Flying the flag

The following two excerpts are from this past week Torah Tidbits:

1.

In an essay written many years ago, Rav J.B. Soloveitchik spoke to this issue:
"If you ask me, how do I... look upon the flag of the State of Israel, and has it any halachic value? - I would answer plainly... in the Shulchan Aruch (it says): "One who has been killed by non-Jews is buried in his clothes, so that his blood may be seen and avenged... In other words, the clothes of the Jew acquire a certain sanctity when spattered with the blood of a martyr. How much more is this so of the Blue and White flag, which has been immersed in the blood of thousands of young Jews who fell in the War of Independence defending the country and the population... It has a spark of sanctity that flows from devotion and self-sacrifice. We are all enjoined to honor the flag and treat it with respect", (Rabbi Soloveitchik, Five Addresses, p.139).
Rav Soloveitchik's appreciation of the soldiers' self-sacrifice was mirrored by other Roshei Yeshiva who did not share his own political affiliation with Religious Zionism. In a talk before his students during the Yom Kippur War in 1973, reprinted in his "Sichos Mussar", the Mirrer Rosh Yeshiva, Rav Chaim Shmulevitch likened the IDF soldiers to “Harugei Lod,” the martyrs of Lod, of whom the Talmud (Baba Batra 10b) states that: “No person is worthy of standing in their presence.” He demanded that his students appreciate the fact that their debt to these soldiers was limitless, and that they pray extensively on their behalf.
Rabbi Ari Kahn has beautifully retold the following story regarding Rav Yisroel Zev Gustman from which I present a small selection:
"The year was 1982. Once again, Israel was at war. Soldiers were mobilized, reserve units activated... On the eve of the 19th of Sivan, in particularly fierce combat, Shlomo Aumann fell in battle.
...On the way back from the military cemetery, Rav Gustman turned to another passenger in the car and said, "They are all holy... every single one of them." He then turned to the driver and said, "Take me to Professor Aumann's home".
...Rav Gustman entered and asked to sit next to Professor Aumann...” I am sure that you don't know this, but I had a son named Meir... (who) was taken from my arms and executed ...My Meir is a kadosh - he is holy - he and all the six million who perished are holy."
Rav Gustman then added: "I will tell you what is transpiring now in the World of Truth in Gan Eden - in Heaven. My Meir is welcoming your Shlomo into the minyan and is saying to him “I died because I am a Jew - but I wasn't able to save anyone else. But you - Shlomo, you died defending the Jewish People and the Land of Israel'... Rav Gustman continued: "I never had the opportunity to sit shiva for my Meir; let me sit here with you just a little longer".
Professor Aumann replied, "I thought I could never be comforted, but Rebbi, you have comforted me."

2.

What is Holy about the Israeli Flag? by Rabbi Ephraim Sprecher, Dean of Students, Diaspora Yeshiva Does the Israeli Flag have Kedusha? Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik is quoted in the book, “Nefesh HaRav”, that there is a passage in the Shulchan Aruch that relates to the sanctity of the flag of the state of Israel.
The Shulchan Aruch in (Y.D. 352) rules “that one may not bury the deceased in expensive shrouds.” Later in Y.D. 364, it is ruled “If a Jew is found murdered, he is to be buried as he was found, in his bloody clothes without any shrouds.” The Shach (a commentary on Shulchan Aruch) explains the reason for this Halacha is, “since this Jew was murdered, we bury him as he was found, in order to kindle G-d's wrath against the enemy who killed this Jew.” This means that G-d sees how this person was buried without the usual burial shrouds, and arouses G-d's compassion to avenge the spilled Jewish blood.
Rav Soloveitchik applies this idea to the Flag of Israel as well. Towards the end of the Israeli War of Independence, the UN set a specific date by which the Israeli State and the Arab states could seize territories. By that date, any parcel of land captured by Israel, verified by raising the Israeli Flag on that spot, would remain under Israeli control, and any parcel in Arab hands would remain outside the border of the new State of Israel. During this period a great deal of Jewish blood was spilled in an attempt to raise the Israeli Flag over these parcels, to acquire the land for the new Jewish State.
Many heroic Jewish fighters sacrificed their lives to raise the Israel (Jewish) Flag. Therefore, Rav Soloveitchik felt the Israeli (Jewish) Flag had the sanctity and status of a murdered Jew's clothing, for it symbolized spilled Jewish blood. Thus, when the Israeli Flag flies, it arouses G-d's divine compassion for the Jewish People anywhere it is seen.
Let the Israeli flag fly forever. !

Something to think about...