Westerbork Transit Camp

Westerbork was a transit camp for Dutch Jews in Holland. Between 1942 and 1944, from which 102,000 Jews were transported to concentration and death camps. It is three-hour drive east of Amsterdam. Anne Frank and her family lived in this camp until they were deported to Auschwitz. The memorial at the camp was designed by Ralph Prins, Dutch Jewish Holocaust Survivor. It is made of small rectangular stones inserted into the ground… with a Star of David for Jewish victims. There is one stone for every person who passed through the camp.  

 

Jewish Wedding Stones

Chuppa stone from Wurzburg

Courtesy of Prof. Shalom Sabar, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

In the ancient synagogue of Freudental there's a Chuppa Stone which was used in marriage ceremonies: the groom had to smash his glass of wine against this stone in memory of the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem.

G.S. Oegema has a whole chapter (9) about the "six pointed star on Huppa stones" in his book Realms of Judaism, 1996 [ISBN 3-631-30192-8] where he mentions researcher Falk Wiesemann who found in Germany twenty two such stones (traustein or Hochzeitsstein). The first was found in Mainz and it's from 1691. On many of these stones there was engraved a Star of David.

IMHO the Star of David on wedding stones symbolizes Jerusalem (Zion) which is remembered by Jews especially when they have the best reasons to rejoice…

Chuppa stone from Altenkunstadt Synagogue 1726

Hochzeitsstein der Synagoge in de:Ehrstädt
Source: German Wikipedia Entry: Hochzeitsstein

Chuppa stone from Heinsheim-synagoge
Source: German Wikipedia Entry: Hochzeitsstein

Chuppa stone from the synagogue in Heidingsfeld
http://www.alemannia-judaica.de/images/Images%20235/Wuerzburg%20JMuseum%20808.jpg

Wikipedia

I have a theory based on my personal experience that the distance between total ignorance and knowing enough to impress others is three months. Yesterday I got another proof for its validity when Humus Sapiens, one of the editors of the Wikipedia-article about Star of David wrote to me:

 

Thanks for your suggestion. I made an attempt to separate Star of David and hexagram, could you please double-check.  

 

I double-checked and it looks just fine. The suggestion Humus sapiens refers to is:

 

To the editor of this page,

IMHO the Star of David is a Jewish symbol and there are many other sorts of hexagrams in other cultures that do not belong to the main page.

I suggest moving paragraphs that deal with the following subjects to the article about the Hexagram: Bronze Age hexagrams; Iron Age hexagrams; Arabs' and Muslims' hexagrams; Christian hexagrams; Eastern Religions hexagrams; Alchemy hexagrams; Witchcraft, Occultism hexagrams; Astrology hexagrams; Estoiles; Mullets (or molets) ;Chinese checkers ; Shatkona (Yantra), Mandala, Indian hexagrams; Snowflakes ; Scientific ; Raelism ; Non Jewish heraldry and flags; Theosophy; Zion Christian Church ; Latter-day Saints (Mormons); Buddhism Hinduism and Jainism.

 

As I mentioned I have a theory based on my personal experience that the distance between total ignorance and knowing-enough-to-impress others is three months. Only I know that my small collection of Stars of David on this blog is just the beginning of a long journey. In order to really know what I'm talking about the time frame is measured in years, not in months…

 

"Afghan rug"

This is a small part of an Afghan rug that is hanging on the wall of the studio of my dear friend Aran Patinkin (www.aranpa.com). It has a very nice Star of David pattern. On Google Images there are 5700 results for the Query "Afghan rug" but none for the Query "Afghan rug" "Star of David".

Ephraim Moses Lilien

Illustrator and photographer Ephraim Moses Lilien (1874-1925) "father of Jewish bookplates," created ex libris with distinctive Jewish motifs. He was born in Galicia but settled in Germany in 1899. He illustrated for the Zionist movement and was the one took the most famous photo of Herzl on the balcony of his hotel. Lilien traveled to Jerusalem in 1905 and helped found the first Jewish art Academy, Bezalel.

 

One of his works includes four large Stars of David on a circle made of many small ones. In the center there are palms representing the Kohanim (priest) blessing.

 

Another work is "From Ghetto to Zion" postcard, which was chosen at the Fifth Zionist Congress in 1901 in Bazel to represent the movement's message. The work shows a white angel pointing for a ghetto Jew (who is sitting bent circled with barbed wire) towards a farmer cultivating the soil of Israel; at the bottom of the work appear two Stars of David and words from the book of prayer

 

"And may our eyes behold when thou returnest unto Zion in compassion"  

 

On the tab of a stamp made of this postcard there's the word Zion in a Star of David creating an un ambiguous identification between the word (Zion) and the Shape (Star of David).

 

The Seder Plate

Today I posted the following note to the editor of the "Star of David" page on Wikipedia:

 

You wrote: "However, the sign [Star of David] is nowhere to be found in classical kabbalistic texts themselves, such as the Zohar, the writings of Rabbi Isaac Luria and the like".

 

I read on G.S. Oegema's book (Realms of Judaism, The history of the Shield of David, the birth of a symbol, Peter Lang, Germany, 1996, ISBN 3-631-30192-8) that "Isaac Luria provided the Shield of David with a further mystical meaning. In his book "Etz Hachayim" he teaches that the elements of the plate for the Seder evening have to be placed in the order of the hexagram: above the three sefirot "Crown "Wisdom" and "Insight", below the other seven".

"The Stone which the Builders Refused"

Today I visited Dr. Zeev Goldman, 101 years old, in his apartment in Jerusalem. He invited me to talk about his research on the Star of David and lent me Dr. G.S. Oegema book, Realms of Judaism, The history of the Shield of David, the birth of a symbol, Peter Lang, Germany, 1996, ISBN 3-631-30192-8).

 

In the acknowledgments Dr. G.S. Oegema tells about a touring exhibition to commemorate the introduction of the yellow badge in Europe 50 years earlier. The exhibition traveled to many German cities from 1991 and was meant to improve understanding between Jews and Germans. Dr. G.S. Oegema was asked to prepare this exhibition and that's what triggered him to write his book.

 

What a twist in history! The yellow badge that made such a distance between Jews and Nazis during the holocaust became a source of getting closer.  Reminds me of the Bible verse Psalms 118:22:

 

"The stone [which] the builders refused is become the head [stone] of the corner"…