Signs and Symbols at The Jewish Museum in New York

The Jewish Museum in New York has an exhibit titled Signs and Symbols on view through January 6, 2019. 

The exhibit "examines the meaning of the Star of David within Jewish contexts as well as the various interpretations of the six-pointed star as a widespread motif in other cultures. Works on view range from a Bohemian Hanukkah lamp (probably 18th century) that uses the star as an emblem for this Czech Jewish community to Persian and Indian Judaica that feature the symbol as an expression of late 19th and early 20th-century Zionist sentiment. A ceramic beer pitcher from the late 19th century decorated with the star is also on display, attesting to secular use of the hexagram as a symbol for beer in Europe. Examples of post-Holocaust art are also featured, including Morris Louis’s Man Reaching for a Star (1952), and in Dana Frankfort’s Star of David (Orange) (2007), the artist intends the star to be a symbol that anyone can make the subject of a work of art".

Thanks to Amir Roggel for telling me about this event and for the photograph.

18th century Haftarah Book with Two Gold Stars of David

Two Gold Stars of David

This illuminated, undated codex thought to date from the 18th century consists of a Haftarah… The scribe and probably the illuminator of this manuscript was Abraham bar Chizkija ha Lévi. The manuscript previously was owned by Samuel Gráf of Csakatorn and by Anton Kohn of Zagreb, who had it in his possession around 1858. A third owner was Moses Issachar, son of Isaac of Schleining. It is now in the collections of the Slovak National Library.

Source:

https://www.wdl.org/en/item/7382/

The graves of Jewish soldiers marked with the Star of David since September 18, 1919

"The graves of Jewish soldiers who died in France will be marked with the Mogen David, "Star of David," according to an announcement made yesterday by Colonel Harry Cutler, Chairman of the Jewish Welfare Board"...

Source: nytimes

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Notes: 

1. Dear reader. if you are subscribe to the New York Times please send me the article

2. "1927, Star of David Markers  JWV [Jewish War Veterans] was successful in securing passage of legislation requiring the American Battlefield Monument Commission to place Star of David Markers on the graves of Jewish soldiers buried in war cemeteries in France. Heretofore, the markers were Christian crosses. A decade later, JWV members were appointed to the commission".

Source:

http://www.jwv.org/images/uploads/Jewish%20War%20Veterans%20Timeline.pdf

The Star of David as an Astral Symbol

The shape of the hexagram, two interwoven triangles, doesn't convey necessarily an association of a star or a shield or a seal, but during the course of history Jews called it the Shield of David, Muslims called it Solomon's Seal and Christians called it The The Star of David. It seems that not this SHAPE but these NAMES made people start drawing the Shield of David on shields, Solomon's Seal on Seals and night stars in the skies as The Star of David.

Archaeologists discovered hexagrams as stars or on shields or on seals, and their "proofs" helped dividing the meanings of the hexagram into these three main categories, while actually it is an abstract shape, invented by geometers, and its main meaning, protection, is not depending on any physical thing.

Here's an example for The Star of David as an Astral Symbol Archaeological interpretation:

Herbert G. May reports in his book Material Remains of the Megiddo Cult, (Chicago 1935, p. 6.) about the discovery of a Magen David from ninth or eighth century B. C.  incised on the wall of a temple of Anat, Queen of Heaven, at Megiddo. Professor May explains that "on the south face of the south wall of Room 340, near the southeast corner... is incised a "shield of David" (See above). In view of the religious associations of this building, this sign may be interpreted as the symbol of the fertility goddess, whose model pottery shrines were so numerous in this district. The five-pointed seal of Solomon and the six-pointed shield of David are probably of astral origin with their roots in the fertility cult. This is confirmed in part by the occurrence of both a five- and a six-pointed star on an Astarte plaque from Tell es-Safi. [In a note Professor May refers to a six pointed star made from six lines, not a star of david]:

 Astarte plaque from Tell es Safi

:Source

Bliss & Macalister, Excavations in Palestine, London, 1902, Plate 67 No. 15s

Hildegard Lewy, brings the Megiddo artifact as one of the proofs to her main claim in the introduction to her article Origin and Significance of the Magen Dawid, (Archiv Orientalni, Vol. 18, 1950, 330-65) that "the Magen Dawid can represent only one of three planets ... Jupiter Mars and Saturn".

Tombstone of David Moshe Laniero

Bordeaux; 1731. Fig. 20 from Signum Salomonis by Leite De Vasconcelos (1918) who wrote that it "alludes to the name of the deceased"

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"O hexalfa está gravado em urna sepultura judaica de Bordeus; de 1731, fig. 20 , onde ele, como «escudo de David», creio que alude emblematicamente ao nome do falecido, -Moises David Laniero".

Source:

Georges Eugène Alfred Cirot, Recherches sur les Juifs espagnols et portugais a Bordeaux, 1909, p. 124 with the following text: "MOISEH DAVID LAMEIRA L'étoile représente sans doute le Maguen David (bouclier de

David), symbole très courant chez les Israélites. Quant aux palmes, on les retrouve fréquemment". 

