Sao Tome and Principe

Photo is courtesy of Prof. Moshe Liba who wrote to me:

The Maguen David in a red circle is an original photo taken by me in 1975 in the
Sao Tome island, in Sao Tome and Principe, an island-country on the
Equator line in the Atlantic Ocean, 300 km off the coast of Africa. It is
embedded in the floor at the entry of what seems to have been a former religious
small building (a church?) in the plantation of Agua Ize. It is supposed to have
been done not later than in the 19th Century, possibly by Jews who arrived
directly from Morocco as traders in the 19th Century or from Cabo Verde as
"Capataz" even much before (and probably not by supposed descendants of the
initial jewish child slaves). This story is included in my books: Jewish Child
Slaves in Sao Tome ,Wellington 2003, and Dos Pintele Yid, Wellington, 2004, an
well as in articles in various quarterlies and historical publications. It has a
great importance for the Jewish History.

Copyright: Prof. Moshe Liba 2007

Spectro-Chrome Hoax

Photo of hexagram on a Spectro-Chrome therapy  unit (at the National Atomic Museum) is courtesy of "Marshall Astor/Life on the Edge" who published it on Flickr. The hexagram was part of the drawings of the inventor and the different colors were arranged around it. Spectro-Chrome units were popular in the 1920's but American court judges ruled they were a hoax.

Beer Star

Photo is courtesy of "1way2rock" who published it on Flickr and wrote in the caption:

In southern Germany the hexagram is the symbol for the
tapping of beer and sign of the brewer's guild. In German this is called
'Bierstern' (beer star) or 'Brauerstern' (brewer's star). This room in [King
Ludwig II's "Fairy Tale Castle" of Neuschwanstein ] the gatehaus was where the
castle staff would go to eat, away from the Palace, but still within the castle
walls.

The Pink Yellow Badge

Photo is courtesy of Shloma Menachem Mendel Rosenberg who bears this tattoo on his right calf. Copyrights: Shloma Menachem Mendel Rosenberg 2007
Shloma wrote to me:

I am a Gay Orthodox Jew. I know that sounds strange, but, besides the obvious, I
keep all the commandments I possibly can. I got the tattoo to commemorate two groups of people. First, my family members who died in the camps and second, to remember something that is often forgotten, that gay men were interred in concentration camps. I have read many books on the topic, and the gay prisoners felt that they were in more danger than the Jews, so they often tried to switch to the yellow star or the red triangle, rather than the pink triangle that designated them as homosexual prisoners. If a prisoner was both Jewish AND gay, they wore a star with the yellow point up and the pink triangle on top of the yellow one, pointed down. I also felt that I was taking back the symbol from being a symbol of shame to a symbol of pride in being Jewish and Gay.

I put a great deal of thought into getting the tattoo, since it is commonly believed that tattoos are forbidden to Jews. But when I investigated the sections of the Talmud that dealt with tattoos and found that the taboo was actually based on the fact that idol worshippers would tattoo pictures of their false gods on their bodies, and Jews were forbidden to scratch into their skin any image of a false god or any memorial to a dead individual. I made the decision that my tattoo was basically a symbol of pride and did not fall into the forbidden categories. I know that most Talmudic scholars would disagree with me, but I had to do this for myself. I already had many tattoos from before I became Torah-observant, so one more didn't seem all that heretical to me. When I go to the mikveh I am often told that my tattoos are a disgrace. I usually tell the person that they are lucky that every one of their sins didn't leave evidence etched into their skin, so they should examine their own sins before criticizing me for mine...

I grew up for years thinking that only my father was Jewish, and therefore I was not. However, shortly before my mother's death (alevasholem), I found out that her maternal grandmother was from Iraq and she fled when it became too dangerous for Jews to live in Iraq... At the time I was actually seeking Orthodox conversion, but
after finding all this out the need for conversion was moot.

Star Tetrahedron

Photo of 3D Star of David (merkabah) made from glass was made by Asaf Zakay. Tapperboy took the photo and has published it on his Flickr.

Asaf Zakay, Merkaba

Photo of 3D hand crafted stained glass Star of David (merkabah) made from glass was made by Asaf Zakay. Tapperboy took the photo and has published it on his Flickr

Jewish Russian soldier

Stereoview of a Jewish Russian soldier studying in the beggining of the previous century in a Synagogue with the Star of David behind his back is courtesy of Stephanie Comfort who published it on Flickr.