Monday, August 21, 2006

Red and White

In the desert Moses made flags for every tribe. Moses also made an Israeli flag for all the tribes, but what was the design of this flag?
From Athol Bloomer's elaborate article about the Mystical Rose one might guess that the flag of Moses might have included the Star of David since:
As Prince Dudumose Moses also bore on his battle shield the red Magen David (double dalet) design with the two base lines in a vertical formation. The Star of Miriam on her drum was the white Magen David (double mem) with the base lines horizontal.

Keter

half a Star of David bookThis was for me an exercise in paying attention to details, because only after I edited the emblem of Keter publishing house in Photoshop I was convinced that it was designed as half a Star of David. The designer made a subtle work here trying to convey the message that this publishing house is the best and at the same time he tried to touch a patriotic chamber in the heart of his potential customers.

This is one more way to look at this many faceted emblem - two crowns, one upward, one down.

Sunday, August 20, 2006

Yevu Yashir Sukkah Lampshades at Jerusalem Fair

3D Star of David folded Sukkah Lampshades Yevu Yashir 3D Star of David folded Sukkah Lampshades at Jerusalem Chutzot Hayotzer Art Fair.

Yakov Agam Yizkor Sculpture at the Wailing Wall

Yakov Agam Magen DavidMy good old friend Yehuda heard about my interest in Stars of David and recommended I'll take a look at Yakov Agam Yizkor sculpture at the Wailing Wall in the old city of Jerusalem.
The sculpture is made from six big white Stars of David lit by gas. The six stars represent the six million holocaust Jewish victims. Between the stars there are the Hebrew letters of Yizkor, the Memorial prayer recited in memory of parents, children, wives or husbands, and martyrs.
When I arrived there at night I couldn't see it so I asked Yehuda on the mobile phone to direct me more accurately and then I saw it but its lighting was off.
A few days later I came back at day light and took a picture of it. I asked the owners of the roof where the sculpture is situated why is the lighting off and they answered it is because of safety problems with the gas.
I wander what Yaakov Agam thinks about this strike…
BTW Yaakov Agam has a special interest in Stars of David and many of his works deal with this symbol. I'd like to publish here more of his brilliant works but they are copyrighted…

Evasive

Evasive Magen DavidWhat you see here is a hexagon inside a Star of David inside a hexagon in a pavement just at Zion Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem, Israel.
An Arab door keeper at Dormition Church referred me to this pavement but even when I stood on it I didn't understand that it was a Star of David - I guess it happens to most people who step on it every day. It is easier to grasp it from the air, or from a distant spot, but maybe it is hard to notice it because it is evasive…

Saturday, August 19, 2006

Local Symbols

The Star of David is good against a Jewish vampire, but if we tried to use it on a Muslim vampire, it would just make him angry!

This wonderful joke is on the Warners' DVD of The Fearless Vampire Killers or Pardon Me, But Your Teeth Are in My Neck (1967, Directed by Roman Polanski). It shows brilliantly how local are our symbols.
Another example is to try and tell this joke to different villagers in remote places all over the world (like in the Amazons) and to watch how they react to it – I'm sure nobody will laugh, and if some of them will giggle it will be because of the wrong reasons.

Visual Palindrome

Visual PalindromeThis Palindrome picture is copied from Wikimedia where it appears in black and white; I, using Photoshop, added the colors.
The Star of David is a visual palindrome: from every direction it looks the same:
From above as from below
From the front as from the behind
From the right as from the left
This shape expresses the concept that the opposites, any pair of contrasts, are united on a level, which includes them; like breath includes inhaling and exhaling.
The Star of David is the place where it doesn't matter if you are rightist or leftist, rich or poor, at the top of the social ladder or at its bottom.
It is interesting to note that this visual palindrome attracts another visual palindrome - the Roman magic square called sator, where each word can be read the same way from right to left and vice versa, from top to bottom and vice versa. M. Costa in his book about the golden section and Solomon's seal bring a photograph of a whole page of a book from the Middle Ages in which a Star of David surrounds this magic square.
The Star of David attracts also Hebrew verbal palindromes:
The word David (DVD), which appears in the name of this shape
The word Six (Shesh in Hebrew) indicating the number of triangles that surrounds the hexagon, which dwells inside this shape. Shesh is the stem of the word Shoshan (lily), the flower that looks from above like a Star of David. Researcher Uri Ofir claims that the Shoshan is the origin of this shape.
The word Choach (thorn) from the verse in the Song of Songs
"Like a rose among the thorns"