Goodenough

Today I went to the National Library in the Hebrew University in Jerusalem for the first time in 30 years. It is quite an experience to come back to any place after such a long time. I remembered the face of the librarian and asked her:
-How many years do you work here?
She sighed and answered:
- More the 30 years.
I said I remembered her from the period of my studies 30 years ago.
She smiled.
Later she helped me a lot to find my way in the labyrinth of books.
In the first hour I felt like a stranger but towards the end of the day I started feeling back at home. Eventually I found myself leafing the 13 volumes of E. R. Goodenough Jewish Symbols during the Greco-Roman Period (1953-1968). On the 7th volume as far as I can remember I found on page 198 a short chapter about the Star of David and went down to photocopy it.
The bottom line is that Goodenough suspects that the origin of the Star of David is from the rosette but hasn't got any direct evidence for his hunch. In a way this hunch fits extraordinarily Uri Ofir's theory that the origin of the Star of David is from the ROSE SHAPED candleholder of the Menorah. The difference is of course that Uri Ofir has the needed evidence.

Customs

I found this Star of David emblem at the custom offices in Ashdod and the clerk told me that this logo was replaced lately by a new one, which raises the question if the Star of David can disappear if the mode changes?

Torah Reading Tables

Torah Reading Tables magen David picture ©2005 Steve Henry Herman / all rights reserved

I just got an Email from Steve Henry Herman who enjoyed my blog and commented:

I too have a fascination with the Star of David, and have used it in several Torah reading tables I designed and built for sanctuaries in North Carolina. I use the inherent strength of the Star (interlocking triangles) as the central structural key to the tables

.I like surprising intimate and personal interpretation of the Star of David. This one belongs definitely to this category. Steve Henry Herman's Star of David transmits strength. I can feel it just from looking at this picture…

Israel is 541

Magen David Israel is 541 picture is courtesy of Richard Amiel McGough
Richard Amiel McGough's supplies his readers with numerological interpretations of the meaning of the Star of David. The one I liked the most was that the sum of the Hebrew letters in the word Israel is 541 and it is the same as the number of dots that appear in a Star of David in which n=10.

6n(n-1) +1

6.10=60

60.9=540

540+1=541

10 =I="yud"

300 =S="shin"

200 =R="reish"

1 =A="aleph"

30 =L="lamed"

541

(E is not counted since in Hebrew the A already covers this base).

According to scientific probability what are the odds that the number of dots in the emblem of Israel will equal the sum of the numerical value of the letters in the word ISRAEL? Amazing!

Magen David Album

Today I started a New Hebrew blog on http://magendavidalbum.blogspot.com/. I hope this will satisfy all those readers who said that this blog must be also in Hebrew. Still, first stage will be with minimal text since I don't have time right now to translate all the stuff that was accumulated on this blog.

 I hope this new initiative will enlarge our club of Star of David enthusiasts and that I'll get some new photos from my new readers.

 I reckon that seeing so many surprising photos without reading long texts will be a different experience for all of us…  

 

St. Mark Cathedral

There are so many loose ends in the research about the origin of the Star of David. Take for example the stone with an engraved Star of David  found in St. Mark’s Cathedral in Venice. legend has it that the stone was brought to Venice from the Temple in Jerusalem. I reckon there are hundreds of such riddles and solving each one of them might shed more light on this complicated issue.

  

hidden synagogue

Photo of  hidden synagogue Magen David is courtesy of Jessica Gonzalez aka "Captain Che" from Flickr