Judenpost

Photo is courtesy of David Diamant and if you have more information about this banknote please drop him a note at 313diamant@gmail.com

These stamps were of 10 marks, 5 marks and 20 marks stamps. Each stamp had a Star of David under its upper left corner and on its right side there was the image of Mordechai Chaim  Rumkowski,  the head of the Jewish Council in Lodz Ghetto who was appointed by the Nazis.

Rumkowski established post offices and ran a contest for stamps to be used for interior correspondence. The first Ghetto stamps were ready on March 9, 1944. Soon after the stamps were printed the Germans decided these stamps wouldn't be permitted, and only a small amount was sold by the Ghetto post office. It is unclear to this day what happened to these stamps.

 5Pf  Rumkowski stamp

10Pf  Rumkowski stamp-1

 10Pf  Rumkowski stamp-2

 5Pf  Rumkowski stamp

More than 200,000 Jews of the Lodz Ghetto were murdered. When Lodz was finally liberated on January 19, 1945 only 877 Jews were still alive, some of them still wearing the Star of David on their chests.

The Flower of David

Photo is courtesy of Dr. Rina Kamenetsky

Head, Department of Ornamental Horticulture

ARO, the Volcani Center,

Bet Dagan,

ISRAEL

Dr. Kamenetsky discovered that the Nurit flower bulb cells look under a microscope as a Star of David. I wrote to her that I believe this story is like a good poem about the blossoming of the desert and she answered that after the first publication of this information she received many letters, some of them related to the Zionist significance of this research. For example:

one of the American writers, Sylvia Kohn Dreyfus, used the motif of the native Israeli buttercup (she called it the Flower of David) for the cover of her book of poetry "An American Jewish Perspective", published in 2005. I received this book from the author, but I am not sure that you can find it in Israel

.

Dr. Kamenetsky concludes her letter by saying that for her

however, the focus is mainly scientific, and I hope to continue my research on this most interesting plant, which can survive under severe climatic conditions of complete drought

Capernaum Synagogue

It is well known that the earliest Jewish use of the Star of David was as the seal of Joshua Ben Asayahu found in Sidon (Second Temple period, 6th century B.C.E.) and then as a carved decoration in a synagogue frieze on fourth-century synagogue at Capernaum (Kfar Nachum) in Israel.

Photo courtesy of Dan Mahler from Hofesh Organization

Re Dating and Updating the Capernaum Synagogue
There's an archeological debate about the dating of Capernaum synagogue:
Paul Roche represents the old theory about this dating problem and writes in his book, The Bible's Greatest Stories (2001 Page 380)
Capernaum was a prosperous city became the center of Jesus' Galilean ministry, perhaps because Peter had a house there. The Franciscans, who have been constantly excavating the ruins of Capernaum since the 1920s have identified Peter's house…Recent archeological finds have also unearthed the ruins of a first-century synagogue which is almost certainly the one in which Jesus preached.
James D G Dunn represents the more updated theory in his book, Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making (2003 Page 318) and writes that it dates from 4th or 5th century CE although underneath it there are earlier walls of houses and stone pavements
The reason for this re-dating is that archeologists Corbo and Loffreda excavated underneath the synagogue and discovered coins from the 5th century.
This re dating is very significant since there are numerous reviews about the history of this symbol that start with saying that this artifact is the earliest Star of David that was found in a synagogue. Even if there are ruins underneath the synagogue the artifacts are belonging to the later date. Now it is not only about re dating – it is also about updating.