Picture is courtesy of Adlai Stock who sent me this famous poster that depicts the Star of David in the Israeli flag as being made of guns. This reminds me to add two words to the THE Declaration of THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE STATE OF ISRAEL from May 14, 1948WE EXTEND our [GUN HOLDING] hand to all neighbouring states and their peoples in an offer of peace and good neighbourliness...
Picture is courtesy of Adlai Stock, who sent me this famous poster which depicts the Run Over Peace Dove in the shape of a Star of David and the vehicle wheel-marks as the stripes on the Israeli flag.Shaphat son of Adlai was in charge of the cattle in the valleys...All these were the officials in charge of King David’s property. (1 Chronicles 27:29)
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 MassSeveral Islamic states have a pentagram in their flags: Morocco, Syria, Turkey, Egypt and others. There are good reasons for this. Countries like Iraq and Saudi Arabia, the cradle of Islam, are direct heirs to the ancient Babylonian culture. Until the Crusader and Mongol invasions, Islamic culture, with Baghdad as its center, revived the sciences of ancient times and passed them on to Europe.
On the other hand, Islam also has a special relationship to Jerusalem. Its original Qiblah pointed to Jerusalem's Temple Mount. The Koran speaks of it as El-Aqsa, which means "far away", "at the other end" from Mecca. The Temple Mount established by King Solomon as a place of prayer for all nations is, according to Islamic tradition, especially blessed by Allah. He brought His Prophet Mohammed from Mecca to this place to show him His signs there, the event being referred to as Mohammed's Night Journey and Ascencion.
Both these factors - the revival of the ancient sciences and the relationship to the site of Solomon's Temple - may have influenced some Islamic nations in the design of their flags.
Most of these flags, however, do not contain the pentagram alone. It is often combined with the crescent - another Islamic symbol inherited from ancient Babylon (notably the flags of Turkey, Libya, Tunisia and Egypt):
Most of these ancient cultures, especially those which developed in deserts or tropical regions, related more to the moon than to the sun. Nabunaides, the last king of ancient Babylonia, not only adhered to the moon cult but tried to forge polytheistic Babylonia unto a "monotheistic" society which would acknowledge the supremacy of the moon god. The moon, besides influencing agricultural seasons, allows for the idea that Man, who has no light of his own, should resemble the moon which reflects the light of the sun in purity. Moreover, the moon's waxing and waning would indicate constant renewal. rebirth and even resurrection. Babylon, at that time the Middle East's most advanced society in terms of science, technology, social structure and political evolution, exported these ideas to Arabia where Nabunaides himself preferred to live.
Mohammed did not eliminate these ideas, but instead incorporated them into Islam, as he also did with the Kaaba.
The combination of the two symbols, crescent and pentagram, allows for various interpretations, all of which find their reflection in current Islamic life:
a) some "crescent countries" are closely related to the powers of science, and vice versa, a situation symbolized by the pentagram. Technologies are needed in oil extraction. On the other hand the technically advanced countries depend on the crude "black" oil from below, and shirk the "white" oil from above symbolized by Jerusalem and what it stands for;
b) others oppose these powers (usually anti-progressive religious fanatics);
c) the Islamic establishment sees the Temple of Solomon, symbolized by the pentagram and marked by the Temple Mount, incorporated into its own system and territory
d) it opposes an independent Temple (the jihad or "Holy War" against Israel);
e) the semi-circular crescent encroaches on the pentagram (which may mark the Temple and the adjoining "Land of Moriah"), reminding us of the Islamic/Arab nation-states which today encroach on Israel; if peaceful relations existed, the crescent would depict Isaiah's grand vision of peace. The Temple, if symbolized by the pentagram, would shed its light and the crescent countries would reflect it as the moon reflects the light of the sun.
Such a situation could then be expressed symbolically by the Star of David, with its two triangles representing the power fields represented by the Crescent of Islam and the Temple symbolized by the pentagram.
The United States have the pentagram as well as the hexagram in their flag, as we saw. This may well express allegorically the challenge facing the USA, namely, to work for the harmonious balance of the energies these two symbols represent
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 MassShould this Ego- or I-awareness then be a double-edged gift? Like all other forms, the Ego- or I-awareness as a special form of our feeling and thinking also has its borders and fences. These, in turn, entail separation. We feel separated from one another, and even from God our Creator. Feeling separated causes fears and yearning, yearning first for our parent's love; then for a life partner; for some form of unity in groups, nations, Mankind; and a yearning for God .
This feeling of separation is an outcome of our being created in God's image which, however, is but the base, or starting point in our journey towards God's likeness. The latter we can never fully achieve, since God is infinite, and thus always 'beyond'. It is for this reason that ancient religions stress the importance of the way, as Judaism in its Halahah (literally Way), the early Christians (known as "followers of the Way"); or the Chinese Tao.
Striving for success is more often than not propelled by the yearning to be recognized and loved. Disappointments in these struggles may lead to feelings of guilt, anger, envy and depression.
