THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, September 21, 1979 93
So Proudly She Waved Zion Flag .Takes Rightful Place at Fair
By DR. DAVID
GEFFEN
(Copyright 1979, JTA, Inc.)
(Editor's Note: Dr.
David Geffen is the
foreign coordinator of
the Historical Society of
Israel, and is doing work
on the history of Ameri-
can Jewish tourists in Is-
rael before the estab-
lishment of the state. He
made aliya with his fam-
ily two years ago, and
JIMP-- 7 are living in
..usalem.)
✓
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JERUSALEM — Rosh
Hashana 5665-1904 was an
important milestone in the
history of American Jewry.
On that day 75 years ago the
blue and white "Zionist-
Jewish" flag flew for the
first time side by side with
the flags of all the nations at
the World's Fair in St.
Louis.
In an editorial the Yid-
dishe Tageblatt noted:
"Alongside the banner of
Zion the flags of the other
nations were more brilliant.
It is," the paper continued,
"a modest blue and white
with a six-cornered star in
the center, but it means
much more to civilization,
means much more to hu-
manity than many another
of the flaunting banners
which have been crowded a
bit to make room for the
strange newcomer."
The story of how this
"strange newcomer" came
to fly so proudly at St. Louis
marks one of the early
triumphs of the fledgling
Zionist movement in the
United States. In particu-
lar, this event was an his-
toric turning point marking
the acceptance by the non-
Jewish community of the
flag as the symbol of the
land of Zion waiting to be
reborn.
The summer of 1904
was a sad one throughout
the Jewish communities
of the world. On July 3
Theodor Herzl died, and
the • widespread mourn-
ing for this visionary
reached unprecedented
dimensions. In the United
States, in addition to
memorial mass meetings
held by the Zionist organ-
izations, there were even
elements of the anti-
Zionist Reform sector
who, for the first time,
spoke in glowing terms
about Herzl's accom-
plishments.
Mammoth fund-raising
To Our Friends & Customers
NEW YORK — The
American Jewish Commit-
tee has urged the Senate
Judiciary Committee to re-
fuse to confirm any appoin-
tee to the federal bench who
belongs to a discriminatory
social club.
In a letter to committee
chairman Edward M. Ken-
nedy, Richard Davimos,
chairman of the AJCommit-
tee's national committee on
social discrimination, and
Seymour Samet, director of
its domestic affairs depart-
ment, pointed out that
judges who belong to clubs
which discriminate on the
basis of race, religion or
ethnic origin are reflecting
a "tacit acceptance of
bigotry."
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when the flag would ini-
tially be unfurled. When
Stiffelman first saw it, the
evening before Rosh
Hashana, he wrote:
"And there she flutters —
as if Zion was already the
home of the persecuted and
not the dream of the forsa-
ken people — now hanging
simply beside the flag pole,
like those who proclaim
that Zionism is not thesolu-
tion of the Jewish problem
— a light breeze stirs it from
its moorings — and now a
gust of wind sends the blue
and white waving in the
breezes — my heart with
rapture thrills, beating fas-
ter - and faster, my eyes
moisten and my frame
quivers with emotion at the
thought of the success of our
movement. The assurance
of Dr. Herzl's state."
The fair lasted for sev-
eral months, and Ameri-
cans came from all over
the country to visit the
fair. The Jews came not
only to see the exhibits at
the fair but also to see the
Jewish flag. One of those
visitors was George
Tunkle of Augusta, Ga.
Tunkle, a member of the
national executive commit-
tee of the Federation of
American Zionists, had
attended the Fourth World
Zionist Congress in London
in 1900 as an American
delegate. After the holidays
in 1904 he took the train
from Atlanta to St. Louis, as
he wrote, to see the "Zion
flag."
By the time he arrived in
the middle of October, the
one original flag had multi-
plied. Hence, when Stiffel-
man took him around the
fair grounds, he proudly
pointed out to Tunkle blue
and white flags on the
machinery, varied indus-
tries, manufacturers, elec-
tricity, education, agricul-
ture and liberal arts build-
ings. From one, seven had
sprung forth, and the sight
`Block Naming of Judges
Belonging to Biased Clubs'
A HAPPY NEW YEAR
e01111111
drives were held in memory
of the great leader. These
complemented the poignant
drawings and manifold
editorials which expressed
the grief of American
Jewry.
The Zionist chapter in
Pittsburgh decided that it
wanted to- memorialize
Herzl in a special way. Since
the World's Fair in St. Louis
was about to open, the
Pittsburgh Zionists felt that
this would be a most appro-
priate locale in which to
indicate the positive steps
being taken for the return to
the Jewish homeland.
What better way, the
members thought, than
with a flag of Zion. There-
fore, the chapter had a
white and blue flag, six by
nine feet, with a star in the
middle made up and sent it
to the press committee of
the fair requesting that this
flag of the Jewish nation be
hung over the "All-Nations
Building."
As soon as word of the
flag's arrival in St. Louis
got out, tremendous op-
position arose. In par-
ticular, the columns of
the American Israelite of
Cincinnati and the Re-
form Jewish Advocate of
Chicago were filled with
criticism of this Jewish
nationalistic trick. "This
is a bit of hutzpa," the Is-
raelite opined, "which
cannot be tolerated."
When the executive
committee of the fair re-
ceived the flag, there was a
heated debate as to what to
do with it. A local Zionist
enthusiast, Michael Stif-
felman, spent long hours
persuading the officials of
the fair that the flag did re-
present a nation, the Jewish
nation, and thus it should be
displayed with the flags of
all the other nations of the
world.
Ultimately, he was suc-
cessful, and Rosh Hashana
5665 was selected as the day
11=111111M11,
Davimos and Samet
pointed out that the Ameri-
can Jewish Committee, in
conjunction with other civil
rights organizations, had
long been active in the fight
against discrimination.
There has been a good deal
of progress, they said, in
lowering the barriers in
employment, housing and
education. HoWever, they
added, there has not been
significant achievement in
the domain of private city
and country clubs.
Orthodox Unit
Happy Over
Bilingual Rule
NEW YORK — Yeshivot
may continue to participate
in government-funded Yid-
dish bilingual education r
programs, even if such a
program is not available to
public school students, ac-
cording to a ruling by the
U.S. Office of Education.
The ruling came at the re-
quest of Agudath Israel of
America, which urged the
New York Board of Educa-
tion to continue its coopera-
tive arrangement with
yeshivot to provide Yiddish
bilingual education pro-
grams.
I-
left its impact on Tunkle.
"I stood and gazed
chained to the spot," he
noted, "scarcely believing
and my own eyes hardly
realizing that the flag of
Zion is a reality, floating
over the grounds of the
world's greatest fair, saying
as it were, to the inhabi-
tants of all the earth, To,
the Jews are a nation and
this is the nation's symbol.
Let skeptics and doubter
cease to doubt -- Zionism is
a living reality!' "
What a thrilling sight it
was 75 years ago on Rosh
Hashana when the blue
and white flag with a
Magen David joined the
ranks of the flags of the
nations at the St. Louis
World's Fair. That flag
represented then as it
does now "the strangest
and greatest manifesta-
tion of idealism and self-
sacrifice the world has
ever known."
On the diamond jubilee of
that event it is the hope of
Jews around the world on
this New Year of 5740 that
our flag will wave forever in
peace among all the nations
of the world.
r
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