My Hebrew Book in the Snow

I just wanted to see if the colors of the front cover of my Hebrew book fit the colors of the fresh new snow that conquered Jerusalem and brought us blesses silence for 24 hours, because no vehicle dared acting as if business was as usual, oh no...

Lantern in the Snow

My way to celebrate the fresh Jerusalem snow was to take a photograph of one of my son's 3-D folded paper Sukkah lanterns. Pity I couldn't shoot it with the bulb inside so that it would light the way to the nations.

Naomi Tereza Salmon, Light Bulb

Photo of Star of David burning wire in a light bulb is courtesy of its creator, Naomi Tereza Salmon.

20 x 20 cm

It seems to be the only simile of Star of David burning wire in a Light Bulb, which means that it is original. It also conveys the impression that in the future Israelis and Palestinians might live in peace and be a light to the nations.

This is one of about 170 works of 11 photographers from Israel and Palestinian territories at 2001 exhibition: Aspirations Toward a Future in the Middle East

Naomi Tereza Salmon was born in 1965, in Jerusalem, Israel. She studied photography at the Hadassa College in Jerusalem. She lives in Weimar (Germany).

Belly Button

Haifa designer Hayim Shtayer sent me this scan of an invitation flyer to an Israeli Independence Day Party from 2005. We see here a black Star of David surrounding the belly button of an extremely handsome young lady, and as far as I can tell this is the first time ever that a belly button captures the center of our national emblem. Isn’t that something? Shall we add a belly button to our flag?

Copyright: © Hayim Shtayer 2008

Lilien Star Shape Text

Haifa designer Hayim Shtayer sent me this scan from the opening page of the book Poems from the Ghetto (1902). The Illustrator is the first Zionist painter, E.M. Lilien, and to the best of my knowledge this is the first Star of David shaped text. 

Lilien, Boats-1

I published already a photo of a Star of David from E.M. Lilien’s illustrations to the book Poems from the Ghetto (1902) that I shot myself, but what you see here is a similar illustration with a more prominent Star of David. Haifa designer Hayim Shtayer sent me this splendid scan, and I hurry to show it to you, dear reader, because for me every illustration made by this first Zionist painter is a celebration.

Zim Passenger Lines

Circle inside a Star of David on Zim’s postcard from the 60th showing its Passenger Lines. The postcard is from Hayim Shtayer’s collection.

Zim Flag

Photo of a black and white postcard from the 60th with seven Stars of David on Zim’s flag is
from Hayim Shtayer’s collection. Actually, the flag was on the back of the postcard, and I allowed myself to copy and paste it on the front.

Logo on a Smokestack

Photo of a postcard from the 60th with Zim’s seven Stars of David logo on the smokestack of its S.S. Theodor Herzl is from Hayim Shtayer’s collection. Interestingly these seven stars arrived at Zim’s logo because Theodor Herzl proposed them to the first Zionist Congress... amall world!

Logo of the Physiotherapists Organization in Israel

Photo shot by Hayim Shtayer who, besides me, is the main contributor to my blog and I salute him for his persistence in sending me amazing high-quality photos!
Copyright: © Hayim Shtayer 2008

Largest Gothic Rose Window In The World

The largest Gothic rose window in the world is situated in the Cathedral of Mallorca, Spain, which was built on a mosque, like many other Cathedrals in Spain. It is divided into 24 triangles, half of which form the Six-pointed Star. 

Copyrights: Jose Manuel Chamorro Navarro © 2008

Ofira Oriel, One Nation

Copyright: © Ofira Oriel2008
Concept of painting : 60 painted pieces that create a colourful Weave of deferent Stars of David symbolizing the multicoloured human society that was built-up in Israel in its 60 years of existence.

Eight-Petalled Lotus

In the Kali yantra, the goddess is represented by the eight-petalled lotus, which stand for the eight elements : earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intellect and ego-sense.

Picture of  Eight-Petalled Lotus with OM in its center is courtesy of Ben Piven from Flickr

Latuff, Stretcher

Star of David made from clubs that the Israeli soldiers use to hit Palestinians. 

