Envisioning the Israeli flag: Bnei Menashe artwork center stage in new calendar
In addition to the multilingual siddur we are preparing for the Bnei Menashe (see the article here), a new calendar featuring Bnei Menashe artwork has just rolled off the press. The calendar is the result of a competition that Shavei Israel held with the Bnei Menashe in India on Israel Independence Day 2011 to create an “alternative” Israeli flag.
Now, of course, Israel doesn’t need another flag. The point was to learn more about how the Bnei Menashe imagine their future home; to go deeper into their vision of aliyah, yearning and redemption.
A group of 20 young Bnei Menashe men and women participated in the competition. The results were so inspirational that we decided to publish their artwork in a calendar, which juxtaposes the flags with the Hebrew months.
Each month features a different flag; a picture, quote and short biography of the artist and his or her family; and a description of the Bnei Menashe tradition for celebrating any Jewish holidays that fall during that period. The text is in both English and Hebrew.
We have already printed 1,000 copies of the calendar, which are heading off to India this week with the Shavei Israel staff members who are traveling there to teach Torah and Hebrew. Other calendars will be sent to the Israeli government ministries involved with immigration and absorption.
If you would like your own copy of this stirring memento of Bnei Menashe creativity, please contact us. The first 10 people to write in will receive the calendar as a free gift. After that, we’ll send you a calendar for a donation of $18 and above. All proceeds will go towards helping the Bnei Menashe community.
Here is a selection of the flags included in the calendar, along with the brief explanations by the artists of how they came to their particular conceptualizations.
“The color blue represents the water that is beneath and the heavens that are above. The color red is identified with warning and danger. The color white always represents purity and wholeness. The inside and outside blue hearts represent the heavens and the earth, which envelop us. The Star of David in the middle symbolizes the Jewish people’s place at the center of historical events. Also in the middle we put the two Tablets of the Law, which symbolize the Torah – the heart of the Jewish existence. We have given the flag the shape of a heart because the essence of the Torah is: “And you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” — Hagit Khaute, Elisheva Singson, Yaffa Haokip.
“The green color of the columns symbolizes for us the ideal of ‘spiritual ecology.’ The Torah represents an ideal life and, therefore, a healthy and complete national life is made possible by all of the Tribes of Israel guarding all of the mitzot. The Star of David symbolizes the protection given us by G-d. The yellow background symbolizes the light shining from the Torah which will light up the entire universe.” — Yochai Haokip
“The Hebrew letter alef in the center of my flag symbolizes many things to me: One Torah, one nation. All of them are protected within the Star of David. The blue and white represent the sky, or the reality in which ‘the stars’ are found. The 12 stars represent the 12 tribes of Israel, which exist and embody the same values, uniqueness and unity, and which at the same time are scattered throughout the world. The color red which surrounds the Star of David symbolizes the devotion necessary for our existence, as it is written “the land of Israel is obtained through suffering.” — Yehoshua Touthang
“This flag symbolizes ambitions for the future, but also the present: the position of Israel today. Unfortunately, the nation of Israel is still not whole and unified and therefore the Star of David is not complete. The two thin blue lines symbolize the process of redemption, which we are in the midst of. The red half moon symbolizes our wish for unity and redemption. The ‘zigzag’ of the line symbolizes the ups and downs of the process.” — David Manlun
“Not all of us are farmers, but almost all of us live near the land and agricultural areas and, therefore, for us green symbolizes plenty. I chose green in order to symbolize material wealth and especially the spiritual wealth of Torah study and spiritual elevation. The ten small white stars on the upper side of the flag symbolize the Ten Lost Tribes. The small brown dots at the bottom of the flag represent dirt or grains of sand, as it is written in Genesis “And G-d said to Abraham…I will make your seed as the dust of the earth…” The nation of Israel is compared to the moon, which decreases until it almost disappears but is always renewed.”– Odeliah Hangshing