Thus, it turns out that this seemingly double-edged gift of Ego is meant to face us with a constant challenge: our ongoing decision as to which of the two above alternatives will dominate our lives: the spirit of fear and carnal drives, or the spirit of the Divine attributes. God as the "God of spirits of all flesh" (Numbers 27:16) asks us constantly "Adam, where are you?", and rewards us accordingly. As a help and guide on our way, we were given the Torah, literally the Divine Instruction, which tells us about the "breathing of the breath of Life" into our nostrils.
The following paragraph is from Dr. Asher Eder’s book The Star of David, which was published in 1987 in English in Jerusalem by Runin Mass Ltd. The publication here is courtesy of Oren Mass
Consequently, the second chapter, significantly starting after the Divine institution and blessing of the Seventh Day, the Shabbath, records the forming of Man. We read there: "And the Lord God formed Adam, dust from the earth , and he breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and (so) Man was a living soul This passage states explicitly that Man is composed both of the "dust of the earth" as his material base, and of the Divine "breath of life" as his spiritual constituent and privilege.
Since this passage is of the profoundest meaning and importance for our understanding of human existence and its dual nature - as expressed by the Star of David - we shall look at some of its aspects:
1) The passage brings out clearly the dual nature of Man, i.e. his earthly-material and his spiritual nature, by presenting him - and only him - as a product of both the dust of the earth and the Divine breath of life.
Speaking in terms of our symbol, the six-pointed star, we could say that the triad of spirit-intellect-feeling conditions the triad of thought-speech-movement, with both triads forming the six-pointed Star, which we could interpret in this context as a symbol of man:
2) Even in his earthly-material nature, Man is of a different stature than plants and animals. The latter were brought forth from the earth, i.e. its gross material as outlined above, and were shaped by God, while in Man's case, the earth provided the 'raw material' in its subtlest form, dust , which was given form by the Lord. This form-giving finds its foremost expression in our I-awareness, or Ego. No animal has such an awareness. Our body shape, including our upright posture and our speech organs, expresses this special feature. Normally, a child's I-awareness begins to develop along with his/her ability to stand upright and walk
In this spirit, we can also think and speak, be self-conscious and creative, rule our physical nature, judge and be merciful or severe, forgive, and pass laws - and we can use all these properties for altruistic and beneficial ends, or for selfish and destructive ones.
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 MassThe principle of polarity works also within the known spiritual world. Examples of this are judgment and mercy, law and grace, severity and goodness, each of them forming a power field, with their harmonic interplay being an indispensable precondition for the proper functioning of human society. Love comprises both of these aspects. Thus, true lovers, for all their mutual affection, will always respect and honor one another. Love would degenerate quickly if it consists only of lavish kindness. On the other hand, it would not be love if only severity prevailed.
The Bible indicates this in the two different accounts of Creation, namely chapters I and II of Genesis. These two chapters are not two different traditions (E and J) put side by side by clever editors, as some modern scholars like to point out. They are closely interrelated through their common and central theme of ADAM.
In the first chapter, which speaks mainly of the creation of nature, the term Elohim (God, the purposefully directed creative force) is used. This term always goes with the aspect of the law, e.g. the laws of creation, of nature, of cause and effect. In some instances, the word Elohim must be translated as judge.
The creation of Adam, too, is recorded under this aspect. To be more accurate, verse 26 of the first chapter, which introduces the Divine intention, reads: "Let us make Adam (man) in our image, after our likeness." The following verse (27) then records the actual creation of Adam in God's image, but significantly omits the term "after our likeness". The Torah indicates by this omission that the "likeness" of God is not merely a product of that part of Creation, which is subject to the rigid laws of nature. It is rather the goal of a process of development and growth beyond these laws. Only Man enjoys this privilege and destiny.
Picture is courtesy of "stevemonty" from FlickrIn the Middle Ages, the star also played quite some role in the Kabbalists' understanding and description of the world , while the very term,Magen David, rendered "Shield of David" or "Star of David") for describing the hexagram was used in Jewish literature for the first time, as far as we know, by the Kabbalist Joseph Gikatilla in the 13th Century, and then shortly after that by a grandson of the famous Rabbi Nahmanides, in his treatise Sefer ha'Gevul. There, he uses the hexagram twice, both times calling it Magen David .
It is not known whether these renowned rabbis were the first to identify the hexagram as Magen David, or whether they expressed an already existing custom. There are hints that David Elroi, the leader of a big messianic movement at the 12th century, adopted the Magen David as the sign for his campaign by which he tried to liberate the country from the Crusaders. Shortly after, the Karaite Yehudah Hadassi, who lived in Constantinople, used the term Magen David to describe the hexagram, but thought its six corners represented the four directions of the compass, the earth and heaven.
The examples cited so far may indicate a certain affinity between the Jewish people and the six-pointed star, but since other communities also used it, as we will see in the next chapter, we can only say that it was used in ancient times by both Jews and non-Jews. Yet, apparently the Magen David begins its consistent history in Judaism with these medieval Kabbalists.
