Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Vatican Museum Floor Hexagram

Six pointed star with a beam of light coming down from it beside the Yule tree and the Fleur de Lis all on the Vatican Museum Floor from the period of Pope Leo XIII, 1878 to 1903.
Picture is courtesy of "edavepitman" from Flickr

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Nativity (Epiphany, Bethlehem) Star

Stars with a different number of points symbolize the Epiphany, the visit (lead by a star) of the Magi (Wise men from the east) to infant Jesus in Bethlehem,

  1. 4-pointed star represents the cross
  2. 5-pointed star (star of Jacob) represents God and man in one entity  (head, two arms and two legs)
  3. 6-pointed star represents the nature of Jesus: power, wisdom, majesty, love, mercy and justice.
  4. 7-pointed star represents the gifts of the Holy Spirit: power riches, wisdom, strength, honor, glory and blessing.
  5. 8-pointed star symbolize regeneration 
  6. 12-pointed star, symbolize the 12 tribes of Israel or the 12 apostles 

    From:
    http://www.fumcforestcity.com/templates/System/details.asp?id=35537&PID=421706Thanks to Dobush for referring me to this picture which is copied from Wikipedia entry Biblical_Magi

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Yellow Star, Sabina Saad Family


Caption for Sabina Saad's painting "Alexander Family", which had been shown in her exhibit "Dialog with the Yellow Star" in Mazkeret Batya from 28-3-2009:
Size: 50X35 Acrylic and pencil on canvas.
4 Yellow Badges representing
the hiding of four members of Alexander Family in an attic during the Nazi regime in Italy. Behind the attic Sabina's story about her Alexander family in Italian.

In 1934, the Alexander family that included my grandfather, Paul Leopold, my grandmother Margareta, my uncle Hans, My mother Anni, fled from Leipzig, Germany. They fled to Milan in Italy and remained there until 1939 when my grandfather was arrested. After a month in the jail St. Vittore he was transferred to the concentration camp in Ferramonti in Calabria in south Italy. After three years he was transferred to Fanzolo in the area of Treviso. The other family members joined him in 1943, thinking that the war ended since the Italians surrendered to the Allies. However, the Germans invaded Italy and the family was compelled to find a hideaway. Firstly, they hid in the attic of Tessaro family, and later in the attic of their sister in law Olivia. After the Germans located their headquarters nearby, the small family (with the help of Reverend Don Giuseppe Casarin) found refuge in the Temple of the Madonna Del Caravaggio, where they stayed until the end of the war, and thus they were saved. I, Sabina Saad, the daughter of Anni Alexander, have four children: Kuki, Itai, Noa and Eliel and six grandsons. I live in Israel. My cousin Roberto, the son of Hans, lives in Switzerland and has two children: Jonah and Elianah.
Paul Leopold Alexander
1893-1967. 
Margareta Alexander
1896-1952


Sabina Saad wrote

Elsa Alexander was not Jewish. She was married To Sigmond Alexander who was my grandfather's brother Paul. Her daughter, Inge, born in 1917 perished in the Holocaust.

Walter Alexander was one of eight brothers of my grandfather Paul (they were nine brothers, all sons, he was one before last), he fought for the Germans in the First World War. He was injured by a horse's kick in the head, and a bomb exploded next to him. Following he was hospitalized in a mental hospital. According to my mother, he perished in the Holocaust

Else and Inge Alexander

Walter Alexander

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Herzl Instead of the Star of David


The portrait of Herzl appears instead of the Star of David in the center of the Israeli flag on a JNF memorial stripe issued in 1949
Copyright: Niza Wolfensohn 2009