The City of Tel Aviv is giving an award for exceptional artistic creativity to some artist who stuck the Israeli flag in his tuches. The prize this artist will receive from this award is 9000nis.
source: Maariv

Now, I can be fine with a decision that defacing the flag is not illegal but is a protected freedom of expression. No problem. But the State should fund such a thing? The state should award such a display and consider it great artistic ability and creativity? That's ridiculous. Let this guy go fund his own work.

I wonder if the judges would have declared him a winner had he defaced the flag of Tel Aviv rather than that of the State of Israel.

This is pretty funny.. as part of the intra-coalition squabbling between Habayit Hayehudi and Yisrael Beyteynu, YB found a way to make some trouble for Habayit Hayehudi and Naftali Bennett.

Bennett, in his capacity as Minister of Education, is being called to the Education Committee of the Knessset to answer questions and explain why so many schools receiving state funding, especially in, but not limited to, the Arab and Haredi sectors, do not fly the Israeli flag, as per the law that requires them to do so.

According to the Committee's research in a variety of cities around the country, in academic institutions only 62% have the flag displayed. In lower education institutions, 30% in the general sector do not fly the flag, while in each of the Haredi and Arab sectors 88% (of obligated institutions) do not fly the flag.

The committee wants Bennett to explain why they do not fly the flag, as per the law, and how he plans to enforce this in light of the inconceivable numbers that make a joke out of the law and out of the Israeli flag. According to MK Oded Forer, Bennett needs to visit the schools and speak about the values and symbols of the state and ensure that the law is kept and enforced. This is not an issue for a Facebook post, but for actually working to explain this to the schools.
source: Haredim10

I cant wait to hear Bennet's explanation

The Ministerial Legislative Committee is set to vote, today, on a law proposal proposed by MK Oren Hazzan (Likud). The proposal, if passed, would require the placement of an Israekli flag at any event attended by an Israeli MK in an official capacity. Organizers of events that do not wave the flag as required by law (should the law pass) would be subject to a 5000nis fine.

Hazzan explains in his proposal that MKs, Jewish and Arab, do not necessarily identify with the State symbols, but when called to be a representative at an event, the MK is representing the Knesset and what the State symbolizes. If one receives a platform in his position of MK, he must also see himself as obligated to the State.

To that end, Arab MKs from the United Arab List, including MKs Ahmed Tibi and Youssef Jabrin have said that they would intentionally break this law should it pass. Tibi said this Knesset excels in populism, while Jabrin says the Arab citizens cannot identify with the flag and forcing it on the Arab MKs opposes the freedom of expression and the conscience...and for 70 years Israel has failed to adopt State symbols that are shared among its citizens.

The Institute for Democracy in Israel also opposes this law proposal, due to it being on contrast to freedom of expression and that such a law would prevent Arab MKs from participating in events and might also cause institutions to not invite MKs to its events, thus turning many such institutions into anti-establishment institutions.
sources: Maariv, Srugim

The Knesset just passed some laws in their final readings and advanced some others. Here are a couple of the more interesting ones:

  -- The flag law was passed in its final reading.
This law intends to protect the sanctity of the flag (and other State symbols). According to the law until now, someone desecrating the flag would be liable for a fine of up to 300 lirot - yes, lirot - a currency that no longer even exists. According to the new law passed, that fine has been changed to being up to 58,400nis, along with the possibility of up to 3 years in prison.

As well, anyone caught burning the flag shows by his actions that he "does not want to be a citizen of the State" and will lose some of his or her benefits from the State they so despise. Examples of benefits they might lose are bituach leumi stipends and allowances, health care subsidies, academic stipends and subsidies, etc.
source: Knesset website

It is going to be interesting to see if this actually gets applied in practice and if the threat of the law minimizes the inclusion of flag burning in the multitude of protests and riots held by various communities on a fairly regular basis.

   --- the law allowing a division of "nursing hour" between fathers and mothers in the workplace was passed unanimously (by 42 MKs).

Until now a new mother back to work has been allowed, by law, to take an additional hour over the course of the day to be used for nursing her baby. This daily hour is limited to the first four months after returning from maternity leave.

The new law will allow both parents to divide this hour between them and decide whether the mother will use it to feed her child, whether the father will or whether they will split the time between them. The term "nursing hour" would be changed to be called "parenting hour".
source: Knesset website

This reminds me of the gemara that describes a man whose wife died, leaving him a newborn baby to care for. He was too poor to be able to hire a wet-nurse, so he davened to Hashem for a solution. Sure enough, he grew breasts like a woman and began lactating, thus he was able to feed his baby (the amoraim of the gemara debated whether this was a good thing or a bad thing).

