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April 28, 2006
What Israel means for a Jew
Reflections on Yom Ha'atzmaut from a Canadian in the homeland.
FREEMAN PORITZ
I went to visit my grandma today. She's staying at a hotel in the
centre of Tel-Aviv and after the routine greeting of hugs and kisses
and "how are you's?" I instructed her to take a look out
the window and watch the flags that were being put up on all the
flagpoles on Ben-Yehuda Street and the neighboring Tel-Aviv boulevards.
The Israeli flag, displaying a blue Star of David centred on a white
background in between two horizontally positioned blue lines, is
a symbol of strength and immense pride for Israelis. The flag's
roots lie in Israel's religio-cultural base as the Jewish national
homeland, with the blue lines on the flag's white background representing
the tallit and the Star of David serving as the symbol that once
rested on the shield of the mighty ancient Israelite leader King
David.
Every year, the flags are raised in a powerful manner, quantitatively
overshadowing everything else. They tower over the streets of every
section of the country, as if to say: "We are here to stay."
From the large metropolitan cities of Tel-Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa,
to even the most remote Jewish settlements in the West Bank, the
flags are predominant, powerful, even infringing. Every April in
Israel, the flags are raised to commemorate the establishment of
the tiny, modern, Jewish state.
The flags of April serve essentially as a method of counting down
the days, a precursor for the big celebration that usually falls
in May (the date of the actual holiday varies because it is celebrated
according to the date on the Hebrew calendar and not the date on
the Greco-Roman calendar). On May 14, 1948, David Ben-Gurion proclaimed
Israel's independence from a tiny conference hall on Rotschild Avenue
in central Tel-Aviv. The young nation of Israel was immediately
attacked by the five Arab states of Jordan, Egypt, Iraq, Syria and
Lebanon, yet miraculously survived and flourished.
When living in Canada, I felt sensational pride at the thought of
a dream realized. Fifty-eight years later, I now live in that nation
– a tiny strip of land between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean
Sea. A strong, proud, homeland of the Jews. Walking past city hall
near Rabin Square, I see that it is being gradually illuminated
like a mega-sized billboard to take the shape of a giant Israeli
flag. On May 3, Israelis all over the country will unify in an amazing
show of solidarity – emitting one key theme: permanence.
Freeman Poritz is a former Vancouverite now serving in
the Israel Defence Forces Diplomatic Corps.
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