Courtesy of Brazilian anti-Israeli cartoonist Carlos Latuff 

Jewish Ethiopian Figurine

Photo is courtesy of Hayim Shtayer who bought this figurine in the Jewish Ethiopian community of Chatzrot Yasaf, caravan site in northern Israel, which was dismantled afterwards. The Lion of Judah and the six-pointed star are emblems of former Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie, therefore it is not clear if the artist made this figurine because he was Ethiopian or because he was Jewish.

Serbian Anti-Masonic Stamp

This is one of four stamps issued by Yugoslavia on January 1, 1942  to mark the Grand Anti-Masonic Exhibition in Belgrade. These stamps show Yugoslavia  crushing the Masonic-Communist-Jewish plot to dominate the world… The above  stamp shows Masonry wearing an apron wuth the Star of David  bending in fear from a strong ray of light.
Picture is courtesy of Stephanie Comfort

Akbar The Great

Photo of swastika along with Moslem seal of Solomon and other religious symbols on a mosaic from the period of Mughal emperor Akbar (1542 – 1605) is courtesy of "sparklechops" who published it on Flickr.

With A Little Help From My Friends

Currently I’m designing my new book and above you see its opening page. My Friend Dvorit Ben Shaul said that it looks like a Star of David. You have to imagine a triangle that goes down from the apex (to the word “no” on the left and to the word “or” on the right) and another one that goes from bottom to the edges of the book’s name.

It seems like I’m so absorbed in this emblem that it influences my page designs subconsciously…

Carlos Latuff, Jew Guevara

Photo of Star of David on the famous cap of South-American legendary revolutionist Che Guevara is courtesy of Brazilian anti-Israeli cartoonist Carlos Latuff who comments on his website that he made it:
On behalf of brave Jews, in Israel and worldwide, and their struggle against Israeli oppression of Palestinian people and occupation of their territories
Attaching a Star of David to a famous leader was used by WW2 German propaganda to deliver quite an opposite message: that the famous leader (i.e. Roosevelt) is a puppet of “the Jews”.

Carlos Latuff, Barbed Wire Star

Title:Israeli Apartheid

This is the first photo of a Barbed Wire Star of David published on this blog. Picture is courtesy of cartoonist Carlos Latuff. Concerning the Star of David itself it denies access, in this case, from the other side as well. It’s the deep meaning of this symbol not to take sides, or to take both sides.

From Wikipedia: Carlos Latuff is a freelance political cartoonist, born in November 30, 1968, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil… Latuff has authored several comics about Middle East situations such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Iraq War, mainly highly critical towards Israel and the United States while sympathizing with their opposition… in 2004, Latuff has made a series of seven cartoons, called Forgiveness, showing Arabs and Jews illustrated in reconciliation.

Carlos Latuff, Watch Tower

Photo is courtesy of Brazilian anti-Israeli cartoonist Carlos Latuff who has a very special way of seeing the Star of David – he looks at it as the shape of a Watch Tower. This is a unique simile, to the best of my knowledge. It reminds me of the Star Fort of Matara in Sri-Lanka.
Title: Shame Wall (Israhell)
Artist's Comments:
Israeli Wall To Encircle Palestine. Sharon accused of turning territories into huge prison; Chris McGreal in Jerusalem; Tuesday March 18, 2003; The Guardian.

Carlos Latuff , Hanging Rope

Israeli Star of David as a hanging rope

for the Palestinians conveys bluntly cartoonist Carlos Latuff’s opinion about Israel’s policy in the territories. His image reminds me of a similar image Israeli artist Dror Auslander used to show how Israelis strangle their foreign workers.

Another Star of Davids made from rope is on the

scouts stamp

Cartoonist Carlos Latuff uses the Star of David as an anti- Israeli tool. It is important to notice the difference between anti- Israeli (or anti-Zionist) and anti-Semitic usages. Latuff is a fine example for the first category.

It is to his credit that

1. He made in 2004 a series of seven cartoons showing Arabs and Jews in reconciliation
2. on his websites he allows everybody to reproduce and forward all his artworks.
   
