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LIFE IN ISRAEL
Israeli Jews, Arabs
Awash in Color Blue
RABBI BERNARD S. RASKAS
Special to The Jewish News
W
hen visiting an Arab
village in Israel, one
quickly notices that
the doors are painted blue.
Arab men saunter the streets
fingering strings of blue beads
(the so-called worry beads).
The women decorate their
faces with blue tattooed dots on
their foreheads, around their
lips and on their chins. The Be-
douin, both men and women,
paint a blue frame around
their with khol (eye
shadow).
If one inquires from these
people about the uses of the
blue color, the answer invari-
ably is that it is a protection
against the evil eye. The evil
eye is feared by people all over
the world, but particularly in
the Middle East.
By the same token, if one
walks the streets of Jerusalem
in the Jewish Quarter of the
Old City, or outside it in the
other quarters inhabited by
Jews who have lived in Arab
lands, one notices that the
doors and windows of many
houses are surrounded by a
light blue frame. One Yeme-
nite rabbi in Jerusalem ex-
plained the practice this way:
"We paint our houses blue
against the evil eye because
the Holy One, blessed be He,
also painted his dwelling place,
heaven, with the sky-blue
color. If we want to protect our-
selves from the evil eye, we do
as God did and paint our
houses blue."
Blue color and blue dye
played an, li i t rt role in Bi-
blical
ails' - - ir udic times.
Two primary Colors in decorat-
ing the first tabernacle are
blue and white. The ark, which
contained the Ten Command-
ments, was covered with "a
cloth of blue." The garments of
the priests were predominately
blue.
One of the most important
commandments, the wearing
of the tzitzit, fringes, required
that a cord of blue be appended
to he four corners of every
garment worn by a man. The
function of hese fringes was to
remind their wearer of "all the
commandments of the Lord"
(Numbers 15:39). According to
Maimonides, "Our rabbis ex-
plained that the blue is like the
sea, al the sea is like the
heavens, and the heaven is like
God's Throne of Glory."
Blue, in the early Jewish
tradition, was known as
tehelet. This color of blue used
to dye the fringes was taken
from a shellfish known as
chilazon. Today it is clearly
identified as a murex, a marine
creature. Since the exact proc-
ess for making the dye has
been lost, the fringes are no
longer dyed blue. However,
Talmudic law still holds that
one cannot recite the morning
shema prayer until it is light
enough to distinguish between
tehelet and white (Brachot 9b).
The Zionist flag in its pre-
. 14. Friday, December 26, 1986 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
•
'''r• • -;•
.
,
"143.
The Zionist flag, first displayed
in Boston.
sent form — two blue stripes on
white with a Star of David
(Magen David) in the center
was, interestingly enough,
displayed in Boston by the
B'nai Zion Society in 1891.
However, this was not known
to the delegates of the First
Zionist Congresa; and it was
David Wolfson who created the
flag of Zion on the model of the
tallit (prayer shawl), which, as
he pointed out, was the tradi-
tional flag of the Jewish
people, adding the Star of
David.
In 1933, the 18th Zionist
Congress decided that "by long
tradition, the blue and white
flag is the flag of the Zionist
Organization and the Jewish
People". This was also the flag
which, by special order issued
by Winston Churchill, became
the official flag of the Jewish
Brigade in World War II. In
1948 it formally became the
flag of the State of Israel.
In this past decade a Hebrew
song has arisen. It has become
very popular in Israel and it is
the anthem of the Jews in Rus-
sia who are determined to be
Jewish and to be free. The ref-
rain of the song is:
"Kachol velavan, kachol vel-
avan
Zeh tzevah sheli - Kol yamai
Volum"
Blue and white, these are my
colors
These shall be my colors all the
days of my life - forever.
Copyright (c)WNS-Seven Arts
Film On King
Ne'w York -7- The Anti-
Defamation League of B'nai,
B'rith has produced an 11-
minute video program honor-
ing Martin Luther King, Jr.,
the late civil rights leader
whose birthday will be cele-
brated as a national holiday on
Jan. 19.