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:
Tribe | Symbol | Background |
Reuven: | Mandrake flowers (white or lavender with five long petals and yellow centers) | red |
Shimon: | Buildings of the city of Shchem | green background |
Levi: | Jeweled breastplate | red, white and black |
Judah/Yehuda: | Lion | Sky blue |
Issachar: | Sun and moon | Bluish-black |
Zevulun: | Ship | White |
Dan: | Snake | Sapphire Blue |
Naftali: | Deer | Deep wine |
Gad: | Soldiers | Black and white |
Asher: | Olive tree | Pearlescent |
Ephraim: | Bull | Black |
Menashe: | Ox | Black |
Binyamin: | Wolf | Multicolored |
So far I have made the following:
Shimon:
Levi:
Zevulun:
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