Star of David on Friedrich Gauss Tombstone

  Star of David on Friedrich Gauss Tombstone

Source: atlasobscura.com/places/grave-of-carl-friedrich-gauss

Star of David as Seraphim

 Nikola Veselova wrote to me:
The proper and accurate name of this symbol known under many different names is actually “the Icon of Seraphim”. To understand why you need to look into the etymology of the word “seraphim”. The picture I am sending you is taken in the capital of Latvia, Riga on Gertrudes street. The building is old and the plate says it is a library “Lada”.

Star of David Kaleidoscope

 

Star of David Ascii Art

 

Holocaust Icons in Art by Batya Brutin

 

Published in the book

Holocaust Icons in Art: The Warsaw Ghetto Boy and Anne Frank by Batya Brutin, 2020

Fig. 80: Jennifer Gottschalk, Yellow Badge / Warsaw Boy, 2008, digital art, 42 × 59.4 cm. Courtesy

of the artist.

Jennifer Gottschalk, a Jewish artist (b. 1975) born in South Africa and living in

New Zealand, depicted the Warsaw boy in a particularly Jewish manner. In her work

Yellow Badge / Warsaw Boy, created in 2008 (Fig. 80), [44] the dark shadow of the

Warsaw boy and the yellow Star of David on his chest are seen. Above the shadow,

close to the right edge of the work, there is a cut-off yellow Star of David and in it the word Juif (French for “Jew”). On the left side, there is a large yellow Star of David, filling

about two-thirds of the work and in it the word Jude (German for “Jew”). The image of

the boy, the yellow stars, and the background comprised of 1,700 names of Holocaust

victims (to commemorate at least a few of them) of different ages and places, were

taken from Yad Vashem’s victim database. Although the Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto

did not wear a yellow Star of David but a white armband with a blue Star of David,

through the image of the Warsaw boy with the prominent yellow Star of David the artist

tried to represent all the Jewish victims of the Holocaust. By means of the full yellow

Star of David with the word Jude and the partial yellow Star of David with the word

Juif, the artist wished to teach us that the Holocaust happened not only in Germany but

in other countries, such as France. Through the partial star in the top right corner that

symbolizes continuity, the artist also conveyed the wide reach of the event.

Gottschalk employed a technique reminiscent of micrography in ancient Hebrew

manuscripts, but instead of words that explain the biblical text while creating shapes

and images, she uses the names of Holocaust victims to create her work.

[44] The initiative to create this work came from Zeev Barkan of Jerusalem, a researcher of the

Star of David and the author of the Star of David Album <a href="http://magendavidalbum.blogspot.co.il/" rel="noreferrer nofollow">magendavidalbum.blogspot.co.il/</a>

(accessed in December 2014), who suggested to the artist that she create the shape of a Star of

David and, employing a digital technique, fill it with names of Holocaust victims. The author’s

correspondence with Jennifer Gottschalk, January 2009.

Star of David outside the Room of the Last Supper

On the wall of the first floor

at the entrance

Interestngly

it stands on two points

Star of David as Centers of Circles

1 million page views

After 13 years this blog crossed 1 million page views.

I started it to promote star of David lampshades designed by my son
but soon I realized that I have an unprecedented  opportunity

to collect quantities of qualitative pictures of stars of David

From all over the globe.

I felt like a Cabalistic collector of pieces of broken vessels.

Then came the exhibitions all around the world about star of David in Israeli Art

and dozens of clips I uploaded to YouTube

Then came the books:
The first was a summary of this blog [in Hebrew]

The second a pictorial history of the star of David symbol [in English]

The third about the Yellow Star in art [in Hebrew]

The fourth - an online booklet about the star of David in Israeli Art  [in Hebrew & English]

The fifth is a collection of articles binded by the librarians of the Israeli
National Library  [in Hebrew]

And all along this long long  journey I was helped by hundreds of
contributors of materials for this blog. 

It is their achievement not less than mine.

Signs and Symbols at The Jewish Museum in New York

The Jewish Museum in New York has an exhibit titled Signs and Symbols on view through January 6, 2019. 

The exhibit "examines the meaning of the Star of David within Jewish contexts as well as the various interpretations of the six-pointed star as a widespread motif in other cultures. Works on view range from a Bohemian Hanukkah lamp (probably 18th century) that uses the star as an emblem for this Czech Jewish community to Persian and Indian Judaica that feature the symbol as an expression of late 19th and early 20th-century Zionist sentiment. A ceramic beer pitcher from the late 19th century decorated with the star is also on display, attesting to secular use of the hexagram as a symbol for beer in Europe. Examples of post-Holocaust art are also featured, including Morris Louis’s Man Reaching for a Star (1952), and in Dana Frankfort’s Star of David (Orange) (2007), the artist intends the star to be a symbol that anyone can make the subject of a work of art".

