Posted on 07/04/25
Baltimore, MD - July 4, 2025 - Red, white and blue is the color theme for July 4th.. It is our flag, our “grand old flag” in the song that we sing, and the colors represent something deeper as do most countries flags with their specific colors.
Why these colors? Curious that I am, I discovered that red represents hardiness and valor, white is for purity and innocence, and blue stands for vigilance, perseverance and justice. These are the noble values that our American forefathers considered the foundation of this country and which we struggle to fight for especially today. When the flag was first created, no one really knew why those colors were chosen other than it was similar to the British flag which the people of the time were used to seeing. Only several years later did the meaning mentioned above become known.
According to Google, red is one of the most popular colors on flags worldwide. It can symbolize courage, sacrifice, and often represents historical struggles. This color query led me to thinking about the Israeli flag that is blue and white with the Magen Dovid in between the stripes. Naturally, my quest continued and I had to research those colors. Here is what I found on myjewishlearning.com website.
“ The combination of blue and white as the colors of the Jewish flag was derived from an 1860 poem, “Judah’s Colors,” by Austrian Ludwig August Frankl, which explained that the blue symbolized “the splendors of the firmament,” and the white represented “the radiance of the priesthood.” The blue stripes on the Zionist flag were also inspired by the stripes on the tallit (prayer shawl). They provided “religious and ritual symbolism of Jewish life guided by precepts of the Torah, while the Star of David reflected the unity of the Jewish people.”
Interestingly, the country that has had to struggle the most for its survival and recognition by the world at large does not have on its flag the very color that represents that: red. Rather, and unsurprisingly, her colors are spiritual in nature, most apropos for our Holy Land that is the epicenter for the world for all things holy; Torah and Mitzvos.
After this, I started thinking about other colors we have made part of our consciousness, and even in our wardrobe. These are yellow and orange. Yellow symbolizes Hope and actually originated in 1979 during the Iran hostage crisis when they took 52 Americans, mostly from the American embassy in Iran, and held them captive for 444 days. Does this sound familiar? The wife of the State Department officer who was in charge of that embassy made a comment about being patient instead of violent (protests) and to tie a yellow ribbon around a tree in doing something useful. A song was composed after that comment and thus the yellow ribbon (tied around trees!) was born. This symbolism of hope endures still today.
Currently, the yellow ribbon pin has become our connection of hope, along with our prayers, for our dear precious brothers and sisters still held hostage to come home now. In the preschool where I teach, I wear this pin on my work badge. I also have a yellow ribbon car magnet (amazon) on the back of my van. After Purim, I tied the leftover yellow ribbon around my door handle when I used that as part of my shaloch manos theme
The yellow ribbon has a twin. It is an orange ribbon. The color orange first made its debut back in 2005 when the Disengagement, or as I prefer to say, Expulsion, of the Jews living in the Gush Katif region occurred. Orange was representative of that area and after that terrible time, people wore orange on everything, from t-shirts to bracelets, in show of support and solidarity for the over 8,000 jews that had to leave their home. (some of whom still don’t have a permanent home.) Sadly, I remember this time well. It was summer vacation and we were travelling to family who lived in Atlanta. This happened uncannily during the 3 weeks and so we couldn’t listen to music on the long road trip. This was also before Torah Anytime days, or podcasts and smartphones. We turned on the radio instead and heard the whole tragedy while driving down South. Eerily, it was not a smooth trip. We had a flat tire an hour out of Maryland. Then we needed to stop for the night as it was late and our then-young children were tired and very cranky. We could not find a hotel anywhere nearby as they were all booked due to some planned event in the area. While not the same extent as the people of Gush Katif, we felt homeless as well as we had nowhere to go. In the end, we did find a hotel, after crying along with our Gush “family” who were weeping and singing(!) as they were forced to leave their homes, their livelihood (farms), their land, their lives.
Now, orange represents another tragedy. It embodies the horrific kidnapping of Yarden Bibas Shetichye, and subsequently the sadistic murders of Shiri Bibas and their two beautiful (orange) gingi-haired boys, Ariel and Kfir, Hashem Yikom Damam. Once again, orange showed up everywhere in the form of symbolic balloons, clothing, jewelry, art, and the Israeli flag with an orange stripe instead of blue. A dear friend of mine who was struggling with this particular horror of October 7th, as we all were, felt some sort of connection when she released her own orange ballons into the sky while holding the hand of her grandson. I added an orange ribbon to my shaloch manos and tied it to the door handle as well.
I’m not sure what my message is for now, just that we are still at war. Oh how nice if it were only color war, but it is indeed a color war. I pray the colors of peace and humanity prevail.
As Dovid Hamelech writes in Tehillim 20: 6, when he was in Yerushalayim and sent his general Yoav to battle the Enemy, and it is what we fervently pray for immediately:
Neranina Bishuasecha U’Vshem Elokeinu Nigdol....
(Hashem) we will sing (and with joy) in Your salvation. In the name of our G-d we will raise (flags of victory)
For now, I will grasp onto the colors that decorate my door. They sit there flapping in the wind, flying somewhat like a flag. They may be frayed, but oh are they are holding strong, as does our nation. Am Yisroel Chai!
And on this July the forth, G-d Bless America for helping us in this war.
Written in memory of the Kedoshim of October 7th and as a zechus for Freedom for our Chatufim.