The Sign of Man

The following paragraph is from Dr. Asher Eder’s book The Star of David, which was published in 1987 in English in Jerusalem by Rubin Mass Ltd. The publication here is courtesy of Oren Mass.
This version includes corrections and new materials that do not appear on the printed version.

In the attempt to trace the history of our symbol, we discovered that it was known to diverse people from ancient times. We followed its history through the Middle Ages to its adoption in modern times as a specific Jewish symbol and the flag symbol of the State of Israel.
Yet, its symbolic meaning remains universal. Such polarization is fascinating wherever it occurs in nature, but above all illustrates many features characteristic of human life.
Looking at it from this angle, the symbol might have been known to Adam, the first man. As soon as he heard the Divine voice permitting him to eat from all the trees of the garden except from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil [Gen.2:16,17] ,and then heard the reproach: "Where are you?", he must have become aware of the existence of a spiritual world beyond the physical one in which he found himself, and realized that these worlds penetrate each other. In his long life, in which he would observe the heavenly bodies and see their impact on earthly life, he could well have developed the basics of statistics, mathematics, geometry, and astronomy, including the triangles.
In other words, our symbol may well have been a universal sign from the beginning; it need not be confined to the Jewish people and its state. The Israelites are but Mankind's priests, pointing out the road which will take Humanity to the Kingdom of Divine Grace and Justice on Earth, as proclaimed 3,000 years ago by King David, after whom our symbol is named.
Our six-pointed star may well turn out to be the emblem for all Humankind. It can again become the Sign of Man.

Origami Tessellation

Picture is courtesy of "Mélisande" who published it on Flickr. 
After scanning many Origami works I got the impression that making Origami Stars of David is quite common.

Harmony of the Triangles

The following paragraph is from Dr. Asher Eder’s book The Star of David, which was published in 1987 in English in Jerusalem by Rubin Mass Ltd. The publication here is courtesy of Oren Mass.
This version includes corrections and new materials that do not appear on the printed version.

The joining of the two triangles, whether they represent the relationship between God and Man, male and female, Israel and the nations, or religion and science, has to be harmonious - a symmetrical star.
If one of the two entities represented by a triangle insists on having only his own concept prevail and his own position acknowledged, we would have, not a star, but a single triangle resting on its base, similar to a pyramid. Such an individual's upward aspiration for a "better world" would in practice become more constricted, until the sides of the triangle intersect. As a point cannot be defined either mathematically or otherwise, likewise this point of intersection cannot be defined, but it could easily turn out to be the point of isolated fanaticism, or obsession, where misplaced enthusiasm or sheer despotism replaces insight.
The fate of such a "single-triangle" individual can be compared to that of the builders of the Tower of Babel, with its broad base yet narrow top intended to reach heaven and serve as a rallying point. Both sides of that triangle act as a shelter to screen off any influence from above. However, although this influence is not acknowledged by the adherents to this kind of thinking, it is still there, and causes the "Babylonian confusion".
If such an attitude prevails, and one could manage to impose it on others, the triangles of the hexagram would not be interwoven; instead, one triangle would impose itself on the other, repressing it and pushing it into the background.
The result would be that the individual who holds such a view, and any individuals who have been persuaded to believe it possible to abandon their own in its favor, would find themselves, first, in opposition to the Divine, and ultimately, at odds with each other - for every individual's proper place in the scheme of things is as unique and as unalterable as his fingerprints. Thus, as the "tower" rises and narrows, the individual's uniqueness would find itself increasingly constricted; tensions would arise and eventually erupt. As each person's individuality finally asserts itself, it would become clear that, all declarations of "loyalty to the cause" notwithstanding, each participant had been laboring towards his own goal... a goal different from that of any other participant. Confusion and chaos would inevitably ensue
This sign does not show harmony and peace but rather tension and imposition, which trigger revolt. Human history so far has indeed been the "history of the revolts of the oppressed against the oppressors."
Imposition and oppression are, of course, not the purpose of history, regardless of whether such oppressions emanate from political, clerical, feudal, industrial or other causes. As the Lord God does not impose upon Man, likewise Man is not meant to impose upon, or oppress, his fellows.
In view of our present subject (religion and science), this means that both sides should see themselves as servants of God and Man, of the Creator and all His Creation, with each one contributing and receiving his due, and accepting the other's role in complementary cooperation, as symbolized by the six-pointed star:
In our symmetric six-pointed star the joining of its two triangles symbolizes, and even teaches us well the Divine Principle of harmonious mutuality and complementation of the related energy fields.
True peace, whether on the personal, cultural, social or political level, will be achieved only to the degree that we can raise our awareness from the selfish to the holistic level, in which everyone plays his part in completing the whole.
Indeed, the word Shalom, peace, means completion, literally and figuratively. It derives from the root word, shalem, complete, whole. As a verb, shalem means to recompense, to pay a debt, to make whole. Thus the word conveys a universal truth: we will have peace only inasmuch as we pay what we owe to one another as well as to the Creator and the rest of His Creation.
As C.G. Jung says: "The right way, like the wrong way, must be paid for." The difference is that for the right way we pay in advance, following our insight, while for the wrong way we pay afterwards - a much higher and more painful price.
But what about the pentagram which symbolizes the sciences? Science, according to its own definition, deals with the counting, weighing and measuring of the phenomena of the created world, and with the condensing of the findings into law. Thus, we could put the pentagram into the middle field of the hexagram:
However, this would not contribute anything, as both the pentagram and the middle field of the hexagram, which expresses by its two triangles the harmonious balance of both the material and spiritual aspects of the universe, does not need any supplement; it is complete in itself.
In recent years, it became fashionable to depict the hexagram in different shapes -- triangles with unequal sides; prolonged triangles; one of the two triangles replaced by a dove resembling a triangle; giving one or two sides of a triangle the shape of a letter, and so on. While this may be eye catching, we ought to remember that symbols, including the hexagram, have specific and powerful messages that should not be tampered with.

