Midrash Bemidbar Rabbah teaches that the flags – degalim – displayed by each of the tribes when they encamped in the wilderness carried great symbolic meaning. Playing with the letters in the word for flag – dalet, gimmel, lamed – the Midrash reads the flags as indicators both of grandeur (gedulah) and of separation (geder). Flags, grandeur, separation: “the flags (degalim) were grandeur (gedulah) and separation (geder) for Israel.”

This has been a week of flag waving for Israel, a week both of grandeur and separation. It has also been a week of conflicting emotions, ranging from ecstasy to agony, and of disturbing juxtapositions. A fine line distinguishes grandeur from grandiosity on the one end, and the Hebrew word geder means both ‘separation’ and ‘fence’ on the other. Flags flew this week in Tel Aviv, in Jerusalem, and on the Gaza-Israel border, all of them carrying great symbolic meaning.

On Saturday night, Israel won the Eurovision Song Festival. Netta Barzilai’s performance of a song called ‘Toy’ carried the day. Tel Aviv’s streets immediately filled with joyful Israelis, singing, dancing, and waving flags. The party lasted until dawn and featured Israel’s flag and the internationally recognized rainbow pride flag. Regardless of what one thinks about Netta’s song, it’s fair to say that this week began with a beautiful display of gedulah – grandeur/greatness – Tel Aviv style.

Sunday marked Yom Yerushalayim, the anniversary on the Hebrew calendar of the reunification of Jerusalem during the Six Day War. In recent years, Yom Yershalayim has been marked by an event known as the ‘March of the Flags’ – a parade into and through the Old City undertaken by young Israelis carrying Israel’s flag and waving it with pride and self-assertion. The march winds through the Old City’s central markets with special emphasis on the Christian and Muslim quarters, culminating in a joyful gathering at the Kotel. Grandeur for some, grandiosity and triumphalism for others (I’m in that second camp), the Jerusalem Day march quite clearly designates who’s in charge and who isn’t; as an act of self-assertion, Sunday’s flag waving signifies a certain kind of separation, a metaphorical fence that divides as much as it unites.

Then came Monday, May 14th, the 70th anniversary on the civil calendar of Israel’s proclamation of independence. The United States Embassy in Jerusalem was formally dedicated on May the 14th and the ceremony put the national flags of Israel and the USA on prominent display. Gedulah without doubt, depending on one’s politics either grandeur or grandiosity, Monday’s flag waving meant to convey pride and self-assertion, and, as speaker after speaker reminded the audience, a commitment to the truth of Israel’s and the Jewish people’s deep and enduring connection to the city of Jerusalem. Wave those flags, wave them wide and high.

At precisely the same moment, Palestinian protests along the border fence that separates the Gaza Strip from Israel reached a bloody and horrifying climax. For weeks, Gazans have been gathering at the separation fence to highlight their desire to return to the villages and towns where their families once lived, all places within the State of Israel. Palestinian flags and Hamas banners have figured prominently in these protests, more than a few of them attached to kites carrying explosive materials that protestors have flown over into Israeli territory, on a few occasions setting fire to fields in Israel. Across the fence sit the Israel Defense Forces, including sniper units, arrayed under the flag of the State of Israel. Their job is to protect the border and to prevent breaches. The flags separate and this week they witnessed terrible violence. There are many questions in the wake of Monday’s death toll. Was live fire necessary? Are there less lethal ways to protect the border? To what degree and in what ways has Hamas manipulated and choreographed these protests? Such questions and more are already up for public debate in Israel. Now, it seems to me, is a time for grief and sadness over the loss of innocent life and the seeming insolubility of this conflict. The flags bespeak separation; they also symbolize grief.

One more thought from the Midrash. The banners and flags are meant to symbolize longing and love. The prooftext is a verse from Song of Songs in which the maiden proclaims of her lover “his banner over me was love.” (Song of Songs 2:4) Longing for the Divine Presence, love for humanity and for one another, just love. At the end of this emotional roller coaster of a week, the flag I wish to wave is that banner of longing and love. I hope you’ll join me in that prayer – “Wave that flag; wave it wide and high.”

Shabbat Shalom & Hag Sameah