Flying the Israeli flag is of value, as it identifies a Jew with his true homeland, Eretz Yisrael. It expresses a pride in being Jewish and the eternity of Hashem’s Holy People. That being said, the value does not outweigh the prohibition of endangering ourselves. Thus, before placing an Israeli flag outside one’s home he should assess the safety of doing so. This all being said, there are much more impactful ways of helping Israel, such as becoming active in pro-Israel organizations such as AIPAC and NORPAC.
– Rabbi Chaim Jachter is a prominent rabbi who serves as the rabbi at Congregation Shaarei Orah, the Sephardic Congregation of Teaneck, and is a popular Torah teacher at the Torah Academy of Bergen County. He also serves as a Dayan on the Beth Din of Elizabeth and has acquired an international reputation of excellence in the area of Get administration. He has authored sixteen books on issues ranging from contemporary Halacha, Tanach, Aggada, and Jewish Thought all available on Amazon.
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No. Flags are powerful symbols, but there is no mitzvah to display a flag. Rav Moshe Feinstein (Igros Moshe, Orach Chayim 1:46) stated clearly that the Israeli flag has no religious significance.
That is not to say that displaying the flag is unimportant. Showing solidarity with Israel is crucially important in our times. However, it is not proper to incur danger by flying the flag.
– Rabbi Elli Fischer is a translator, writer, and historian. He edits Rav Eliezer Melamed’s Peninei Halakha in English, cofounded HaMapah, a project to quantify and map rabbinic literature, and is a founding editor of Lehrhaus. Follow him @adderabbi on Twitter or listen to his podcast, “Down the Rabbi Hole.”
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In Israel where I live there are Israeli flags hanging everywhere expressing that the vast majority of Israelis are proud of the soldiers who are fighting at the fronts and who are risking their lives to protect their country.
In America, or for that matter most anywhere in the world, the question is whether an individual may place him/her self in a dangerous position, a makom sakannah, in order to express his /her feeling of pride to be a Jew and in support of Israel and hang an Israeli flag outside one’s home.
In general, one is not permitted to place oneself in danger, especially given the present situation in the United States and all over the world. Though we are motivated to be proud of our country Israel, on a personal level when it involves one’s family it is best to be safe and not invite danger in displaying the Israeli flag outside one’s home.
– Rabbi Mordechai Weiss lives in Efrat, Israel, and previously served as an elementary and high school principal in New Jersey and Connecticut. He was also the founder and rav of Young Israel of Margate, N.J. His email is [email protected].
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The answer to this question depends upon at least two factors: The reason why one wishes to hang the flag in the first place, and the seriousness of the concern for danger. Presumably, there are two (related) reasons for hanging an Israeli flag outside one’s home. One is as a general expression of Jewish pride in and identification with Israel, especially at this difficult time. The second is as an expression of support for and solidarity with the people living there, who benefit from knowing that people in Chutz LaAretz, who are not on the front lines of this battle, are behind them and care about them during this Eis Tzarah.
Both of these motivations have value. The Torah itself (Devarim 4:6-8) reminds us that we are a unique nation, with wisdom and discernment in the eyes of others, that has a special relationship with Hashem. In our daily recitation of the Birchos HaTorah, among other places, we speak of our having been chosen to receive the Torah (see Berachos 11b), a theme we reiterate in our tefillos and kiddush on Yomim Tovim. And we are taught in the Gemara (Berachos 6a) that Hashem Himself, as it were, wears tefillin, which proclaim that there is no nation like Klal Yisrael (see Shemuel Beis 7:23). Clearly, we should be proud of who we are and not frightened, ashamed, or embarrassed; to the extent that the Israeli flag, at least for some people, is a symbol which represents a declaration of one’s pride in the Jewish religion in general, it is understandable that one would wish to display it publicly.
We also know that as a people, we are to care and feel responsible for one another. “Kol Yisrael areivim zeh bazah” we are taught by Chazal in several places (see, for example, the Gemara in Shevuos 39a), a concept which has important halachic ramifications, as presented by the Gemara in Rosh HaShanah (29a) as elucidated by Rashi there (d”h af al pi), but which also speaks to the sense of national unity and concern for others which is a hallmark of our tradition. When one Jew, anywhere, is suffering, it is a problem for all of us and every one of us, even those who may not even know who the person is, is supposed to feel that person’s pain and try to alleviate it. It has been documented that soldiers and others who are in trouble draw chizuk and inspiration from knowing that there is a great big community out there which will never forget about or abandon them. If hanging an Israeli flag offers some measure of encouragement and hope to our brethren in Eretz Yisrael, it is likewise a worthwhile endeavor.
Nonetheless, it must be noted that one is not permitted to take risks with one’s own health and life, as indicated by the Gemara in Berachos (32b-33a, citing Devarim 4:15) and elsewhere. Based on various other sources, the Rambam (Hilchos Rotzeiach, chapters 11-12) and the Shulchan Aruch (Yoreh Deah 116:1-5 and Choshen Mishpat 427:7-10) note that Chazal prohibited many activities because they are harmful or life-endangering. Based on the anxiety which the Torah tells us that Yaakov Avinu felt when preparing to confront Eisav, and his subsequent cry for help due to his fear that he had already “used up” all his merits (Bereishis 32:8-12), the Gemara in Shabbos (32a) teaches that one must avoid placing himself in any dangerous situation. If hanging an Israeli flag would indeed be a danger, then one would be advised to avoid it.
One must, however, carefully weigh just how real and serious the danger of flying the flag truly is, and assess that against the positive benefits presented above. Although Rav Yosef Karo (in his Kessef Mishneh to Hilchos Rotzeiach 1:14 and his Beis Yosef to Choshen Mishpat 426) cites a passage in the Yerushalmi which suggests that one is obligated to actually risk one’s life in order to save someone who is in danger, he does not cite this in the Shulchan Aruch; given that flying an Israeli flag, while perhaps providing inspiration, will not save any lives, it would certainly not be proper to endanger oneself by doing so. At the same time, though, one should not be overly or excessively protective of oneself if serious benefits to others are at stake (see, in the case of jeopardizing one’s life to save someone else, Aruch HaShulchan to Choshen Mishpat 426:4 and Mishnah Berurah 329:19); one should thus determine the nature of the danger of hanging the flag and do an honest cost-benefit analysis.
– Rabbi Michael Taubes has been involved in Jewish education, formal as well as informal, for over 40 years, serving both in the classroom and in various administrative posts. He is presently a Rosh Yeshiva at RIETS and Yeshiva University High School for Boys. In addition, he is the spiritual leader of Congregation Zichron Mordechai in Teaneck, N.J.
