Please ask one interpretive question of this article for the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs written by Alec Mishory, PhD. Identify, in your question, what interpretive methods you used to arrive at your question. You may absolutely refer to your Week One notes, but don't be limited by them.
Your question is due 1/4 by 11:59pm.
This is a relatively short question, it just seemed to be such a glaringly obvious issue
ReplyDeleteIt is quite interesting what the original problem seemed to be. It was “whether the Zionist banner should be the flag of the state or should be replaced”. The main issue seems to be what it represents, whether the flag should have religious, communistic, or secular ideas implanted in it. The question is is it wrong for the flag of a state to “take a side”? Meaning to say, Must a states flag be completely clean of controversy and not represent certain ideals to be representative of the state?
~Noah
Reading this article is very important to many Zionist Jews because many don't know the real reason of how the Jewish flag came about. I think it is really interesting that we chose the Star of David as our symbol for the Jewish flag. The Jews wanted to have a symbol like the Christians did, but we really didn't even need a special symbol like other cultures because then it would show how we just try to fit into the rest of society and want to be like everyone else, which were not. We of course did want a symbol to represent the Jewish people. Why out of all the different symbols from our past we chose the star of David? What made them decide this symbol? because this is going to represent the Jewish people for eternity.
ReplyDeleteZeke M.
I used prejudice and description to answer my question because I am already prejudice towards the Jewish flag and I agreed with what the article was saying and my feeling towards the object were completely changed because that is my icon. I also used prescription because our words can transform the icon of the Jewish flag into many different interpretations that we can use and its not just a flag; theirs a lot more to it.
ReplyDeleteZeke sorry there not together.....
The article raises the issue of wheter the WZO emplem should become the national flag of the state of Israel. Who would be appossed to such a flag, surly if someone wanted there to be a Jewish state, they would not have anything against the WZO, or is that the issue; they have some sort of ideological difference to the WZO. Do they?
ReplyDeleteHow does the Israeli flag define people outside of Israel? The article states that the flag was originally a Zionist symbol, not a national symbol. This means that people can hang an Israeli flag outside their window without automatically seceding from their native land. However, is it possible for a country to designate something their flag without it become identified with them? Of course not! So the flag is about being Zionist, not necessarily about being an observant Jew. The article also talks about the Star of David being a non-Jewish symbol. Today, I would find it hard to believe anybody does not recognize the Israeli flag and the Star of David as non-religious symbols. Even if this was not the original intent of the flag, how has this perception changed over time? Can the flag still be interpreted as believing in Israel’s right to exist? Can a Christian who feels this way hang an Israeli flag outside his door, even though he does not believe in Judaism? If the Israeli flag is just a political cause, of course he can, it would be the same as a “Save Darfur” bumper sticker. However, this is not the case; the Israeli flag IS closely associated with the Jewish religion, even though it was not the original intent. Has the Israeli flag met its goal? Has it succeeded in what is aimed to do 60+ years ago, or has it been bastardized to mean something else? What caused the change in meaning for the Israeli flag, was it religious Jews or all Jews? Is it possible for a nation occupied by one race or religion not to be associated with that religion? Is the Israeli flag still interpreted correctly?
ReplyDelete-Joey Eleff
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ReplyDeleteSimilar to Noah's, regarding the controversy over the flag being a religious emblem, and the flag to "take a side". However twelve national flags have either a Christian symbol or a Muslim Crescent. Israel was founded as a Jewish State, why would there be a tremendous amount of controversy over the symbol on the flag when there was hardly any uproar on the religious flags of the other twelve countries?
ReplyDelete~~Jon Levi
If the blue stripes of the Israeli flag were originally inspired by the design of tallit, then why was the star of David used as a part of the design too? The article says that the widespread use of the star of David started primarily because, "Jews needed a symbol of Judaism parallel to the cross, the universal symbol of Christianity." If the point of the symbol was to imitate another religions' way of, let's say 'marketing', then why was it used as a symbol of unity, if it was intentionally used for imitation? As Sholem thought, "...it was a symbol which had already attained wide circulation among the Jewish communities but at the same time evoked no clear-cut religious associations..." Of course today many people immediately associate the star of David with Judaism, but before the official Israeli flag was made public, many did not know the true reason for the symbol. It seems strange to me that the star of David was then assumed to be directly associated with the symbolism of the blue stripes after the flag was made official.
