Junior Banner

Illustrated by Eliana Kovan and Noa Yeger

This year's Shiriyah theme was the holiness of the land of Israel. In creating this banner, we wanted to highlight the holiest cities that make up Israel.

Our quote says: "קָדוֹשׁ קָדוֹשׁ, קָדוֹשׁ יְהֹוָה צְבָאוֹת. מְלֹא כָל־הָאָֽרֶץ כְּבוֹדוֹ," which means that Hashem's glory and presence fill all the land of Israel and that Israel is the holiest and most special out of all the lands that Hashem created. The cities we chose are the cities where Hashem's presence is felt the most. For this banner, we decided to be conceptual with our composition and create the lands on top of floating puzzle pieces, all casting a shadow over our holy land, Israel. All these different cities complete Israel, and without them, we wouldn’t have the beautiful land Hashem gifted us.

We also incorporated a color from each grade into each of the puzzle pieces in order to signify the fact that we must come together as a nation to complete Eretz Yisrael. Without each and every piece, the puzzle would not be complete, and so too, our land wouldn't be complete without each and every sector of our nation. This means accepting Jews from all different backgrounds and treating them as brothers and sisters. As much as these cities are holy in their own rights, we must come together to bring them to their full potential. Over the past 75 years since the creation of the state of Israel, we have come together and made it the holy country it is today. Over the years, there have been times when our control over these holy cities has been challenged, but with the help of Hashem, we have been able to fight for them and cherish the special holiness they retain. Although as a nation we are still in exile and live in places other than Israel, we hope to someday return to our rightful homeland and reach the full potential Hashem believes we can achieve.

Thank you to all of the art teachers for their tremendous help during Shiriyah, who guided us along the way and allowed us to produce this beautiful banner!