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.

 

Pokemon

CNN.com reported on March 26, 2001 that Pokemon games and cards were banned by Saudi Arabia because it had ssymbols including the "Israeli" Star of David.  Pokemon (Pocket Monsters) is a Japanese video game (1996) that has a huge success world wide. It contains 386 Pokemons which the players have to capture and train.  

 

Anti-Semitism test

Ronny Naftaniel wrote an article about the "Report of Anti-Semitic Incidents in the Netherlands for 2002 and January-May 2003" and in it he quotes Peter Pulzer, former Professor of Political Science and Modern History at the Oxford University, who suggested a test to check whether a certain statement is a legitimate criticism or an anti-Semite criticism. Among the questions one has to answer in this test is the following:

Does the artist or television producer use the Star of David to identify Israeli military equipment?

Ronny Naftaniel adds:

This happened at the anti-Israel demonstration in Amsterdam on 13 April 2002. Some of the ca. 15,000 demonstrators compared Sharon to Hitler and equated the Star of David with swastikas.

My general impression after intensive reading about Stars of David is that we are dealing here with a symbol that is so powerful that there are millions of people who love it with all their hearts while other millions hate it with all their hearts. This dualism is the main theme in the design of this emblem: one triangle pointing straight to the skies (love) while the other is pointing straight to hell (hate). These twins accompany mankind from the dawn of history and I don't expect the sudden disappearance of any of them.

Khazars

David Dahan wrote  an article titled "Jews protest trampled Star of David statue". The article is about a monument to Prince Svyatoslav recently erected in Belgorod, a town near the Russian-Ukrainian border.  The monument shows a horse rider crushing the Shield of David of a Khazar warrior. The sculptor Vyacheslav Klykov is a notorious anti Semite.  

The Khazars (652-1016) founded an empire in the Northern Caucasus along the Caspian Sea and later converted to Judaism.

On the KHAZARIA IMAGE GALLERY there is a photo of engravings on a metal disc of the Star of David "unearthed at two Khazar sites, one along the Donets River in eastern Ukraine and the other along the Don River in southern Russia". 

Lemba

Steve Jones wrote in his book (" in the Blood: God, Genes and Destiny" 1996, Harper Collins, London. ISBN 0-00-255511-5]) that the Lemba people in the northern part of South Africa and the south of Zimbabwe,

 

"Have clear Jewish elements: Lemba do not eat pork (hence the name: the 'people who refuse'), are circumcised and often use biblical names such as Solomon. They lay claim to a secret language, Hiberu. The Star of David and 'elephant of Judah' are everywhere in their homes".

 

Jay Sand wrote  an article about "The Jews of Africa" where he mentions that the flag of the Lemba features a Star of David and the Elephant of Judah.