   P.S.
   Mr. Latuff read this post and commented:
   
   Dear sir,
   
   Checking your post about one of my cartoons with the Star of
   David depicted as a hanging rope, I'd like to highlight
   something. As you stated in the same post, my artworks and
   struggle have more to do with anti-Zionism than
   anti-Semitism, and the usage of Star of David in my cartoons
   have no religious reasons. My detractors usually acuse me of
   anti-Semitism for using the Star. The point is that the
   State of Israel have religious motifs as national symbols
   (Star of David for the flag, the Menorah for the official
   seal), and even combat jets and tanks  have the Star of David on it (putting a religious symbol in such war machines sounds like a desecration for me). It's
   like to be called anti-Muslim for making a Turkish tank with
   the Star and Crescent, since this religious motif is used in
   the Turkey's national flag.
   
   Best regards,
   
   Latuff

Next Book Front Cover

My dear old friend, Aran Patikin, is working on the design of my next book’s front cover. This is only the draft – it will look much better eventually. I bring it to you in order to share with you the deep delight of each stage in the birth of a new creation.

Next Model Folded Paper Lantern

My son is preparing for next production of Star of David folded paper Sukkah lanterns.

Main improvements:

The small stars are six-pointed instead of five-pointed;

The arrangement of the small stars is so that six of them surround the seventh, like the six days of the week surround the Sabbath.

Anti Israeli Cartoons From The Summer Of 2006

Tom Gross published on his website Anti-Israeli cartoons from the summer of 2006. Stars of David appear on some of these cartoons:

Hou Xiao Qiang, China (July 18, 2006):
Shows a white dove of peace being crucified on the Star of David.

Morhaf Youssef Syria (August 16, 2006):
Draws a grotesque parallel between the Jewish holy sign the Star of David, and the Nazi swastika, the symbol under which Jewish adults, children and babies were, in living memory, tortured and gassed.

The Guardian, Martin Rowson (July 19, 2006):
Stars of David are being used as knuckle dusters on a bloody fist to both punch a young boy and to crush George Bush, the American president.

Jaroslaw Wojtasinski, Poland (August 5, 2006):
Suggests that Israelis are the enemies of peace and that the Star of David is the symbol of trigger-happy military oppression.

Non-Indian Star in India

Photo of a wooden Christian six-pointed star surrounding a cross is courtesy of "monhsi" from Flickr who shot it at Chennai, India, Tamil Nadu, St. Mary's Church.
St. Mary's Church is located inside the Fort St. George. It was built in 1680 and is the oldest Anglican church outside England. Chennai (Madras) is the largest city in south India.
I found this splendid photo while I was looking for the keywords Star of David in India, but it seems that not all six-pointed stars in India are Indian.

Jewish Environmentalists

The Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life (COEJL) created fluorescent light bulbs with a green Magen David, called "A Light Among Nations."

JNF Torah and Certificate stamp

Stars of David appear on JNF stamp LeThorah Veliteudah (for Torah and Certificate) along with the Menorah and the Israeli flag which are frequently accompanying our national emblem. Photo is courtesy of Hayim Shtayer and the stamp is part of his collection.

Jan Vermeer

Some critics claim that the Dutch master artist Jan Vermeer (1632-1675) used a secret geometric formula to compose some of his masterpieces. It included the hexagram as a compositional guide. 

Vitruvian Man Hexagram

This drawing by Leonardo da Vinci illustrates the mathematical proportions found in human anatomy as described in the Golden Section or Mean. The hexagram framing the Vitruvian Man is more perfectly shown in the pentagram of Pythagoras, which can be broken into Golden Rectangles. At the bottom of the drawing is a coded message from Leonardo.

From: http://www.shoshone.k12.id.us/renaissance/math.htm

(and see the illustration there)

Note: Vitruvian Man is from 1492 . Named after a treatise on the proportions of the male human form by Vitruvius who was a Roman architect.