ReplyDeleteprevious question is from Rose L :)
ReplyDeleteThe article points back to the 16th century as a time when the use of the Star of David became prevalent, but the article does not explore the origins or the symbolism of the Star of David. The article refers the reader to an article, but the link provided leads nowhere. The details of history of the Star of David seem pretty important and I was quite surprised that the article didn’t elaborate on the subject. I was led to my question by a glaring absence of information. Here is my question: What are the origins and symbolism of the Star of David. Did David actually use the star? If he did, why? What is the symbolism? Whoever decided to use the Star of David as a symbol would have to answer why he chose a seemingly arbitrary symbol when Judaism is full of its own symbols, such as the Menorah, the dove with the olive branch, the High Priest’s breast plate, Moshe’s staff, the lulav and etrog, the Tabernacle, and the list goes on and on. Why the hexagram? If it was not David who first used it, why is it called the Star of David”?
ReplyDeletePerspective. I believe that just the act itself of making all of these decisions (to have a flag or not? what symbols to use? what will it represent? ect..) depend entirely on the perspective of those making the decisions. Were the people in power of these choices religious? Did they think the flag should stand for only secular values? and the list goes on and on. This said though, how can any of the choices these people agreed upon be fair? The flag was created after the holocaust... what if the people in position were turned away from God and the religious side of Judaism because of the holocaust and therefor just wanted to make the flag specifically secularly represented? Or, the opposite entirely? Perspective is what influences every decision that a person can make. Experiences and opinions influence a persons perspective. How can we ever trust one persons decision if everyone has different experiences and opinions? How can one flag, or one perspective, represent the people, specifically, the people of Israel?
ReplyDeleteSholem brings a valid point about the star not always being a Jewish emblem, so how come even though its on our flag that it is still a valid emblem and symbol for the jewish people? What about the Jews who dont believe in zionism at all? Do they know that this symbol was originally intended to challenge the Christians and represent the Jewish state?
ReplyDeleteI used reception to ask my question. I understand that creating this flag was a big deal, and maybe still is in debate, but I feel like at the time they were very pressured to challenge the Christians and prove to the world that we have established a Jewish state, but maybe their descision to make this symbol of the 6 pointed star was a little bit rash. Why not use a lion or something else that is known as a Jewish symbol?
The article speaks of the secular aspect of the Star of David vis-à-vis the religious aspect of the blue stripes. This comparison to me seems forced on both ends; not only did they base the color on the assumption that a talit is supposed to be tachelet blue; furthermore, when Mishory claims that the star of David didn’t have religious connotation at first he is correct, but he is ignoring the crucial element that when the heads of Israel decided on the flag (as we know it today) the symbol already had the religious connotation. How can Mashory, who I assume is relatively intelligent, base his history of the flag on such tangential arguments?
ReplyDeleteIn my question I used many different interpretive methods. I used time to see if the thoughts about the star being religious were before or after the decision to make the flag as we know it the official flag. I also use reception; my thoughts about Judaism, Zionism, tachelit, talitot, and the state of Israel all are different than those of the ones who either created or established the flag.
-Ben Z
Their choice of flag was clearly monumental; the flag, in some ways, is a represnetation of the Jewish people. The article encourages two main questions about the choices for the flag. 1. Why would a Jewish nation use a not inherently Jewish symbol (the hexagram) when they could have just as easily used a Menorah? 2. Why choose blue as the color of the stripes when the stripes are supposed to mimic the design of the talit, which generally uses black for the stripes? These questions can perhaps be answered by stating the new nation did not want to be totally governed by religion and expressed that through their flag. Is that really why or was their some other motive?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIs the Star of David a "symbol of Judaism parallel to the cross, the universal symbol of Christianity" because "they wanted something to adorn the walls of the modern Jewish house of worship that would be symbolic like the cross?" Or is the Star of David a symbol of "rebirth and new life for the Jewish people?"
ReplyDeleteI don't see how it could be both. And if both of these reasons are true which one came first? Was it that after copying the Christians idea of a symbol or icon we then thought of something the star could symbolize?
I interpreted the article and came up with my question based on "Description." I found that there were two descriptions of the symbolism (or reasoning) of the Star of David and that if both were true they weakened each other. This gave me the question of, which description is true? and if it is both which was first and why?