Symbol of Synagogue vs. Symbol of Church

Star of David appears on a flag held by the allegorical figure representing the Synagogue (Synagogua) that stands next to the allegorical figure representing the Church (Ecclesia) and holding a Cross, in a 14th-century Catalan manuscript of the Breviar d'amor by Matfre d'Ermengaud (Ms. of Yates Thompson 31 f 8, Tree of life, in the British Museum).

Star of David on the allegorical figure representing the Synagogue

Bamberg Cathedral, Germany, 13th Century

Source: Wikimedia, courtesy of Johannes Otto Först

Star of David in Pompeii

This Mosaic floor, from the 1st century C.E., at the House of Triptolemus in Pompeii is mentioned, along with many other simillar designs, in M.E. Blake’s ’The pavements of the Roman buildings of the Republic and the Early Empire’, Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome, Vol. VIII, 1930, pl. 39,3, VII, VII, 5, but her spelling of Triptolemus is different (Casa di Trittolemo) and her photos are low resolution b&w. I hope that in time I"ll publish here all her photos in a higher relolution and in color.

In  this design we notice that the center is filled with the symbol of the six petals, which are actually more geometric product of using the compass than a vegetative motif. this six-petals symbol is surrounded by several hexagons, and, along with the star of David by three circles, which are surrounded by squares - so, all in all, we are confronted here with a complicated combination of geometrical elements.

This combination raises the question whether a symbol (like the Star of David) maintains its original meaning when it stops standing alone. A good illustration to this problem is the addition of two blue stripes to the blue Star of David in the Israeli flag, which changes the Jewish symbol (Star of David) into a symbol of the Jewish State.

the six- petals symbol combined with the Star of David symbol appears also, as mentioned by my teacher, Dr. Ze'ev Goldmann,  in another three Mosaic Floors at the same place:

1. M.E. Blake, ibid. pl. 33, 4, Pompeii VI, VIII, 20

2. M.E. Blake, ibid. pl 38, 3. Pompeii VI, XVI, 7

3. M.E. Blake, ibid. pl 33, I. Pompeii VIII, V, 16 and 38

as well as in:

4. Ein Yael    

Mosaic Floor, where it is surrounded similarily by a hexagon, but in combination with the apotropaic pelta symbol (Amazon Shield) , the Ivy symbol and with the geometrical elements of the Guilloche and the successive stepped triangles.

5. In Capernaum the six- petals symbol appears with the Star of David symbol on the same lintel along with many other symbols.

Thanks to Karl from

https://www.flickr.com/photos/70125105@N06/14300318027/

for letting me publish his photo here. 

Star of David Exhibition in New Delhi, India

http://www.flickr.com/photos/zeevveez/sets/72157631856090944/show/

December 5th 2012
Curator - Rachel Ziv

My new Gallery about Seder Plates

Seder Plate from Germany c. 1900

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Source: CC Picture uploaded to Flickr by

center_for_jewish_history NYC

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See my new

  Gallery about Seder Plates 

US Army Jewish Chaplain insignia 1943

US Army Jewish Chaplain insignia 1943

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Source: en.wikipedia entry -Religious_symbolism_in_the_United_States_military 

Hexagram - Designs and Meanings

Otto Friedrich August Meinardus was a German Coptologist and pastor (1925 – 2005). He wrote an article titled The Hexagram or the Magen David in Byzantine Art (in the Bulletin of the Christian Archeological Society 8 (period IV)(1975-1976) p. 97-100). In this article he claims that the current meaning of the hexagram as representing the House of David or the Jewish heritage in Christendom is too dominant and leads to misconception. In the past the hexagram acceptance was wider than today, and its main function was ornamental.

Meinardus mentions several hexagram designs

a-     The Capernaum Synagogue type with straight lines which eventually became the symbol of the state of Israel.

b-     The Eshtemoa Synagogue type with curved lines [1], which is most frequently found on Byzantine ornamentation.

c-     The six rayed star [2] influenced by the I for Jesus and X for Christos

d-    The  six rayed star which "clearly signified the heavenly body, as, for example, in the case of the upper part of the Barberini Diptych in the Louvre"

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[1] My teacher, Ze'ev Goldmann, thought that this Tri-loop symbol (which appears twice on the Capernaum Lintel) is frequent Samaritan one, but appears also on a Jewish Massoretic design in micrographic writing that has in its center a piece of paper with text of the Tri-partite blessing of the Cohanim. It appears also on Neo-Paphos Mosaic Floor along with Crosses and the Swastika sign. 

About 40 years ago Dr. Asher Eder took a picture of this Tri-Loop symbol on a relief in the ruins of an Herodian building in Beth-El, north of Ramallah.

 [2] G. Scholem claimed that this type ("six radiuses which come fron a single point") is not a Star of David at all.  G. Scholem mentions the appearance of this sign on Assyrian, and later Phoenician and Israeli seals. (Magen David, Toldotav Shel Semel [Hebrew] p. 29.

a.       Capernaum - straight lined star -4th century C.E.