Intersecting Pyramids

See a diagram that shows the Vitruvius man so that its face is framed by the upper triangle of a Star of David that is formed by two intersecting pyramids.

Yellow Badge of Smokers

AP news item from January 11, 2008 tells about a T-shirt using a yellow badge to liken the treatment of smokers in Germany to that of Jews during Nazi rule. This is one of few expressions degrading the original yellow badge.

Painter H. Tatchev, Saint Sofia

Star of David appears in H. Tatchev painting for the 50th Anniversary of the Israeli State. The image is in Indian ink and watercolor and we see in it The Jewish synagogue of Sofia, Bulgaria; Above it - the patroness of the Bulgarian capital Saint Sofia (on both sides are the Christian cross and the Davidic star)

Another Om Star

Photo of hexagrams with Om caption inside the hexagon  is courtesy of Ben Piven who shot it a few days ago in Kerala
Copyright: Ben Piven 2008.

Snowfkake Design

"pcarpen" published this  Snowflake artisticly designed hexagram photo on Flickr without telling us who was the bright guy who designed it.

Childhood By Judy Racz

This small photo in low resolution is courtesy of Judy Racz who wrote to me:

If you zoom in, you might be able to see more in it. The painting is

"veiled", indicating that it is a memory fading, as if behind a curtain, I

was only four at the time.

The onion weed growing from the window of the cattle train which

transported

my mother and me in 1944 is backed by the blue hand, symbolic of Divine

Providence. The hand is surrounded by the Star of David. In the left

field

the smoking chimneys refer to Auschwitz, in the right field there are

planes dropping bombs.

Mieczyslaw Gorowski poster

In 1989, Polish Artist  Mieczyslaw Gorowski created a poster showing a hand closing the triangles of the Star of David so that The eye in the middle of the six-pointed star won’t see.

I have seen a "Star of David"

Click on the blue triangle in order to make it spin

Several times I invited readers to answer questions I had about the Star of David, but usually no one bothered to answer. Yesterday I was quite surprised when I got the following email from one of the readers of my posting:
When Did You Meet The Star of David Emblem For The First Time

I have seen a "Star of David" numerous times, on signs, The Flag of

Israel, etc., but, the story that follows is what really got my attention to it though.

The story/stories that follow all happened to me about 1 year ago, more or less.

Strange Happenings

I wanted to tell these three stories so here they are. I will tell them

in order so as to keep a continuity between the stories.

The first incident happened about 3 weeks ago. The whole family was

asleep and my son and his cousins had fallen asleep in the bedroom while

playing the game cube. I fell asleep in the living room on the floor. I

remember waking up and being fully awake I could not see the clock so I

did not know the time but it was late at night and past 1:00am because I

had fallen asleep at about that time after checking on the children. I

was fully awake and noticed that a light was coming in from the kitchen

window. I didn’t think anything was amiss at first until I realized the

light was becoming brighter and was an intense shade of blue. It was

then a spinning tetrahedron (pyramid shaped) entered in through the

window. It passed right through the window. It was spinning very fast

and was about the size of a Rubik’s cube, that I am sure we all have

played with at one time. I know it was blue and was also emitting a blue

light but I remember I could not see the light emanating from the

pyramid but it seemed to be the source, sort of like looking at the

light from a flashlight but the light is coming from outside the

flashlight it was really strange. I started to feel afraid, especially

for the children, when in my head I heard “Do not be afraid, we will not

harm you or your house.” I was no longer afraid but I could not move, I

don’t know if from shock or if something was stopping me but I did not

move. The pyramid then went slowly past the doorway and into the

bedroom, where the boys were and I could not see it but I could see the

blue light. Then after what seemed to be only a few seconds it came back

into the doorway and into my field of view and went out the window

again. I could see the light fading from the window it was moving away

and up. I seemed to gather my senses back and leapt up from the floor

and bolted into the bedroom. I made sure they were all breathing and

sleeping. Everything was fine so I ran back to the window hoping to get

a glimpse of this thing again but it was gone. I then went back to my

bed on the floor and laid down and fell asleep so fast I am sure I broke

some kind of record. I did not even dream any more that night. I guess I

just soaked the experience into my brain. I do remember, vividly, that

now, as I looked at the pyramid as it was spinning and bobbing it looked

exactly like a "Star of David", if you can believe that.

