Finger Tattoo

Star of David Finger Tattoo 

Courtesy of Joshua Samuels

More Stars of David in the Genizah Project

I already wrote in 2006-7 about two manuscripts from the Cairo Genizah which include Stars of David, but now that The Friedberg  Genizah Project is online it is a whole new game. I salute the organizers of this web site for their extraordinary achievement. It took me sometime to register and install Java, but eventually I found a few more Genizah manuscripts which include Stars of David:

T-S AS 54.138 (1v) shows a fine Star of David made from small lines. There's also  a rhombus in the same page.

T-S Misc 1.75 is a page from Psalms 64-66 and it has on the right side a small vertical floral ornament which ends with a tiny Star of David made from one line.

T-S 125.94 has two small Stars of David and one which is larger and in it some Hebrew words from which I recognized the Hebrew words (in capital letters): Morasha Kehilat Ya'acov. In one of the two small Stars of David I recognized one of the two cursive Hebrew words - Tor.

T-S 135.169 has on the first from four leafs two Stars of David, one with a point in its center. On the second leaf there are 5 jotted  Stars of David and in the center of the sixth there's a point in the center.

T-S 150.195 has at its bottom a few lines filled with small Stars of David.

T-S 297.90 – according to its description it has a Star of David in a magical context in Arabic but I couldn't see the image.
Cambridge, CUL: Or.1080 1.63 2v1 Arabic letters Magic many stars of David on rows 2,4,5  Source of information: Gideon Bohak, Head of FGP Magic team

Cambridge, CUL: T-S Ar.53.21 - Arabic letters; Margins contain some jottings and drawings of the Star of David and other symbols

Cambridge, CUL: T-S K1.5 Aramaic Hebrew, Magic, contain some drawings of the Star of David

Cambridge, CUL: T-S K1.62 Large star of David surrounding and surrounded by names of God

Source of information: Gideon Bohak, Head of FGP Magic team

The Cairo Genizah documents were written from about 870 C.E. to 1880 C.E. so it is hard to know when each of these Stars of David was drawn. Anyhow we have so few instances of Stars of David from that period that this treasure adds a lot of interesting content for research.  

Israeli Arabs can salute Magen David as Muslim symbol

Jerusalem Post published an article on August 18, 2009 under the title: Oren: Israeli Arabs can salute Magen David as Muslim symbol . "I would hope that Israeli Arabs would also feel a sense of loyalty to a flag that has a symbol on it, a star, which is also actually an Islamic symbol, not just an exclusively Jewish symbol," Oren said...

Jew Watch

 Jew Watch is the most famous anti semitic website 
 It's Logo includes a colorful star of David above Hammer and Sickle 

the former USSR Coat of Arms 

hinting that Jews were behind the invention of Communism

The six pointed star and the crescent

Contemporary Crescent and six pointed Star in the old City of Jerusalem. in Arabic this crescent emblem is called hilal.

Photo: Ze'ev Barkan

= =

It is interesting to notice that the origin of the famous Islamic symbol of the five pointed star and the crescent was not Islamic but Sassanian, and at first it had six points.  The five pointed star and the crescent actually became a symbol of Islam only during the 19th century, sporting on the Ottoman flag from 1793. It entered the Turkish Flag in 1923 and then it had been adopted by other Muslim countries.  Actually the Crescent and six pointed Star appear already on a roman Denarius minted by Augustus (27 BC-CE 14)

  

Photo from Wikipedia entry: File:Augustus_denarius_coin_star_crescent

= =

Coin of King Juba II of Numidia 
52/50 BC – CE 23

King Juba II was a close friend of Augustus 

And on byzantine Drachma from  52-42 BCE

Michael G. Morony‏ in his book Iraq after the Muslim conquest p. 40 writes that the star and the crescent were combined for the first  time on the coins of Khosrau I the twentieth Sassanid Emperor (also called Chosroes I, and Anushirvan  (r. 531–579. Hurmizd IV replaced the six pointed star in some of his coins with a five pointed star. This tradition continued on coins of the seventh century.  After the conquest of Iraq the Muslim Government accepted  these coins as well. This tradition lasted until 695 or 696, when coins were minted without any images.

Picture from Wikipedia entry: Khosrau I

Yoel Natan in his book Moon-o-theism: religion of a war and moon god prophet Vol. 2 p. 434 wrote that  "In ottoman times the crescent and the star became emblems on Muslim battle flags and royal standards.

Chief Hizir Hayreddin (Barbarossa) was the Great Admiral of the navy of Suleiman the Magnificent from 1534 until his death on 1546. Now the flag is at the Naval Museum of Istanbul.

Picture is copied from Wikipedia

= =

Christian Star surrounding Muslin Crescent in a Mosaic Pavement at the 8th century Monastery of St. Euthymius in Mishor Adumin. The Monastery  was built by members of an Arab Tribe which lived nearby.

Photo by Sakra (c) 2011

= =

Provisional - 1915 overprint on 1892 Turkish stamp

Picture from Wikipedia entry Postage stamps and postal history of Turkey

= =

1923 Riffan Banknote
The Republic of the Rif  (North Morocco) was created in 1921
Image from Wikipedia entry Rif Republic

Photo and text From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_and_crescent

"Before the 14th century, the crescent and star does not seem to have been associated with Islam at all, and appears in Christian iconography. Miniature illustrating the victory of the Mongols (left) over the Mamluks (right) at the Battle of Homs (14th-century illustration from a manuscript of the History of the Tatars). The flag of the Mamluks is shown as a black star and crescent on a red field. The crescent is facing the hoist, and the star is shown as a six-pointed mullet".

Crescent and six pointed Star from the seal of the 
Jewish Community of Regensburg, Germany, Middle ages

Jewish star and crescent in  early 14th century, Spain, Mocatta Hagaddha

See: https://www.flickr.com/photos/zeevveez/15510160216/

See Also an article in French
http://www.ouarzazate-1928-1956.com/pour-memoire/petite-histoire-dune-etoile-a-six-branches.html

A six-pointed star on a flag from 1545

A six-pointed star on a 1545 depiction of the flag of the city of Maastricht

From Wikipedia entry: Star_(heraldry)

Yellow Badge in a Demonstration

In 15 March 2002 in Zurich, Switzerland, demonstrators carried 20 large yellow stars of David with the words Palestinian in English and in Hebrew in the inner hexagonal frame in a campaign against Israeli policy towards the Palestinians

See:

http://www.redress.btinternet.co.uk/selam.htm