Hamsa Flag

30/04/2026

After winning top prize at Sparks and Wiry Cries' SongSLAM Festival, composer Joshua Bornfield was commissioned to create a work based on the poetry of Tom Haviv, cofounder and executive director of Ayin Press. The result is "Trial"—a song cycle based on Haviv's collection A Flag of No Nation and a newer sequence, Red Sea Variations. Performed by Marie Herrington, with Timothy Krippner on piano, and brought to life in a music video created by Becca Fox.

Text description from the video piece:
“Trial” is a portrait of a person reconciling information challenging a long-held belief — the kind of belief on which a person can stake their entire identity.

The way forward is as simple as rethinking everything, and they must do so fearlessly.

Watch: https://loom.ly/U3jYLhc

Joshua Bornfield is a composer, performer, educator, and arts advocate based in Baltimore, Maryland. He has had works commissioned by organizations as varied as Washington National Opera and wildUp. He has won awards for his orchestral, choral, and chamber music. Bornfield regularly performs with multiple choral and vocal ensembles such as critically acclaimed chamber ensemble Third Practice, Handel Choir of Baltimore, The Choir of St. David’s Church (Baltimore), and both NEXT and Peabody Renaissance Ensemble of the Peabody Institute. He directs the War Memorial Arts Initiative, an arts equity & advocacy program supported by Baltimore City’s Department of General Services.

14/04/2026

We’re excited to share that you can now purchase the audiobook version of A Flag of No Nation by Tom Haviv (), a meditation on historical rupture and political imagination that traces the stories of Turkish Jews in the twentieth century, navigating the tides of antisemitism, Turkish nationalism, Zionism, and the aftermath of the Ottoman Empire. This audiobook is narrated by the author.

Order now: https://loom.ly/n2aSrqs

“How does a story break?
Not by taking it apart or dismantling it.
But by telling and retelling and retelling.
The story is a bow.
It is a string.
It is a net holding the weight of fruit fallen from old trees.
And it cannot hold.” —Tom Haviv

About the Author
Tom Haviv () is a writer, artist, and publisher based in New York. He is the cofounder of Ayin Press (now the Ayin Institute) and the creator of Aora and Somewhere, Ayin’s sibling imprints.

He is the author of the poetry collection A Flag of No Nation and the children’s books Woven and The Porcupine Prince. His poetry has been translated into Hebrew, Arabic, Turkish, Greek, and Spanish, and adapted into an opera by composer Josh Bornfield (.millenial). His work has been exhibited internationally.

His next children’s book, How the Sun Was Won, illustrated by Jessica Tamar Deutsch (), is forthcoming in 2027.

Book details
196 pages | e-ISBN: 9781961814516
Publication date: April 14, 2026

Ayin Press is proud to partner with JBI Library () to make many of our books available in accessible formats such as Large Print, Braille, and Audio for free to anyone who is blind, has low vision, has a physical disability that makes it hard to use standard print, or has a reading disability. Please reach out to JBI Library at JBIlibrary.org or 212-545-8025 to learn more.

14/04/2026

We’re excited to share that you can now purchase the audiobook version of A Flag of No Nation by Tom Haviv (), a meditation on historical rupture and political imagination that traces the stories of Turkish Jews in the twentieth century, navigating the tides of antisemitism, Turkish nationalism, Zionism, and the aftermath of the Ottoman Empire. This audiobook is narrated by the author.

Order now: https://loom.ly/n2aSrqs

“How does a story break?
Not by taking it apart or dismantling it.
But by telling and retelling and retelling.
The story is a bow.
It is a string.
It is a net holding the weight of fruit fallen from old trees.
And it cannot hold.” —Tom Haviv

About the Author
Tom Haviv () is a writer, artist, and publisher based in New York. He is the cofounder of Ayin Press (now the Ayin Institute) and the creator of Aora and Somewhere, Ayin’s sibling imprints.

He is the author of the poetry collection A Flag of No Nation and the children’s books Woven and The Porcupine Prince. His poetry has been translated into Hebrew, Arabic, Turkish, Greek, and Spanish, and adapted into an opera by composer Josh Bornfield (.millenial). His work has been exhibited internationally.

His next children’s book, How the Sun Was Won, illustrated by Jessica Tamar Deutsch (), is forthcoming in 2027.

Book details
196 pages | e-ISBN: 9781961814516
Publication date: April 14, 2026

Ayin Press is proud to partner with JBI Library () to make many of our books available in accessible formats such as Large Print, Braille, and Audio for free to anyone who is blind, has low vision, has a physical disability that makes it hard to use standard print, or has a reading disability. Please reach out to JBI Library at JBIlibrary.org or 212-545-8025 to learn more.

04/06/2025

Ayin Press and the Hamsa Flag Project are among the many Jewish organizations that have signed onto this vital campaign in support of food aid for people in Gaza and an immediate end to the Israeli government’s blockade: https://loom.ly/UA5X6Vw

Over two months ago, the Israeli government imposed a blockade on all food and medical aid into Gaza. There is now growing starvation in Gaza. While the Israeli government has allowed a small handful of trucks to cross the still-enforced blockade, aid has still not reached those who need it urgently. The United Nations World Food Agency has reported that its food pantries in Gaza are empty; World Central Kitchen has had to cease operations in Gaza because it has run out of food.

All the while, 3,000 trucks full of food aid are waiting at the border. The Israeli government can reverse course today and allow this life-saving aid to reach the people in Gaza who need it now.

Jewish people are joining together now to support food aid for families in Gaza and an end to the Israeli government’s blockade.