The next story happened about a week later after the floating pyramid,

star of David, incident. The family had just fallen asleep and I had

made a bed on the floor in the living room to watch TV again and fell

asleep. I again woke up late at night to see that the outside light was

on. I was wide awake again and noted this as it is weird for me to be so

fully awake when I first get up, I am usually groggy, but again I was

wide awake. I looked at the front door which was about 5 feet away and

could see the outside light on and then for whatever reason I looked at

the light switch, it switched off right as I looked at it, the damn

thing just moved to the off position. I had to double take and make sure

I had just seen what I thought I had seen when I heard a voice. The

voice was beautiful and sounded like a whale song but not that sing

songy (if that’s a phrase). I remember I did not understand what was

said but I do remember answering the “voice”. I said “OK, I am sleepy”.

I then fell face first into the pillow and was sleeping, again so fast I

must have broken some kind of record. I remembered everything though.

This last part of the story (so far, barring anything new happening) was

just as strange as the first two just not so dramatic. This occurred

about 1 week after the “voice” incident. I had been doing some research

on the internet and just happened to think about the Riddle of the

Sphinx. I went looking for some data and papers on the net to inform

myself about it. I say this only because it is relevant to what happened

later. It was about 3 days later I was taking a smoke break at work. It

was the last break of the day and I was tired and looking forward to

going home. I then “heard” a voice in my head but it was more like it

was instructions and was not physical, I guess I just do not do it

justice. Long story short this information floods into my head and It

said to me “The Riddle of the Sphinx is the Mystery of Iniquity”. Where

that came from I do not know but what happened next was I was told what

the Mystery of Iniquity was and that someday I would stand before or

with someone and they would ask me that question and I was to give them

the answer I was told, nothing more, nothing less. Then I was told to

tell no one else the answer. Now far be it from me to ignore bodiless

voices and flying, rotating blue pyramids so I have not told anyone what

was told to me. Now I am not special and nor do I want attention but

this has been really strange. I used to be xtian and believe that J_sus

was the messiah. I no longer hold that to be true. I do believe that the

Jewish people are correct. Moshiach is yet to come, the Temple rebuilt

and J_sus was a deception, a darn good one too.

Wheel and Star

Photo of a wheel inside a six-pointed star surrounded by another wheel on an Indian wall painting is courtesy of Ben Piven who shot it a few days ago in Kerala, India. What does it mean?
Copyright: Ben Piven 2008

Indian Shrine

Photo of triangle inside a six-pointed star on a column of a shrine is courtesy of Ben Piven who shot it a few days ago in Kerala, India. This is the first time I see this version of triangle inside a six-pointed star, which has, so it seems, some religious meaning – but what is it?
Copyrigt: Ben Piven 2008

When Did You Meet The Star of David Emblem For The First Time

From my own experience, I dare to reckon that most of you readers have no account of your meeting with the Star of David emblem for the first time. I have a faint early childhood memory of playing with my fathers’ police hat, which arrived at my nose, but I don’t remember the police badge on its front, that was in the shape of the six-pointed star. I don’t remember singing about it in kindergarten or learning about it in school. I assume I can’t blame my memory – it is the nature of this symbol to communicate directly with the sub consciousness and to bypass memory.

JNF Jewish Brigade Stamp

JNF stamp with Star of David on the flag and badge of the Jewish Brigade is courtesy of Hayim Shtayer and is part of his collection.

The Invention Of The Cross

Photo of a Cartoon depicting Romans testing (Star of David) crucifixion methods is courtesy of Oliver from Cartoons by Gaspirtz 

Judy Racz, Crucifixion

Here’s another photo from my new collection of Crucifixion art works. It shows the Yellow badge on a cross and it is courtesy of the artist, Judy Racz 

Copyright: Judy Racz 2008

Lantern and Star

Photo is courtesy of Ben Piven who shot it a few weeks ago in Kerala. The lantern looks like three dimensional Star of David at first sight, but actually it is eight pointed.
Copyright: Ben Piven  2008.

