Looking Back

From the William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History 

accessible at www.djnfoundation.org

54 | JULY 6 • 2023 

‘Badge of Honor’
W

e have no flag, and we need one. If we desire to lead many men, we must raise a 
symbol above their heads,” Theodor Herzl declared in 1896 in his landmark essay 
Der Judenstaat. He was referring to a flag as an emblem for a future State of Israel: 
“For we shall march into the Promised Land carrying the badge of honor.”
Herzl’s plea for a Zionist flag would be fulfilled. Today, Israel has a distinctive national flag, 
easily recognized, which was adopted by the new state on Oct. 28, 1948. It features a Magen 
David or Star of David in the center of a white flag with two horizontal blue stripes. Note that 
the basic design resembles a tallit, a Jewish prayer shawl, which is white with black or blue 
stripes.
A blue and white flag with the Star of David was adopted at the first 
Zionist Conference in 1897. Although Herzl got his flag, it was not the one he 
had in mind. He desired a white flag with seven gold stars that indicated a sev-
en-hour workday, which would be symbolic of an enlightened modern state. 
I started to think about the development of the Israeli flag after finding an 
article by legendary Jewish Chronicle and JN editor, Phil Slomovitz, in the William 
Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History. Titled “Israel’s Badge of 
Honor: History of the Blue and White Flag and Dr. Theodor Herzl’s Dream of a 
7-Hour Working Day” (Oct. 1, 1948, JN), it is a good history of the origins of the 
Israeli flag. It notes the contributions and claims of such people as David Wolfson, Dr. Israel 
Belkind and Jacob Baruch Askowith. 
What is most interesting, however, is that Slomovitz was writing a few weeks before the 
State of Israel adopted its official flag. In fact, the Israeli government had solicited designs 
and had received 164 entries. Moshe Shertok, Israel’s first foreign minister, even resubmitted 
Herzl’s original idea for a white flag with gold stars. 
Slomovitz predicted that “Israel’s flag will, in all probability, retain the features of the 
ensign that has been in use for nearly half a century in Jewish communities throughout the 
world: the white background with blue stripes and the Magen David in the center.” 
Slomovitz was spot-on. Israel did indeed adopt the flag that had flown over many Jewish 
communities and institutions for nearly 50 years.
Since 1948, the Israeli flag has also flown many, many times in Detroit. It was published 
on hundreds, if not thousands, of pages in the JN. A 
search in the Archive for “Israeli Flag” raised nearly 700 
articles that cited the term. Images of the flag appear 
with hundreds of other articles.
Debates within the Jewish community about why 
and where an Israeli flag should be flown in the United 
States have occurred. In some cases, it has also triggered pro-
tests by anti-Israel and antisemite forces, simply because it is 
the symbol of Israel. 
Nevertheless, the flag of the Jewish homeland has flown 
at celebrations of Israel in Detroit — most often alongside 
an American flag — as well as at events that recognize 
the deep Israeli-Jewish Detroit connection. As Herzl 
hoped, the flag of Israel is indeed flown as a “badge of 
honor” for the Jewish people. 

Want to learn more? Go to the DJN Foundation archives, available 
for free at www.djnfoundation.org.

Mike Smith
Alene and 
Graham Landau 
Archivist Chair

