flags all over the
land. Most of them are commercial flags but
also government organizations which
adopted unofficial flags, municipalities
and such. Naturally, there are plenty more around in the
Independence Day period.
Dov Gutterman, 23 May 2000
I have carried out a research on the origin of Israeli flags.
One conclusion is that Israel has only three official flags which
are included in the primary and secondary legislation.
The war ensign is an exception. There
is the possibility to make more flags
official, but this option has not been used up to now.
Dov Gutterman, 8 September 2001
All Israeli flags with inscriptions are displayed with the
hoist to the right (i.e. a sinister hoist ). All of them are printed on one side only and
seen mirrored on the obverse side. Only flags that are printed on
both sides are the Delek Company and Egged, and of course the national,
merchant, naval
and military flags.
Dov Gutterman, 18 September 2001
I recently visited Qishon Port, an subsidiary port of the major Haifa Port and managed by it. All the port authorities buildings hoisted the Haifa Port flag alongside the national flag. Flags used on different types of vessels:
Dov Gutterman, 30 June 2002
Israel's Independence Day which moves around the Gregorian
calendar as it is based on the Jewish calendar, also moves if it
falls on Friday or Saturday to avoid conflict with the Sabbath.
This year, it falls on Monday, but has been moved to Tuesday so
that the preceding day, Memorial Day, does not conflict with
Saturday night. If the Flag Flying Days
section applies year-by-year, it should be changed; in
addition, perhaps the following note should be added: "If
4-5 Iyar falls on Thursday-Friday or Friday-Saturday, the days
observed are moved to Wednesday-Thursday, 2-3 or 3-4 Iyar; if 4-5
Iyar falls on Sunday-Monday, the days observed may be moved to
Monday-Tuesday, 5-6 Iyar."
The only other days 4-5 Iyar can fall on are Tuesday-Wednesday,
in which case there's no issue. In addition, all of these days
begin with the evening preceding.
Nathan Lamm, 4 April 2004
inage by António Martins-Tuválkin, 7 July 2008
Here are two examples of Israel vertical flag. One is the standard vertical flag
used in many municipalities during the 1999 Independence Day. The
other flag decorated Zim HQ in Haifa.
Dov Gutterman, 23 June 1999
Süddeutsche Zeitung" (19 June 2008, p. 9) reports about
the Israeli flags that came with the three major Israeli
newspapers as a give-away sponsored by the bank Hapoalim. The
photograph clearly shows a flag with turned magen david, so that
the point does not point upwards, but sideways.
Marcus Schmöger, 23 June 2008
This mistake made the flag a vertical variant of the national
flag. What people should do is just to hang it vertically, as
many did.
Dov Gutterman, 7 July 2008
The protocol manual for the London 2012 Olympics (Flags and Anthems
Manual London 2012
For Israel: PMS 300 blue. The vertical flag is simply the horizontal version turned
90 degrees clockwise
There is a custom used for the Israeli national flag's
flagpole of painting the flagpole blue for about one third of the
way up from the ground, and then white for the remaining two
thirds or so. This can be seen repeated for Jerusalem flag's flagpole. I am not at
all sure that it should be, though. Whichever the case, it has
been done from time to time. From the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs Flag and
Emblem webpage: The official emblem was adopted nine months after the
State was established; it has since appeared on official
documents, on the presidential
standard and on public buildings in Israel and abroad. In
the process of designing the emblem, many proposals which
sought to include the symbols deemed appropriate for
representing the Jewish people in their reborn state were
reviewed. To avoid imitating the emblems of European
countries and to create a unique one, ancient visual symbols
from former periods of Jewish sovereignty were sought. (...)
The design process was long, as two almost antithetical
forces tried to dictate the character of the emblem
religious and ritual values, on the one hand secular
and sovereign norms, on the other. (...) The Provisional
Council of State announced a competition to design the emblem
of the State. The proposal submitted by graphic artists Oteh Walisch and
W. Struski was chosen out of 450 designs submitted by 164
participants. The seven-branched candelabrum of the Temple
the menorah occupies the center of the Walisch
and Struski seal. The candelabrum is undoubtedly the oldest
Jewish symbol. It has no parallel in heraldry
and produces an immediate association with the subject it
represents the Temple in Jerusalem.
