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Flag of the Yiddish language

Last modified: 2023-09-30 by martin karner
Keywords: yiddish | menorah | ashkenazi | israel |
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[flag] image by António Martins, 10 December 2017


See also:

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About the flag

The Frisian version of Wikipedia, specifically the articles regarding Elie Wiesel and The Hobbit, has employed a flag with a white field bearing two black bars and a menorah to represent Yiddish when listing the languages into which written works have been translated. The corresponding Wikimedia Commons page for the image does warn that the flag employed is made up for convenience, but it seems to me that whoever made it up was ingenious.
Dave Pawson, 20 April 2013

I like that design! Like the Israeli flag, but black instead of blue (the Israeli flag is based on the tallit, the prayer shawl, and the version of the tallit worn by Ashkenazi Jews [Yidish speakers] tends to have black, not blue stripes) and with a menorah instead of a star (Of course, the symbol of Israel is a menorah as well, but I see the intent here).
Nachum Lamm, 21 April 2013

I guess strictly speaking this would only be a proposal, but as it’s the only proposal (as far as I know), it is indeed used sometimes. I’m also not sure who would be the proper authority to make it formal.
Peter Hans van den Muijzenberg, 22 August 2013

Someone has a Facebook page displaying this as the flag of Yiddish language and culture.
Ned Smith, 21 April 2013

I have seen photos of this flag flying from a building in Jerusalem. I think it’s a Yiddish-language institute.
Albert Kirsch, 20 April 2013

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Variant design

There seem to be different versions: Do the black stripes touch the top and bottom edges of the flag or not (as in the Israeli flag)?
Nachum Lamm, 22 April 2013

[Photo of the flag in front of a synagogue in Budapest, Hungary (2012) (source, with location link)]

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Previous/other suggestions

While many languages naturally can be indicated by one or another national flag or in some cases a regional flag, Yiddish is one of those languages, where no such flag is readily at hand. What would be the best flag to use, if you wanted a flag to represent the Yiddish language?
Elias Granqvist, 20 April 2013

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Warsaw ghetto (ZOB)

I recommend this flag. It is a legally neutral Magen David flag, which does not identify the State of Israel, but the Jewish people.
Jens Pattke, 20 April 2013

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Israel

It strikes me that the national flag of Israel bearing the immediately (and universally) recognized Magen David would be a worthwhile choice?
Chris Southworth, 20 April 2013

Yiddish is not official in Israel.
Albert Kirsch, 20 April 2013

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Birobidjan

I’ve got an idea, far from perfect, though: use the flag of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast of Russia. Yiddish used to be an official language there, in the Soviet period, and the territory was supposed to be “alternative Israel”.
Mariusz Borkowski, 20 April 2013