Lamel School

Edler von Lamel School is at Yeshayahu St. Jerusalem. It was built in 1903 and has a big stone Star of David above its entrance. Architect Theodore Sandler who passed away during the work designed the school; his son Benjamin completed the design.

Photographer Baruch Gian wrote an article in Hebrew titled "The best Magen David" about stonecutters in Jerusalem in the beginning of the 20th century. He claims that in those days the Star of David was the most common symbol to be engraved in stone. It appeared usually in the keystone, in windows and doors. All this happened many years before the establishment of the state of Israel…

 

 

Artists Delineate Territories of a Symbol

On March 1996 there was an art exhibition (Hebrew) titled "the Star of David: Israeli and German artists delineate territories of a symbol" in the Tower of David, Jerusalem, Israel. Batia Donner was the curator and 16 artists, 7 from Germany and 9 from Israel, showed how they see this symbol.

 The exhibition was based on another exhibition held in Germany to celebrate 30 years since the beginning of diplomatic relationships between Germany and Israel.  Among the artists were: noted Israeli press and art photographer Micha Bar Am, photographer Alex Libak, poster-artist Yossi Lemel and David Tartakover. 

Cooperation between Israelis and Germans is always under the shadows of holocaust associations, especially when dealing with this special symbol which Nazis used to humiliate Jews; that's why it was a poetic justice to choose the Star of David for the Israeli flag.

 

Architecture

The old Technion (College of Technology) in Haifa is one of the most impressive buildings in Israel. Its miniature is on the Mini Israel Park, which proves my point. Renowned German Jewish architect Alexander Baerwald designed it as a combination of east and west and Jewish motifs. Work began in 1914 and ended in 1924...

What attracted me to write about this building was the big Star of David high above the entrance. Albert Einstein was the Technion first president and he planted a palm tree in front of the building in 1923.

Questions

What is a Star of David? What is the meaning of its name? What is its origin? What is its meaning? What are its synonyms? What are its interpretations? What kinds of it are there? What is the difference between Star of David and mullet/ Solomon's seal/ hexagram? What is the meaning of the Star of David in other cultures? What is so interesting about it? What is the biggest/ smallest Star of David in the world? What is the attitude of different social/religious groups towards it? What is its influence? What is its past? What is its future?

 

When was it invented?

 

Where does it come from? Where was it invented? Where can I see it? Where can I find resources about it? Where is it published? Where were found Star of David artifacts?

 

Who invented it? Who used it? Who dealt with it: in research, in writing, in art, in science? Who loves it? Who hates it?

 

Why was it invented; to what purpose? Why do people use it? Why was it chosen for the Israeli flag? 

 

How to draw it? How do people use it? How much does it cost?

  

Logo

My definition for the Star of David is: logo of Judaism and in the term Judaism I include Zionism and all things connected to Israel. Today I found out that the above mentioned definition fits the theory of Shmuel Warshavsky, who wrote a book (in Hebrew) titled "to go with a logo" (Yedioth Ahronoth, 2005) where he claims that the many people who wear a Star of David show in this behavior their need to belong, to identify, like many other brands that people use in the frame of the new "brand religion".

The Star of David is used in the logos of many Jewish, Zionist and Israeli organizations and even non- Jewish supporters of Israel are proud to include it in their logos.A few examples: 

Jewish Agency

Doing Zionism - The Department for Zionist Activities of the World Zionist Organization

Hard rock cafe New York

Judaism 101

Mount Zion Reform congregation

Geometry

About two months ago I saw on television a program about the impossible geometry that Dutch artist M.C. Escher used in his drawings. There was a professor (I didn't catch his name) from the Israeli Technion who showed that this geometry is possible from a certain viewing direction. Today I found another work of the same Prof, Gershon Elber, and this time he deals with other objects. The one that interested me was the Hexagram. He shows how it can be built from two Penrose triangles. I was amazed when I saw the TV program and again when I saw this website!

The Penrose triangle is an impossible object. Oscar Reutersvard, a Swedish artist, was the first to create it (1934) but it's called after Roger Penrose, a mathematician who devised it independently in the 1950s.

Escher's work has a strong mathematical component and many of his optical illusions are based on impossible objects like the Necker cube and the Penrose triangle.

 

Pokemon

CNN.com reported on March 26, 2001 that Pokemon games and cards were banned by Saudi Arabia because it had ssymbols including the "Israeli" Star of David.  Pokemon (Pocket Monsters) is a Japanese video game (1996) that has a huge success world wide. It contains 386 Pokemons which the players have to capture and train.