Yiddish/Ashkenazim Flag Redesigns
PT: Yiddish/Ashkenazim Flag Redesigns /end PT
IDs from top left to bottom right:
ID: white flag with a black menorah symbol in the middle and three thin black stripes on the vertical sides. End ID
ID: same but the thin black stripes are on the horizontal sides. End ID
ID: white flag with a black menorah symbol is in the middle left and two black stripes on the sides. End ID
ID: white flag with a small black menorah symbol in a black circle in the middle and three thin black stripes in the middle passing behind it. End ID
ID: same thing with the circle being yellow. End ID
ID: white flag with a big black menorah placed horizontally on the left, with thin black stripes comming out of each branches. End ID
ID: same but the stripes color's are going forming a rainbow. End ID
Made by Reddit user MandalorTeSiit (link), posted on r/vexillology (link).
Explanation of the designs by the creator:
« Right now, the closest thing there is to a Yiddish/Ashkenazi flag is this (link), created by someone on Wikipedia. It's circulated around the Internet, and at one point was used by the language-learning app Duolingo in its promotional material. That prompted this article (link) criticizing the flag. Duolingo hasn't used the flag since, and its incubator icon for Yiddish is now a default icon used for several other languages without their own independent state (plus Haitian). Why they don't just use the JAO flag I don't know, but right now it seems they're leaning towards a short, significant Yiddish word for the icon when the course is completed.
The article makes two main points. First, that the black-and-white color scheme is "funereal" and gives an air of mourning. I'd say that's nonsense. Is the flag of Prussia (which it somewhat resembles) funereal? Or of Cornwall, Brittany, Corsica? The second point is that its resemblance to Israel isn't entirely appropriate....
It obscures the fact that Yiddish was once the victim of intense discrimination in Israel. Victims of the need to “negate the Diaspora,” Yiddish speakers were often seen as inherently subversive to the new national project in Hebrew. Yiddish cultural institutions and publications were, with few exceptions, forbidden and the language’s users were mocked as weak, abnormal, and inauthentic Jews. To use this menorah flag, to “make Yiddish equal” to Israel and Hebrew only ignores this hurtful history. Acknowledging the real and enduring symbols of Yiddish culture and folklore as legitimate emblems would be a step in healing these wounds.
Now, I see no problem with any of the specific design elements, but there's no reason it has to resemble Israel's so closely. So, a few similar redesigns:
If you look at images of the tallit (link) that both flags are based on, this is the obvious change. There's never one broad stripe on each side. So, add multiple stripes above and below the emblem.
With vertical stripes. Doesn't seem to be uncommon in tallit designs.
Playing up the resemblance the original has to Prussia instead of Israel, representing its roots in the Rhineland.
Added the ring from the Bundist flag. This isn't so much avoiding the issues brought up in the article as taking the opposite position, though.
Made the ring golden to make the connection more clear. Also makes it slightly more colorful.
Trying to combine the design elements instead of just putting them next to each other. Didn't turn out quite as well as I'd hoped.
Redesign 6 in JAO colors. Probably close enough to the JAO flag you might as well just use that. »
