Star of David remains from a destroyed synagogue in Bonn, Germany.
Picture is courtesy of Maxg from Flickr.
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
Destroyed Synagogue
Star of David on a German sign in Bonn - picture is courtesy of maxg from Flickr who translated the sign from German:
"Close to this place stood the synagogue, built in the year 1878, and with the Nazi acts of violence against our Jewish fellow citizens on 9 November 1938, destroyed."
Who invented the Jewish Star of David?
Most Jews are proud of their Star of David without knowing who invented it or where it came from. Even the renowned Rabbi Moshe Feinstein wrote explicitly in his book, Igrot Moshe, that "We don't have the origin of the form of the Magen David".
When asked some cling to the legend about the Shield of King David or the Seal of King Solomon, Or the Shield of Bar Kochba, but they have no artifact or research to prove their argument.
Others say that the Star of David came from the Yellow patch that the Nazis made the Jews wear during the Holocaust. They believe that the fact that it is now in the center of the Israeli flag is a kind of poetic justice, similar to the Christian explanation about the origin of their emblem from the structure on which Jesus was crucified; Measure for measure – what served as a source of shame became a source of pride.
Not knowing about the origin of your emblem is not as bad as knowing that it came from other cultures. Many young Israelis travel to India and are surprised to discover their national symbol on the walls of many ancient temples. The Internet is full with theories about the ancient pagan and astrological origins of this symbol. It is important to notice that although the Star of David is a hexagram, a six pointed star, not every hexagram is a Star of David.
Uri Ofir came up with a research in which he has a very good explanation about the origin of the Jewish Magen David from the Menorah in the Tabernacle. It was made by the Lord and not by a human being about a year after the exodus of the sons of Israel from Egypt. This theory satisfies the need to know but more than that – it provides a new source of pride, and a new educational tool.
What amazes me is that very few people know about Uri Ofir's research. He is lecturing about it every week for years and the audiences are always surprised and disappointed they didn't hear about it beforehand. I hope that by translating his research from Hebrew and by writing this posting I'll help the message get through.
Sunday, May 28, 2006
The scope of this blog
This blog is focused on Jewish Stars of David (Magen David), but includes information also about the following subjects which refer to other sorts of hexagrams in other cultures:
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
Red Magen David
Theosophy
Zion Christian Church
Latter-day Saints (Mormons)
Buddhism Hinduism and Jainism
Saturday, May 27, 2006
Pentagram and Magen David
M. Costa in his (Hebrew) book "Hatakh ha-zahav, hotam Shelomoh u-Magen-David" (Poalim, 1990) claims that there was no clear distinction between the pentagram and the Magen David until the 20th century.
After giving a lecture about this subject one of his pupils told him that there's a Midrash (interpretation of the Holy Scriptures) that connects the pentagram and the Magen-David. The Midrash explains that the Magen David was meant to pass from father to son for generations, but King Solomon was too modest to inherit his father's emblem and chose a less honorable one by taking off one of the sides of the Star of King David and by that he created his own (Solomon's) seal...
Ebay
Searching on Google for the keywords "star of David" Ebay retrieved about 282,000 results, which means that it is a very popular item on eBay.
Clustering the first 150 results on vivisimo shows the main categories of these products:
38 results deal with Jewelry
24 results deal with Ebay Store
12 results deal with Designer
9 results deal with Crystal
7 results deal with Symbol
7 results deal with Star of David necklace
8 results deal with Italian Charms
6 results deal with Heart
4 results deal with Magen David
5 results deal with Books
Searching on Ebay for the keywords "Star of David" retrieved 668 items:
Jewellery & Watches (385)
Necklaces & Pendants (163)
Charms & Charm Bracelets (74)
Earrings (18)
Collectables (172)
Religions, Spirituality (148)
Historical Memorabilia (6)
Decorative Collectables (5)
Pottery & Glass (43)
Glass (40)
Pottery & China (3)
The overall picture is that the most popular items are Jewellery, Necklaces and Charms.
I'd like to read an analysis of the Star of David world market. Maybe one of you readers can guide me where to find it. Then I'll have an answer for the question – How much does it cost?
Under the Heaven
1: To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
2: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
3: A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
4: A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
The Star of David is composed of all the possible opposites...
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