Credit: Gabi Goldman

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b.       Capernaum - curved lined star -4th century C.E.

Credit: Gabi Goldman

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c.        Constantinople Christian sarcophagus with XI monogram, circa 400 C.E.

Archaeological Museum in Istanbul

Source: CC image, English Wikipedia entry: Sarcophagus

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d.       Barberini Diptych in the Louvre  -6th century C.E.

 Source: CC image, English Wikipedia entry: Justinián_I.

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More Stars of David in the Genizah Project

I already wrote in 2006-7 about two manuscripts from the Cairo Genizah which include Stars of David, but now that The Friedberg  Genizah Project is online it is a whole new game. I salute the organizers of this web site for their extraordinary achievement. It took me sometime to register and install Java, but eventually I found a few more Genizah manuscripts which include Stars of David:

T-S AS 54.138 (1v) shows a fine Star of David made from small lines. There's also  a rhombus in the same page.

T-S Misc 1.75 is a page from Psalms 64-66 and it has on the right side a small vertical floral ornament which ends with a tiny Star of David made from one line.

T-S 125.94 has two small Stars of David and one which is larger and in it some Hebrew words from which I recognized the Hebrew words (in capital letters): Morasha Kehilat Ya'acov. In one of the two small Stars of David I recognized one of the two cursive Hebrew words - Tor.

T-S 135.169 has on the first from four leafs two Stars of David, one with a point in its center. On the second leaf there are 5 jotted  Stars of David and in the center of the sixth there's a point in the center.

T-S 150.195 has at its bottom a few lines filled with small Stars of David.

T-S 297.90 – according to its description it has a Star of David in a magical context in Arabic but I couldn't see the image.
Cambridge, CUL: Or.1080 1.63 2v1 Arabic letters Magic many stars of David on rows 2,4,5  Source of information: Gideon Bohak, Head of FGP Magic team

Cambridge, CUL: T-S Ar.53.21 - Arabic letters; Margins contain some jottings and drawings of the Star of David and other symbols

Cambridge, CUL: T-S K1.5 Aramaic Hebrew, Magic, contain some drawings of the Star of David

Cambridge, CUL: T-S K1.62 Large star of David surrounding and surrounded by names of God

Source of information: Gideon Bohak, Head of FGP Magic team

The Cairo Genizah documents were written from about 870 C.E. to 1880 C.E. so it is hard to know when each of these Stars of David was drawn. Anyhow we have so few instances of Stars of David from that period that this treasure adds a lot of interesting content for research.  

1894- Eugen Sandow's Star of David

 Huge Star of David on Eugen Sandow's chest

1867 -  1925

Jewish founder of body building

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 Courtesy of  Stephanie Comfort

 (c) 

2012

The star of David in Brazil

Prof. Anita W.Novinsky from Sao Paulo University is an expert on the subject of the Anusim (Crypto Jews, Coversos) in Brazil. I saw a long  interview with her on the Documentary: A Estrela Oculta do Sertão, dealing with the subject of the estimated 120 million Anusim in Brazil. I asked her if she stumbled upon Stars of David in Brazil.

She wrote to me that the star of David is very common in the north east of brazil, by the  people in  general. (according to the above mentioned documentary most of the  anusim are concentrated in this area).  

The star of David is used by fishermen, who leave to the sea in a boat, and in the bottom of the boat they print the star of David, to give them  luck.

There are anusim who use the star in their chain, and in their homes  it appears frequently.

Prof. Anita W.Novinsky referred me for detailled  informations in the books of the famous folklorist Luiz Camara Cascudo.

Stars of David in Adam Rhine's Illuminated Calendar

Courtesy of Adam Rhine

(C) 

http://www.amazon.com/Illuminated-Psalms-2012-Wall-Calendar/dp/1602374813/ref=tmm_other_title_0

I love the Jews in New York.

Graffiti 

Heart symbol spreads rays of love from the Star of David to New York 

CC Picture by 

Hrag Vartanian from Flickr

(c)

Star of David in an Endless Loop

Star of David in an Endless Loop

Mural at Plovdiv Synagogue Bulgaria

Courtesy of 

Michael Kandel

http://michaelslens.com/

The sign of the Jewish Daily News

Star of David lions and Menorah on the sign of the Jewish Daily News

London, Soho, Whitechapel, Oxford street

Designed by Arthur Szyk (1894-1951) in the 1920’s

Courtesy of failing_angel from Flickr

Star of David Shaped Tombstone

Star of David Shaped Tombstone at the

United Jewish Cemetery, Cincinnati, Ohio

first burial in 1850

Courtesy of elycefeliz from Flickr

Star of David as a Frame in a Tefillin Cover

The left Star of David frames the Hebrew word for head (meaning the tefillin for the head) while the right Star of David frames the Hebrew word for hand (meaning the tefillin for the hand).

Picture is courtesy of Sharon Pazner From Flickr.