Monday, May 07, 2007

Nepalese Pagoda in Australia

Photo of Six- pointed star carved in stone is courtesy of "cocteautwin2000" who published it on Flickr. It was made for the Nepalese Pavilion at the World Exposition 1988 (Expo 88), held at Southbank in Brisbane. 

Sunday, May 06, 2007

Lotus

Lotus Hexagram
Lotus and Hexagram in a Nepalese Decoration of Honor which was established in 1966 by King Mahendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev. 

New Orleans Holocaust Memorial

Photo is courtesy of "haccamopooly" who published it on Flickr.
Yaacov Agam, an Israeli renowned artist, a pioneer of kinetic art, made The New Orleans Holocaust Memorial with the largest Yellow Badge I've ever seen.

Phoenician alphabet

Phoenician alphabet hexagram
The earliest known writing in Hebrew, Phoenician alphabet, dates from the 11th century BC. Which means that King David, who lived in the end of that period, read and wrote these letters.
The first evidence of this script is Gezer Calendar, which dates to around the 10th century BCE and records agricultural activities throughout the year.
Israeli Researcher Uri Ofir mentions a theory
which is found in the literature, that King David adopted this form as his emblem because of its special form which fitted his name. In ancient Hebrew (Daatz writing) the letter "d" (dalet) was written in the form of a triangle and in the name David there are two triangles (two characters of d).


James Lloyd is one of the opponents of the one of the worst opponents in general and of the above-mentioned theory in particular. In an article titled Damage Control: Defending The Star Of Satan? Published on October 4 2005 he says:
However, those that refuse to repent from their apostasy in the Christian church (read Babylonian whore church) today have produced an argument that can best be described as damage control. It provides no historical references, no anecdotal data, no footnotes, and a couple of very contrived scriptural references. It goes something like this:

In the Hebrew alphabet, the letter for the letter "d" is called a dalet, and it looks triangular. Since David's name had 2 dalets in it, the ancient Israelites used two dalets, with one of them turned (which would loosely approximate a hexagonal star), to represent that they were the armies of David.

There is no scripture that states this. There is no archeological find that states this. There is no Jewish commentary that states this. There is no ancient inscription in any language, country, or era that states this. There is no historical reference of any kind from any nation that knew of this supposed connection. In short, it's pure speculation. Damage Control.

Saturday, May 05, 2007

Pain Killer

Rabbi Nissim Hayim Moshe Mizrachi was the chief Rabbi in Jerusalem in the 18th century. In his Responsa book titled Admat Hakodesh he answered a question: is it allowed to tell a non-Jew on Saturday to draw with ink a Solomon's Seal on the swollen face of a Jew who suffers pains, since it is a known cure that kills pains. Near the Solomon's Seal is, in the book, a drawing of a Star of David. We can learn from this story that in the 18th century in Jerusalem the Star of David was recognized in the name of Solomon's Seal, and was used, among other things, as a pain killer.

Star of David Cookies in the 17th Century

Rabbi Yair Chayim Bacharach (1639-1702) was a German rabbi, initially in Koblenz and remainder of his life in Worms and Metz… He was the author of Havvot Yair ("Villages of Yair") a collection of responsa where he answered a question about breaking cookies on Saturday, on which there were drawings of Magen David or other images. Right after this question he tells about a habit to write bible verses on cookies and let babies eat them. It is not clear to me if the Magen David cookies were meant for babies but it seems that this emblem was well known among the Jews in Germany in the 17th Century who used to draw it on bakery products like cookies and Matzos.

Masculine Waters And Feminine Waters

Rami Aloni wrote in The Jewish Magazine a splendid clear article about the Star of David that symbolises the interlacing of the masculine waters and the feminine waters. 
There are times when we, the Jewish people, try to initiate a contact to G-d and sometimes, just the opposite, it is G-d trying to arouse us. Like the relationship between a man and a woman, it could be the man who initiates the contact (or stimulation) with the women. In other situations it could be the woman who initiates the contact by arousing the man.