Jun 2, 2026 · 37 min · 11 segments
A new symbol has begun appearing in Orthodox neighborhoods: flags depicting the Beit HaMikdash. What explains their growing popularity? Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein and Rabbi Simi Lerner explore what…
Yitzchok AdlersteinHostSimi LernerHostI was walking around my neighborhood of Ramat Bet Shemesh, and of late, I've seen a certain flag pop up, and some of our listeners may have seen this flag.
It's probably related to the whole patch, Mashiach patch on the soldiers' arms that had the whole controversy behind it, and it might be connected.
It's a flag of a symbol of the Beis HaMikdash, which they got from Canva, and they put it on a flag.
And, I mean, the, uh, some of them are more better designed than others, but some of them, it's just a simple symbol of the Beis HaMikdash.
Some of them say, "VeOsidui Mikdash." Some of them say, "Third Beis HaMikdash." And I was thinking about it, and I was seeing it pop up more and more, and I was thinking, "Okay, what does this mean?" And it's interesting for two reasons, and I wanna propose the most positive interpretation, or the most charitable interpretation, and my hopeful interpretation, even though I do think it could also have a psychotic side to it as well.
I think that if we look at this flag and ask people, "Why are they putting it up?" Which is what I did.
I made some phone calls, and I spoke to some of the people in my neighborhood who have this flag.
A friend of mine told me that if Mashgichim really wanted their students to grow, they would send them to the Hashmonaim [laughs] Brigade because, uh, yeah.
I mean, unless you're learning full time and you're going to every minyan, you're probably shtark out if you go to Hashmonaim.
And he was speaking to his son, who was in Hashmonaim, and the, I think it's the, uh, commander was involved in these flags, and through a discussion with his son and discussion with his family, they wanted something to mechazek the family, to come around something.
And this Beis HaMikdash was like, "Yeah, let's do this." It's the Beis HaMikdash.
It's related to the land of Eretz Yisrael, and we wanna get around this, and we can put it up and be proud of it and have our family feel that there's some sort of camaraderie around a certain symbol, and that's why he does it.
And after hearing multiple people express it in a similar way, it occurred to me that this could be something that's very powerful for the Chutznik or Chareidi world in general because there's a big issue.
Now, everybody's gonna say, "Yeah, the Magen David." Right, but that's got a lot of sort of classical, secular Zionist vibes to it, that even though you'll put one on your flag for Yom Ha'atzmaut, you're not gonna rally around it religiously.
A Beis HaMikdash, well, that's got the anti-colonialist vibe to it, which is that this is our home.
I was walking around my neighborhood of Ramat Bet Shemesh, and of late, I've seen a certain flag pop up, and some of our listeners may have seen this flag.
It's probably related to the whole patch, Mashiach patch on the soldiers' arms that had the whole controversy behind it, and it might be connected.
It's a flag of a symbol of the Beis HaMikdash, which they got from Canva, and they put it on a flag.
And, I mean, the, uh, some of them are more better designed than others, but some of them, it's just a simple symbol of the Beis HaMikdash.
Some of them say, "VeOsidui Mikdash." Some of them say, "Third Beis HaMikdash." And I was thinking about it, and I was seeing it pop up more and more, and I was thinking, "Okay, what does this mean?" And it's interesting for two reasons, and I wanna propose the most positive interpretation, or the most charitable interpretation, and my hopeful interpretation, even though I do think it could also have a psychotic side to it as well.
I think that if we look at this flag and ask people, "Why are they putting it up?" Which is what I did.
I made some phone calls, and I spoke to some of the people in my neighborhood who have this flag.
A friend of mine told me that if Mashgichim really wanted their students to grow, they would send them to the Hashmonaim [laughs] Brigade because, uh, yeah.
I mean, unless you're learning full time and you're going to every minyan, you're probably shtark out if you go to Hashmonaim.
And he was speaking to his son, who was in Hashmonaim, and the, I think it's the, uh, commander was involved in these flags, and through a discussion with his son and discussion with his family, they wanted something to mechazek the family, to come around something.
And this Beis HaMikdash was like, "Yeah, let's do this." It's the Beis HaMikdash.
It's related to the land of Eretz Yisrael, and we wanna get around this, and we can put it up and be proud of it and have our family feel that there's some sort of camaraderie around a certain symbol, and that's why he does it.
And after hearing multiple people express it in a similar way, it occurred to me that this could be something that's very powerful for the Chutznik or Chareidi world in general because there's a big issue.
Now, everybody's gonna say, "Yeah, the Magen David." Right, but that's got a lot of sort of classical, secular Zionist vibes to it, that even though you'll put one on your flag for Yom Ha'atzmaut, you're not gonna rally around it religiously.
A Beis HaMikdash, well, that's got the anti-colonialist vibe to it, which is that this is our home.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.