JNF's 50th Anniversary

Stamp with Star of David in the center issued for JNF's 50th anniversary is courtesy of Hayim Shtayer and is part of his collection. The design fits Herzl’s suggestion for the Zionist Congress.

My book in Google

I was very surprised to find out this morning that my book is the first result in Google for the keywords:

books about the Star of David

out of 5,390,000 other results. Since the question was in English and my book is in Hebrew, I wonder if it will actually influence people to buy my book…

Australian Stamp from 1967

Yellow Stars of David on Australia 1967 Christmas stamp

Dohany Synagogue

Star of David on Israeli and Hungarian stamps issued in 2000. The stamps depict the Dohany Synagogue. Dina and Tzvika designed the Israeli stamp. Danile Kertesz designed the Hungarian stamp.

Define: Hexagram

There’s a cool feature in Google for defining terms: you just write “Define:” and enter your term… Click ENTER and get your answers; like this: Define: Hexagram

A charge formed of two interlaced triangles, one of them inverted; also known as the star of David or the seal of Soloman.
Six-pointed star or six-sided figure used in Talismanic Magick. 

etc.

Herzl’s Tomb

JNF stamp with a Star of David on bottom left depicting Herzl's tomb in Vienna is courtesy of Hayim Shtayer and part of his collection. Around the tomb are arranged the symbols of the twelve tribes.

Herzl’s Synagogue

JNF stamp with a Star of David on bottom left depicting Herzl’s synagogue in Budapest is Courtesy of Hayim Shtayer and part of his collection. Around the synagogue are arranged the symbols of the twelve tribes.

Worms Synagogue

JNF stamp with a Star of David on bottom left depicting Rashi's Worms synagogue is courtesy of Hayim Shtayer and part of his collection.

Indian Red Star of David

heeb ville, originally uploaded by Ben Piven.

Israelis who visit India might get confused when they see "their" Magen David Adom on the walls. These are Indian six-pointed stars and whodisan215 from Flickr who shot this photo few week ago tells me that they are frequently seen everywhere in India.
Copyrigts: whodisan215 2008

Vendor In Jewtown, Cochin

Vendor in jewtown, cochin, originally uploaded by Ben Piven.

Photo of three blue Indian Six-pointed stars om a window grill behind a vendor in Jewtown, Cochin is courtesy of whodisan215.
Copyrights: whodisan215 2008

Baalbeck Bust-2

Photo is courtesy of Ben Piven who shot it in Baal beck, Lebanon. This is the continuation of the hexagram pattern in the ceiling of the Temple of Bacchus, Baalbeck, Lebanon from the second century C.E.
Copyrigt: Ben Piven 2008

Academy of Disaster Relief Management

Photo is courtesy of Ben Ripen who wrote to me:

The hat was worn by a woman attending Dasara holiday celebrations at Mahalaxmi temple the main Hindu shrine in Bombay. The design is the logo for an academy of disaster relief management! Apparently the hexagram symbol therefore has something to do with health and well-being!

Copyright: Ben Ripen 2008

Bnei Menasheh Flag

Illustration of a Star of David on the flag that the Bnei Menasheh “use” in Mizoram is copied from Wikipedia.

Although Bnei Menasheh members see themselves as part of the Lost Tribes of Israel the flag is quite new. So far I didn’t find any ancient real evidence for the use of the six-pointed star by any of the so called Lost Tribes (but I’ll keep on searching).

Chabad Boxer

25 years old American Chabad boxer Dmitriy Salita (alias: Star of David, some call him the kosher knockout) was born in Odessa, Ukraine and lives in Brooklyn, New York. In all his fights he wears a Star of David on his boxing shorts.

Om Star

Photo of Indian Om symbol inside a six-pointed star is courtesy of Ben Piven who shot it a few days ago in Kerala, India

Copyrigts: Ben Piven 2008