CAPTURE THE HOLIDAY SPIRIT AT EUROPEAN MOTORS LET YOUR EMOTIONS CARRY YOU AWAY YOUR INTELLECT WON'T BE FAR BEHIND. , ras, ,r7sserrmaxrsrs a t,IsortS~wc ••• • IF YOU'RE LOOKING FOR THE MERCEDES WE EITHER HAVE IT OR CAN FIND IT. LEASING & FINANCING SERVICE & COLLISION EUROPEAN AUTO SERVICE, LTD. 21425 Woodward, Ferndale 399=3130/31 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.