“To Raise the Flag” – Book Launch for Rav Ari Shvat’s New Book

Orot Israel College – in conjunction with Beit Harav Kook and the Institute for Zionist Strategies – organized a book launch for Orot lecturer Rav Ari Shvat’s new book, “To Raise the Flag: The Israeli Flag and the Hebrew Language in Jewish Sources.” About one hundred participants – including Orot faculty and alumni - filled Yeshivat Merkaz Harav’s original beit midrash.

During the course of his speech, Rav Professor Neria Guttel, Orot’s president, asked, “was Rav Kook zt”l a Zionist?” and examined Rav Kook’s nuanced approach to the issue. Rav Yochanan Fried, Beit Harav’s chairman, spoke about the Israeli flag, and Mr. Yisrael Harel, founding chairman of the Yesha Council, talked about Zionism and post-Zionism. Rav Shvat focused on Rav Kook’s essay entitled, “The Importance of Israel’s Flag,” which he found in Beit Harav’s archives, and discussed the eleven different points that Rav Kook zt”l raised.