The artists took as their model the depiction of the menorah
in relief on the Arch of Titus in Rome.
They simplified the shape into a sort of schematic negative
in white, displayed against a light-blue background. The
upper portion of the emblem showed a white band, on which the
seven golden stars are emblazoned, which Theodor Herzl had intended for the
flag of the Jewish state. He had meant these stars to stand
for the seven-hour work-day he envisioned for the future
citizens of the Jewish state. (...) But the proposal was not
accepted. A special "Emblem and Flag Committee" was
set up to deal with new proposals; it was headed by Beba
Idelson and its members included cabinet ministers and
members of the Knesset. The committee decided that the
seven-branched menorah should be one of the elements of the
emblem (...). The emblem of the new state, adopted by unanimous vote of
the Provisional Council of State, includes several ideas from
the earlier designs (but omits one of them): the olive
branches express the state's peaceful intentions; the menorah
attests to the link of the Jewish people with its glorious
past in the homeland and the return of the state to its
former luster (through the metaphor of the restoration of the
menorah from the Arch of Titus to its place in Israel), and
indirectly, the beginning of the end of the Diaspora.
"Israel" is the new name of the State, but the
inscription is also a remnant of the phrase "Peace over
Israel," which had been part of an earlier proposal. The
element that was dropped was Herzl's seven stars. Santiago Dotor, 10 October 2002 It seems that the last Israeli flag that showed some
imagination was the Zionist flag,
which was modified to the national flag, now more than 100 years
old. Almost all of the flags you can see in Israel are
logo-on-bedsheets or a logo replacing the magen David on
the national flag. Only rarely can you find some imagination and
mostly in commercial flags.Only two commercial flags are worth
noting. The first is the flag of Delek,
an oil company. The second one was the former flag of Egged. The Light-FlagA blogger I know posts
pictures of an Israeli flag made of lights (for Tuesday' Memorial
Day and Wednesday's Independence Day celebrations) in Tel Aviv at
<ajhistory.blogspot.com>. For those who are not familiar with it, we celebrate it
according to the Hebrew calendar, so even thou it was on 14 May
1948, we celebrate it on He BeIyar (5th day of the eigth month). In may 2008, Israel will celebrate its 60th anniversary. The
government decided to adopt a special logo which will appear on
all its publications and on public transportation busses, trains,
planes etc... Following my previous post, above is the winning design of the
60th anniversary logo, which will be used also on flags. The
designer is Ramo Sintas and its explanation is as follows:
"We choose a design that combines flow and
innovation. This is an Israeli logo that express optimism
which is derived from of hope and great faith." The
inscription is: "Israel - today and the tomorrow". Flag of Israel's 60th
independence anniversary was sold in eBay.
Ian Sumner, 11 Oct 2012
Flagpole
M. Breier, 24 June 1999
Coat-of-Arms
image by eljko Heimer
Coat-of-arms adopted 10th February
1949 (11 Shevat 5709), published 11th November 1949
Other Flags
Dov Gutterman, 23 May 2000
Nathan Lamm, 2 May 2006
The building in the photo is the city hall of Tel-Aviv and I can
assure you that in reality the lights are blue and
white....Better photo at <maxvps019.maximumasp.com>.
Few words about the flag. This flag is claimed to be the biggest
light-flag in the world. It is situated on the southern wall of
Tel Aviv city hall facing Rabin Square and is made of 580,000
bulbs. It is called Lights of Hope' Flag, and the bulbs was
lightened gradually in the past month. Each bulb represent a
donation of 18 NIS (~4 US$) for ELEM (organization for youth in
danger). The number 18 (in Hebrew Hai, mwans Live) is
symbolic.
Dov Gutterman, 3 May 2006
60th Anniversary Logo
It is also planned to have this logo on flags which will be
hoisted next to national flags.
Six proposals reached the final cut, that will be held today.
Some are following the major motif of the celebrations which is :
"Children of Israel - Citizens of Tomorrow".
The daily Yedi'oth Akharonot of today published the final six proposals. Later
today or tomorrow we will know who is the winner.
Dov Gutterman, 3 September 2007
Dov Gutterman, 4 September 2007
Bill Garrison, 14 April 2008