Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Annual Holiday Light Display Near Pittsburgh

More than two million lights are used for this holiday light display, which is 3- to 40-feet tall.
Picture is courtesy of "nonesuch" who published it on Flickr and wrote to me:

I took the photo in January when I was touring the annual holiday light display at Hartwood Acres near my home in Pittsburgh…

Date inside a Star of David

This is the first Star of David I stumbled upon which has a date in its
hexagonal frame. It makes me think about decorating my Emails' date with this kind of design.
Picture is courtesy of Nerissa Atkinson who wrote to me: 

it was taken in the old Jewish quarter of Krakow Poland, in the same street as the old synagogue - I don't really know much more about it than that, but there were a couple on the wall in the same street

Yair Davidiy

I am grateful to Yair Davidiy, the publisher of Brit-Am newsletter, who referred me to two of the most important Star of David artifacts. I get his newsletter regularly and I noticed that on the cover of his Hebrew book about the lost tribes, "Achim Acharim", there is a Star of David within a Star of David, and on the opening page of his huge website there is another Star of David in red, white, and blue. I asked him about these and here’s his answer:
W
e believe that descendants of the Lost Ten Tribes are primarily in Western Countries. The primary colors of Ancient Israel (as seen in the Tabernacle) were red, white, and blue. These are also the colors of many nations we identify as containing within their boundaries descendants of the Lost Ten Tribes, e.g. USA, Britain, France, etc. This is why we use red, white, and blue in our design. The Magen David shape is to emphasize the connection of the Lost Ten tribes to the Jews of Judah.
The book cover of our work in Hebrew, "Achim Acharim", was designed by my son Oriel Davidiy. The book was published on behalf of Brit-Am by Russell-Davis Publishing. The book traces the Lost Ten Tribes to the west using Biblical, Rabbinical, Historical, Linguistic, and related sources.