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| click here for an article titled "The Flag of Israel: Facts, Symbol, & Meaning |
today (April 22, 2026) is Yom Haatzmaut (yom ha-atz-ma-oot) in Israel, our Independence Day! the holiday was established on May 14th, 1948, which according to the Jewish calendar was Iyar 5, 5708.
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| flag of Rishon LeZion, circa 1882 |
our people have been using a lunar calendar for the past 5,786 years and is the reason why our holidays seem to 'move around' according to the internationally recognized Gregorian calendar, that we also (obviously) use.
yesterday was Yom HaZikaron - our Memorial Day - established in 1963, because we choose to acknowledge that our freedom comes at the loss of too many of our brave soldiers and people, all of whom we honor with the highest respect, as we wouldn't be able to celebrate our independence without their sacrifice. the sirens that are used to warn us of incoming rocket and missile attacks are sounded for one minute in the evening to mark the beginning of the mourning period, and again for two minutes in the morning; for the duration of the sirens, all activities cease and no one moves.
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| Zionist Congress flag, 1899 |
while there was an earlier version of our flag created in 1891, and several other designs proposed along the way, the current version we know and love was officially adopted a few months after our independence was established, and was inspired by the 'tallit' - the prayer shawl - worn by men, and some women, during religious services.
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| traditional tallit |
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| click here to read all of this week's contributions! |