That guy would have been able to fully take advantage of this law, even without changing the name to "parenting hour".

Regardless of that, it is a good thing to allow both parents the opportunity to spend the bonding time through feeding with the baby.

The Ministerial Legislative Committee approved a law proposal that would amend the flag and symbols law.

MK Naveh Boker (Likud) proposed increasing the punishment for people who burn the Israeli flag. She would have the punishment go up from 300 lirot to 50,000nis, and from one year of prison to three years.

The committee rejected the suggestion to also cancel any rights to various financial benefits such as unemployment, grants and scholarships.

The idea of this, as Boker explains, is to stop the incitement in Arab towns and on campuses, where they hold protests every few months that include flag burning, and then they quiet down and get back to their lives enjoying their benefits from the State.
source: Ch10

I find it amazing that when they switched the currency to the New Israeli Shekel they did not adjust all the laws that refer to money and amend them to reflect the new form of currency.

This will not just affect Arab Israelis, but also more extreme Haredim, though they were not mentioned in the article. We'll see how it is enforced. They already often get taken in by the police and then released shortly after due to community pressure placed on the police, so it remains to be seen if this will change that or not.

.

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...

Even minor changes can be significant. Deputy Minister of Religious Affairs Rav Eli Ben Dahan has sent out a letter to all city religious councils informing them that as he sees the Religious Council as being an important government service and instrumental in assisting the people, in the days leading up to Yom HaZikaron and Yom HaAtzmaut all religious council buildings should be flying the Israeli flag.
(source: Bechadrei)


Personally I would not have expected such a letter to have to be sent. I assumed there was already a law saying that all government buildings must fly the Israeli flag. If not all the time at least in the period of Yom haAtzmaut and Yom HaZikaron. Seeing this notice from Ben Dahan made me do some searching to see what the law is.

it turns out that only very few buildings by law must fly the Israeli flag. In 1986 the Flag and Emblem Law, which originally said nothing about what buildings must fly it, was amended according to the new section 2A the State flag shall be flown at these places (no official English translation this time):
a. main office of Government ministeries, authorities and statutory corporations.
b. on the building where Head of a Local Authority chamber is.
c. on the Administration building of the high education institutes.
d. on other public buildings and buildings of corporations which supply public services, as imposed by the Minister of the Interior in regulations on approval of the Knesset Interior and Environment Committee

As well, Section 2B states, "The State flag shall stand at the chambers of Ministers and Ministerial General Managers, court houses and other officials chambers as imposed by the Minister of Interior on approval of the above Knesset Committee."

In 1997 the law was further amended and the main administrative building of schools were also added to the list.

I guess as head of the ministry Ben Dahan can tell them what to do, even if by law there is no such obligation. I wonder what the penalty will be, of if one is even possible, if a specific religious council chooses not to fly the flag despite Ben Dahan's warning.

My personal opinion is that every government building should be obligated to fly the flag at all times, not just  on Yom HaAtzmaut.

Flying the flag for Yom HaAtzmaut might be a minor issue, overall in the scheme of things  but it is a major step in implementing policy of turning the Rabbanut back into a Zionist entity, as HaBayit HaYehudi had made part of their campaign.

Reports have it that the haredi newspaper "Bakehilla" ran a timely feature in the childrens section of their weekly newspaper this past week. The feature was about flags of the world. The article detailed flags from countries around the world, showing pictures and explaining the history and symbolism behind the design of the flags.

The article left out [at least] one flag from their list. The Israeli flag. The Israeli flag did not even merit a mention in the list, let alone an explanation. (source: Ynet)

Would including the Israeli flag in the article have turned them into Zionists? Not including it is just a distortion of reality. Like it or not, we all live in Israel, the paper is an Israeli newspaper, we benefit from the State in various ways, the State exists. You do not have to be a Zionist to admit that the State, and its symbols, exists, and discussing the symbols of the State does not make one into a Zionist.

As well, even without being a Zionist, does the haredi community suddenly not admit that it lives in Israel? Is Israel such a persona non grata in the haredi community that it cannot even be mentioned?

It is one thing to not support, to be neutral, as the haredi community generally describes its relationship with the State (besides for the small groups of anti-Zionists), and it is another thing to stick your head in the sand and deny reality.

------------------------------------------------------
Reach thousands of readers with your ad by advertising on Life in Israel
------------------------------------------------------