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Betsy Ross' Connection
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60

FRIDAY, JUNE 8, 1990

F

lag Day is celebrated
on June 14, the day in
1777 when the Con-
tinental Congress adopted
the Stars and Stripes as our
official flag. It is a legal
holiday only in Penn-
sylvania, home of Betsy
Ross, but is observed in most
cities with special programs,
parades and, of course, the
flying of the flag.
It was first observed in
1877 during the centennial
year of the flag, and during
W.W. I, Woodrow Wilson es-
tablished the day as an an-
nual national celebration.
George Washington had re-
quested a flag with thirteen
six-pointed white stars on a
field of blue. It was the
seamstress, Betsy Ross, who
changed the number of
points on the stars to five.
This is even more
'remarkable because Betsy
Ross is known to have had
Jewish relatives by mar-
riage. When we read about
prominent early Americans
being part of extended Jew-
ish families, it is not always
easy to believe. But a per-
sonal experience with the
family gives a different feel-
ing about them.
When you stand before the
grave of Wyatt Earp in the
Hills of Eternity Cemetery
of Congregation Shearith
Israel in Colma, Calif.,
where he is buried in the
Marcus family plot, it
becomes less of a challenge
to picture him at a family
seder. I once had a similar
experience with a relative of
Betsy Ross.
In 1963, a 55-year-old
Christian woman came to
me requesting instruction
for conversion. Her husband,
also Christian, did not wish
to convert. She told me that
her elderly mother had very
recently died and that her
last wish was that her
daughter become a Jew. She
told me that she was related
to Betsy Ross but did not
know how.
I remembered having read
that Betsy Ross was related
to a prominent colonial Jew-
ish family. Two weeks later,
this lady returned with
something wrapped in a
brightly colored tablecloth.
She wanted to know if I
could tell her what it was. It

Rabbi Leonard Winograd is a
retired rabbi living in Pitt-
sburgh.

turned out to be a shining
brass menorah — not a
Chanukah menorah but the
seven-branched candelabra
which has so often in our
history been the symbol of
Judaism, as on the Arch of
Titus in Rome.
She told me that it had
always been in her family,
although she had no idea
what it was. Her name was
Mary, and at the age of 58 I
completed her conversion. I
was told that at her death,
she was buried in the temple
cemetery in Johnstown, Pa.

The first Jewish flags were
designed in the biblical
period, when each of the
tribes of Israel had its own
flag and its own symbol. The
first known use of the six-
pointed star was in the 16th
or 17th century, when it was
awarded to the Jewish com-
munity of Prague by the
secular rulers.
The Jewish community of
Vienna also adopted it as
their symbol, as did the aris-
tocratic Rothschild and
Montefiore families. David
Wolfsohn designed the
Zionist flag, combining the
tallit and the Magen David.
During the Golden Age in
Spain, in the 10th century,
there was a Jewish battalion
whose colors were yellow
and black. At least that was
the color of their turbans.
This was in the time of King
Alfonso V, who granted Jews
complete equality with
Christians. There were
40,000 Jewish soldiers in his
army.
In 1933, the 18th Zionist
Congress adopted the flag
we have come to recognize as
the flag of the State of Israel.
When we were scattered
throughout the world and
had no land or army, we had
little use for a flag, but from
1933 on, the blue Magen
David flanked by two blue
stripes on a field of white
was to be found in most syn-
agogues beside the flag of
the country in which the
house of worship was
located.
Scholars say that the Star
of David was a five-pointed
star, not a six-pointed one,
and that the hexagon is real-
ly the Seal of Solomon.
Actually, a Magen David
is not a six-pointed star but
two interlocking triangles.
Scholars also tell us that the
color which the Bible de-
scribes as blue was actually
what we would call purple.

Jewish Telegraphic Agency