Chanukah Cookies

Picture is courtesy of "BreeHartwig" who published it on Flickr. I guess the blue filling and the white frame of these delicious Star of David Chanukah Cookies are meant to allude to the Israeli flag colors...

Dodge Emblem 1935

Photo is courtesy of “cameradawktor” who published it on Flickr.

The Dodge brothers Horace and John were Jewish, that's why the first Dodge emblem had a Star of David in it. This is only one of many answers to this enigma.

Hexagram on Jesus’ Minaret in Damascus

Picture of Solomon’s seal on Jesus’ Minaret in Damascus is courtesy of "D Jabi" who published it on Flickr and wrote in the caption:

Legend (and some Hadeeth) has it that on Judgment Day, Jesus will descend from the Heavens on this very spot… 

The Minaret is part of the Omayad Mosque which stands at the old city of Damascus, Syria. It was built by the Omayad Caliph al-Walid ibn Abdul Malek in 705 A.D.

The Joining of the Triangles

The following paragraph is from Dr. Asher Eder’s book The Star of David, which was published in 1987 in English in Jerusalem by Rubin Mass Ltd. The publication here is courtesy of Oren Mass. This version includes corrections and new materials that do not appear on the printed version

Naturally, it is first and foremost up to us in Israel to get the two triangles - as symbols of two energy fields - joined in a harmonious star. We have to solve the problems created by the exile of the Jewish people, and those created by the separation of religion and science (including socialism as a form of political science). Our future and that of the world depends on solving this problem.
Perhaps a passage from the Jewish prayer book can indicate the way.
In the Amidah prayer we read:
"…"...השב את העבודה לדביר ביתך.
Its usual translation is:"...restore the worship to thy innermost sanctuary...".
Let us check this passage word for word:
1) ,השב hashev, rendered as restore, means bring back, return, or even refresh;
2) העבודה , ha'avodah, the worship, can be understood as describing ritual service, but can also be understood in its broader sense, as for instance in Gen.2:5, and as shown in the previous chapter on Avodah and Melakhah. This means that all our endeavors, avodah and melakhah, should be directed to, and guided by, the innermost sanctuary.
In Israel's current situation, a great part of the religious population, on the one side, is inclined to see only the performance of the ritual as avodah , while the socialists on the other hand think that only melakhah (labor, handicraft, business) will do. Consequently, they call themselves Avodah (Labor), borrowing this idea from the international labor movement.
However, both these groups are on the form-side of the "Kabbalistic Tree", and therefore clash often. Yet, this passage of the Amidah prayer could well be understood as a plea for the return of these two groups to their common source, the dvir.
3) לדביר ביתך , dvir bethekha, is the innermost of the three parts of the "House of the Lord", the Temple. Rabbi Hirsch describes it as "the Abode of the Word, from which the word of God's Law expounds to us His will."
The prayer directs us not just to the Temple as a whole, but to its innermost sanctum. For at the entrance of the dvir there is the היכל , heical, the Abode of Might. It contains the seven-branched candelabrum at the right, and the table at the left, as symbols of spiritual enlightenment and material welfare, respectively, . Graphically designed, dvir, menorah and shulhan, form a triangle resembling the triangle of Crown-Wisdom-Understanding of the Kabbalistic Tree. This shows us that the return to the dvir is accomplished not only through the Binah- or form-side symbolized by the shulhan. , altar (liter.: table).
Whether the word goes out from the dvir, or whether we direct ourselves towards the dvir, the passage is always through the היכל , heical, with both shulhan and menorah symbolizing the material and spiritual aspects. Our prayer reminds us of the equal importance of these two aspects.
The importance of bringing these two aspects together could well be expressed by the six-pointed star as it relates to avodah and melakhah. Its two triangles could stand for avodah in its mere religious-ritualistic sense, and for melakhah, respectively. Their joining in dvir would form the Star, symbolizing avodah, service, in its broader meaning. Melakhah would then be recognized as an integral part of the service of God, no less than prayer and other religious practices.
This, of course, holds true not only for the Jewish people but for all nations; for the Temple is a visible likeness of the laws and order of Creation invisible to the physical eye. Seen from this perspective, the destruction of the Temple was a disaster not only for the Jewish people but for the nations, too. It is for this reason that Prophet Isaiah, visualizing the restoration of the Temple, could say: "My house shall be called the house of prayer for all peoples"; and: "...there -- in Zion -- the Lord commanded the blessing, even life for evermore" (Ps.133:3). Indeed, once the nations recognize the eternal truth expressed by the House of the Lord, they will focus on it and be healed. It is then and there that strife will end and the triangles will join.