This blog (by Zeev Barkan) is dedicated to the Star of David, its history, its various meanings and usages in different cultures. It includes thousands of pictures of Star of David, six-pointed stars, hexagrams, Solomon's Seals, Magen Davids and yellow badges,and served as a resource for three books and four art exhibitions.
Because I'm so busy with this blog my kids knew they will make me happy if they surprise me with a Star of David gift; so they bought me this Israeli flag fridge magnet on the main street of the old city in Jerusalem from an Arab merchant.
Do you think it is a herald of peace or is it just business?
Recently I tried to define what The Star of David is not. Today I'll try to define what it is:
The Star of David has a shape, a meaning and a name:
1. Meaning: The Star of David is a symbol, an emblem, a logo of Judaism and Zionism.
2. Shape: The Star of David is a shape, a hexagram, a six-pointed star formed by two equilateral triangles which have the same center and are placed in opposite directions. It can be: (a) two dimensional or (b) three dimensional like perforation, or engraving or (c) three dimensional created by two interlocking tetrahedrons.
3. Name: The Star of David is the Shield of David, which refers to the Lord, who is also the Shield of Abram. The same name serves both the Jewish and the Christian Stars of David and there's a need for disambiguation.
4. Product: The Star of David is a product in the shape of a six-pointed star, such as necklace, earring, lampshade etc.
Trying to define the Star of David by its shape alone is not enough - even though the Star of David is a hexagram not every hexagram is a Star of David. This is a source of confusion for many people who see it on Indian temples, or as sheriffs' badges, or as Chinese checkers etc.
Trying to define it by the name alone is not enough since it has other meanings that are not necessarily connected to the shape.
Trying to define it as a product alone is not enough since there are non- Jewish products in the same shape.
So my definition is: The Star of David is the name of a two or three dimensional six-pointed star which is the emblem of Judaism and Zionism.
The logo of Maccabi is made of four Hebrew letters which spells Maccabi. These letters create the shape of the Star of David. The logo serves as a basis for the separate logos of the different Maccabi organizations:
The name Maccabi is derived from Judah Maccabi (Yehudah Hamaccabi, the hammer) who led a successful guerilla war against the Seleucid armies from 167 BCE. The saga of Judah Maccabi is celebrated at Chanukah and signifies courage and power.
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.
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…
