World
Photo courtesy NJJN
Flag Debate
Some U.S. Jews question
displaying Israel's flag.
An American and an Israeli flag fly outside the Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy in
Livingston, N.J.
Sue Fishkoff
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
San Francisco
W
hen Rabbi Serena Eisenberg
took over as the Hillel direc-
tor at Brown University in
the fall of 2005, she was surprised there
wasn't an Israeli flag in the building.
Eisenberg thought one should go up.
But the issue proved divisive.
"The Israeli flag is a potent symbol,
with many different meanings for dif-
ferent people said Benj Kamm, who
was then the Hillel student president.
"Most people, but not all, agreed that the
flag was an Israeli nationalist symbol,
although people disagreed about to what
extent we as a Jewish community were
obligated to support Israel and in what
ways."
Some students wanted a flag; others
didn't. The important thing, Kamm said,
was to keep the discussion open.
"I heard various proposals during my
time at Brown: a flag, no flag. A flag, and
also a Palestinian flag. A flag, but not in
the main entryway," said Kamm, who has
since graduated.
Finally, last fall the Hillel staff put up
the Israeli and American flags, neither
of which had flown for years. They did it
without approval from students, who at
Brown sit on Hillel's board of trustees.
That didn't sit well with some. Kamm
said he was "frustrated and disappoint-
ed" that the "decision had been made by
fiat."
Rabbi Eisenberg insists the issue
"hasn't been controversial" since the flags
went up. Hillel continues to facilitate
conversations about Israel and Jewish
identity, she said, and while the flag "can
be an important lightning rod for that
discussion:' the deeper issues are really
the point.
The Brown Hillel isn't the only
American Jewish group to question
whether it should fly the Israeli flag.
Other Jewish student groups, organiza-
tions and congregations have had similar
discussions, with varied results.
A Potent Symbol
For American Jews, the Israeli flag is
indeed, as Kamm put it, a potent sym-
bol. For some, it represents solidarity
with the Jewish people. For others, it
celebrates Israeli statehood after 2,000
years of struggle. And for others, it signals
approval of the Israeli government and its
policies.
"To me, it's the flag of the Jewish
people said Vavi Toran, a San Francisco
Jewish educator who was born in Israel.
But, she admits, the flag "has a lot of bag-
gage — a Star of David, a tallit [prayer
shawl]."
"It was a symbol of the Zionist move-
ment before the State of Israel. But it's no
longer just that, what it was supposed to
mean:"
The Hillel at the University of
Michigan in Ann Arbor has long dis-
played Israeli flags, but until recently did
not hang one at the front entrance. Two
years ago, a student brought a motion to
put one there.
The motion passed, but former
Michigan Hillel governing board chair
Perry Teicher of West Bloomfield said it
generated intense conversation.
While Teicher said Hillel members "are
not uncomfortable" displaying the Israeli
flag — and he's glad it's there — the
group was concerned about sending a
welcoming message to unengaged Jews
and non-Jews walking in the door.
"We asked, 'What is the most effective
way to welcome in people who might not
agree with Hillel's stand on supporting
Israel?"' Teicher said. "Would this live
up to the university's ideal of engaging
people in conversation who may not
agree with you?"
Appropriate Issue
the sanctuary. But the decision is left to
individual congregations.
Rabbi Dan Freelander, vice president
of the Union for Reform Judaism, says it's
"very customary" for a Reform congrega-
tion to display the Israeli flag along with
the American flag, either in the sanctuary
or elsewhere in the building.
But he notes that the practice waxes
and wanes with Israel's position on
the world stage. In times of peace and
prosperity, more groups put up a flag; in
times of violence, or when a Jewish group
disagrees with something Israel is doing,
they tend not to display the flag.
That, Rabbi Freelander said, is as
wrong and illogical as disowning your
parents when they make you angry.
Most synagogues don't have an articu-
Wayne Firestone, president of Hillel: The
Foundation for Jewish Student Life, said
it is appropriate that Jewish students have
these conversations and
that Hillel facilitates them.
"Israel is a central part
of our Jewish identity, and
with that comes ques-
tions," he said. "New popu-
lations of young students
are coming into a learning
environment, and having
them ask why there's a flag
is a good thing."
Firestone likens it to
the Passover Haggadah.
"Hillel is like the seder
table — we invite all four
kinds of children to come
and ask their questions,
An Israeli and American flag fly side by side.
not just the questions we
like he said.
Synagogue debate on the
issue adds a new dimension: How appro- lated policy on flags. The question arises
only when a special event is planned.
priate is a nationalist symbol in a place
In 2000, Vavi Toran worked with
of worship?
No stream has an official policy on the Congregation Sha'ar Zahav in San
Francisco on a memorial for the fifth
question. There are a handful of Reform,
anniversary of the assassination of Israeli
Conservative and Orthodox responsa
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. She was
(rabbinical opinions), all decades old.
They tend to agree that it's acceptable
shocked when some congregants said
but not compulsory — and perhaps not
Flag Debate on page 26
even preferable — to display any flag in
May 24 a 2007
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