בס״ד

Tribal Flags

Ask each child to decorate his or her graham cracker to look like a flag of one of the tribes! If making on Shabbat, avoid Zvulun as illustrated (maybe you will come up with your own ideas!

According to Midrash Raba, the design of each flag was based on Jacob/ Ya’acov/ Israel’s blessings to his children before his death, as he saw their characters, in Bereishit / Genesis, beginning at 49:2. Accordingly, the decorations for the flags, and their colors, were:

TribeSymbolBackground
ReuvenMandrake flowers (white or lavender with five long petals and yellow centers)red
ShimonBuildings of the city of Shchemgreen background
LeviJeweled breastplatered, white and black
Judah/Yehuda: LionSky blue
IssacharSun and moonBluish-black
ZevulunShipWhite
DanSnakeSapphire Blue
NaftaliDeerDeep wine
GadSoldiersBlack and white
AsherOlive treePearlescent
EphraimBull Black
Menashe:Ox Black
BinyaminWolfMulticolored

So far I have made the following:

Reuven

Shimon:

Levi:

Judah/Yehuda:

Zevulun

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