Sunday, December 10, 2006

Jewish Leaders who were Against Using the Star of David

When the Star of David began to be used widely in the ninteenth and early twentieth centuries, it was strongly opposed by some Jewish prominent figures:

The poet Judah Leib Gordon, 1830 -1892, one of the most distinguished pioneers of Haskalah in Russia, claimed, it originally was used by pagan Druids.

Hungarian rabbi Leopold Löw, 1811- 1875, said it was derived from German myths.

  • B. Vajda, in Zur Gesch. des Davidsschildes, in Magyar Zsidó Szemle, 1900, xvii. 310-322; thought that it is probable that it was the Cabala that derived the symbol from the Templars (see Vajda in "Magyar Zsidó Szemle," xvii. 314).

Joseph Gutmann ,The Jewish sanctuary,  Brill,1983 Isbn 9004068937, 9789004068933 p. 21 

As late as the 19th century, Rabbi Isaac Elhanan Spector [1817-1896], of Kovno, Lithuania, warned the local Reform congregation to remove the Magen David which graced the roof of their house of Worship

Moritz Güdemann, (1835-1918) wrote in 1916:
Men of Jewish learning cannot accept the fact that the Jewish people would dig out of their attic of superstition a symbol or emblem that it shares with stables
Hillel Roiter in Kountrass, April 2000, p. 54, quotes Gershon Sholem who wrote that Jacob Reifman, one of the leaders of the Haskalah movement, objected to the use of the Star of David, using the PSALM verse 106:35:
But were amingled among the heathen, and learned their works

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