11/03/2025

The Hamsa Flag Project is excited to announce the third post-nationalist flag that is available for preorder: the Fig Flag. The flag features the phrase “Abolish War” in four languages (إلغاء الحرب, Abolir La Guerra, מיגור המלחמה), invoking the prophet Micah’s utopian vision: “Nation shall not take up / sword against nation; / they shall never again know war; / but every family shall sit / under its own vine and fig tree / with no one to disturb them.”

Flag designer and Hamsa Flag Project founder Tom Haviv writes that all three flags “are rooted in principles of peace, nonviolence, and justice” and “are not tied to any nation but are symbols of hybridity and possibility, aiming to inspire reconciliation, new forms of identity and cultural expression beyond nationalism, and a world beyond war.” 🕊️🌱

Order the Fig Flag here: https://loom.ly/SxrBWXk

Illustration by Jessica Tamar Deutsch

10/03/2025

The Hamsa Flag Project is dedicated to creating symbols and cultural work that help us envision a better world, one that honors our shared humanity and imagines a world beyond war.

In that spirit, we are announcing preorders for two new Levantine- and Andalusian-inspired flags that celebrate multiplicity and intersectionality. The first is the Open Pomegranate Flag. This flag is adapted from—and repurposes—the 1492 flag of Granada, and features the phrase “Collective Liberation” in four languages—التحرير الجماعي in Arabic, Liberación Colectiva in Spanish, and חירות משותפת in Hebrew. The second is the Closed Pomegranate Flag, which bears the phrase “Revolutionary Love” (الحب الثوري, Amor Revolucionario, and אהבה מהפכנית) and is a new iteration of a flag design released in 2019. You can read about the third flag, the Fig Flag, in our upcoming post.

Hamsa Flag Project creator and flag designer Tom Haviv writes that all three flags “are rooted in principles of peace, nonviolence, and justice” and “are not tied to any nation but are symbols of hybridity and possibility, aiming to inspire reconciliation, new forms of identity and cultural expression beyond nationalism, and a world beyond war.” 🕊️🌱

Preorder the Open Pomegranate Flag here: https://loom.ly/CeWHlXQ

Preorder the Closed Pomegranate Flag here: https://loom.ly/MYaqOFc

Read Haviv’s new essay, “Three Post-Nationalist Flags: Pomegranate, Fig, Orange,” here: https://loom.ly/i2gffYo

Learn more about the Hamsa Flag Project here: https://loom.ly/z6mEdFw

Illustrations by Jessica Tamar Deutsch

For the Open Pomegranate Flag, all proceeds after costs will go to Gaza Soup Kitchen, a Gaza-based organization that serves its resilient communities through a network of kitchens, providing daily hot meals and clean drinking water to those in need. You can learn more about their work here: https://loom.ly/z3bxgMA

23/12/2024

The third and final new flag we'd like to introduce is the Orange Flag. To design the flag, The Hamsa Flag Project founder Tom Haviv drew on his experience visiting Andalusia, the region of Spain where his Sephardic ancestors lived. "In Andalusian history, oranges are more than just fruit; they are part of a broader tapestry of cultural exchanges between Jews, Muslims, and Christians," he writes in a new essay on Ayin's website. "For me, the orange has come to represent not only my heritage but also a symbol of coexistence, a tangible reminder of an ancestral homeland where these cultures once flourished side by side."

In the essay, Haviv also explores the fraught history of the Jaffa orange. It's his hope that the orange "can be repurposed for a decolonial and multiethnic framework." 🍊

To learn more about the Orange Flag, read "Three Post-Nationalist Flags" here: https://loom.ly/i2gffYo

22/12/2024

The second flag in our new series is the Fig Flag. In a new essay on Ayin's website, "Three Post-Nationalist Flags," Hamsa Flag Project founder Tom Haviv turns to a passage in the Book of Micah for figspiration. "Here, the fig tree serves as an emblem of a world where weapons are transformed into tools of cultivation, and every person is able to sit under their own vine and fig tree without fear." 🌳

To read the full essay, visit https://loom.ly/i2gffYo.

21/12/2024

The first in a new series of flags based on Andalusian and Levantine history: The Pomegranate Flag. According to The Hamsa Project founder and flag designer Tom Haviv, the pomegranate "has long been a symbol of abundance, possibility, and divine sustenance . . . [its] many seeds symbolize diversity of identity and the creative dissemination of new ideas, while its mythic and biblical associations link it to liberation." Haviv designed this flag with the hope of moving "beyond the binaries of old conflicts and . . . toward a future of abundance, rooted in the shared histories that connect us."

To learn more about the Pomegranate Flag, read Haviv's essay, "Three Post-Nationalist Flags," here: https://loom.ly/i2gffYo

An excerpt from the piece:

"I think of these flags as part of a larger discourse on the life cycle and evolution of ideas. They are meant to illustrate an iterative approach to politics that values process over fixed identities and goals. With that framework in mind, these flags are not necessarily final products, but are invitations to others to join in this collective process."

20/12/2024

We are excited to announce that Ayin has published “Three Post-Nationalist Flags: Pomegranate, Fig, Orange,” a new essay by Hamsa Flag Project creator Tom Haviv. In the essay, Haviv introduces three new flag designs: the Pomegranate Flag, the Fig Flag, and the Orange Flag. All three designs are inspired by Andalusian and Levantine history—and, as Haviv explains, all three are “symbols of potential solidarity between Jews, Muslims, Israelis, Palestinians, and other communities across the Middle East.”

“In order to imagine a post-national, postwar future,” Haviv writes, “we need new visual languages that transcend borders and emphasize our shared humanity and interconnectedness.” He has designed these flags as an offering toward that need. 🍊🌐🌳

To learn more about the flags, their symbolism, and the broader vision they reflect, read Haviv’s essay here: https://loom.ly/i2gffYo

Illustrations by Jessica Tamar Deutsch

An introduction to three post-nationalist flags, designed by artist Tom Haviv.