Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Questions

What is a Star of David? What is the meaning of its name? What is its origin? What is its meaning? What are its synonyms? What are its interpretations? What kinds of it are there? What is the difference between Star of David and mullet/ Solomon's seal/ hexagram? What is the meaning of the Star of David in other cultures? What is so interesting about it? What is the biggest/ smallest Star of David in the world? What is the attitude of different social/religious groups towards it? What is its influence? What is its past? What is its future?

 

When was it invented?

 

Where does it come from? Where was it invented? Where can I see it? Where can I find resources about it? Where is it published? Where were found Star of David artifacts?

 

Who invented it? Who used it? Who dealt with it: in research, in writing, in art, in science? Who loves it? Who hates it?

 

Why was it invented; to what purpose? Why do people use it? Why was it chosen for the Israeli flag? 

 

How to draw it? How do people use it? How much does it cost?

  

Logo

My definition for the Star of David is: logo of Judaism and in the term Judaism I include Zionism and all things connected to Israel. Today I found out that the above mentioned definition fits the theory of Shmuel Warshavsky, who wrote a book (in Hebrew) titled "to go with a logo" (Yedioth Ahronoth, 2005) where he claims that the many people who wear a Star of David show in this behavior their need to belong, to identify, like many other brands that people use in the frame of the new "brand religion".

The Star of David is used in the logos of many Jewish, Zionist and Israeli organizations and even non- Jewish supporters of Israel are proud to include it in their logos.A few examples: 

Jewish Agency

Doing Zionism - The Department for Zionist Activities of the World Zionist Organization

Hard rock cafe New York

Judaism 101

Mount Zion Reform congregation

Geometry

About two months ago I saw on television a program about the impossible geometry that Dutch artist M.C. Escher used in his drawings. There was a professor (I didn't catch his name) from the Israeli Technion who showed that this geometry is possible from a certain viewing direction. Today I found another work of the same Prof, Gershon Elber, and this time he deals with other objects. The one that interested me was the Hexagram. He shows how it can be built from two Penrose triangles. I was amazed when I saw the TV program and again when I saw this website!

The Penrose triangle is an impossible object. Oscar Reutersvard, a Swedish artist, was the first to create it (1934) but it's called after Roger Penrose, a mathematician who devised it independently in the 1950s.

Escher's work has a strong mathematical component and many of his optical illusions are based on impossible objects like the Necker cube and the Penrose triangle.