Thanks to Amir Roggel for telling me about this event and for the photograph.

Mysterious Star of David Zion 12 Letters

Here's Matt's letter to me.

Anyone who knows the answer is invited to send me an Email to zeevveez at gmail dot com

Hello,

My name is Matt -- I find symbols and variations really interesting, particularly when I can't figure them out (and my sources can't either).

I came across this depiction of a Star of David recently. I haven't been taught Hebrew but I can tell that "Zion" is in the center. However, I cannot figure out or find other examples with the 12 other letters around the outside. I thought the 12 tribes would have been an obvious explanation, but I can only make some of them fit, 9 or so, by the first letters of their names. There's definitely no "Asher" in there as far as I can tell (but again, novice here!)

In my searches for an explanation I came across your blog and figured you may be just the person to ask. Do you perhaps know the significance of this depiction? It is a commercially-produced object, as far as I can tell. Some of my Jewish friends are stumped...

Thanks so much,

Matt

Star of David on The Libyan Sibyl

• Creator

• William Wetmore Story, born Salem, MA 1819-died Vallombrosa, Italy 1895

• Created Date

• modeled 1861, carved 1868

• Partner

• Smithsonian Institution

• Contributing Institution

• Smithsonian American Art Museum

• Description

• A sybil was an ancient prophetic priestess who guarded her writings that foretold the future. The emblem on this sybil's necklace is an ancient symbol indicating her mystical powers, though today it is commonly associated with the Jewish Star of David, and with Exodus, and the escape of the Jewish people from slavery. The Libyan Sybil sits contemplating the fate of the African people, after reading the scroll she holds in her left hand. William Wetmore Story conceived this sculpture after the onset of the Civil War, and his letters confirm that he intended it to be a symbolic condemnation of African American slavery: "She is looking out of her black eyes into futurity and sees the terrible fate of her race. This is the theme of the figure--Slavery on the horizon.
• 
  
  
  
  
  
• Source: https://dp.la/
  [Digital Public Library of America]

18th century Haftarah Book with Two Gold Stars of David

Two Gold Stars of David

This illuminated, undated codex thought to date from the 18th century consists of a Haftarah… The scribe and probably the illuminator of this manuscript was Abraham bar Chizkija ha Lévi. The manuscript previously was owned by Samuel Gráf of Csakatorn and by Anton Kohn of Zagreb, who had it in his possession around 1858. A third owner was Moses Issachar, son of Isaac of Schleining. It is now in the collections of the Slovak National Library.

Source:

https://www.wdl.org/en/item/7382/

Magen David in Turkish art

From the World Catalog:

Türk sanatında altı köşeli yıldız : Mühr-i Süleyman

Author:  İdil Türeli

Publisher:             Cağaloğlu, İstanbul : Kitabevi, 2011.

Series:   Kitabevi, 435

Edition/Format:     Print book : Turkish

Subjects :

Art, Turkish.

Magen David in art.

Jewish art and symbolism -- Turkey.

If anyone interested in the Star of David / Solomons Seal 

knows Turkish 

please send me a review of this book 

Iranian Six-pointed star from early 13th century CE

 Exhibit in the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, USA.

Photographer: Daderot

CC Wikimedia Commons 

King Solomon Manuscript 1558

King Solomon 

Detail from a Manuscript 

Windows with Solomon Seals or Stars of David 

Year:  1558

Sultan Suleyman in the Guise of King Solomon; Page from a Manuscript of the Shahnama-i al-i Osman (Royal Book of the House of Osman) of 'Arifi

CC Wikimedia

The "Jewish Connection" to the Hexagrams on the breweries and taverns of Germany

Dr. J.J. Hirsh in his article The Hexagram (The Shekel, vol. 14, no. 3, 1981) mentions that "Were it not for the Encyclopedia of   Freemasonry, the "Jewish Connection" to the Hexagrams on the breweries and taverns of Germany would   have never surfaced. The last paragraph under Seal of Solomon states": 

"Among the old Kabbalistic Hebrews, the Seal of Solomon was, as a talisman, of course deemed to be a sure preventive against the danger of fire. The more modem Jews, still believing in its talismanic virtues, placed it as a safeguard on their houses and on their breweries, because they were especially liable to the danger of fire. The common people, seeing this figure affixed always to Jewish brew-houses, mistook it for a sign, and in time, in Upper Germany, the hexagon, or Seal of Solomon, was adopted by German innkeepers as the sign of a beer-house, just as the chequers have been adopted in England, though with a different history, as the sign of a tavern". 

Lantern Suspended on The Occasion of a Wedding

Image from page 149 of "An account of the manners and customs of the modern Egyptians, written in Egypt during the years 1833-1835"

Author: Lane, Edward William, 1801-1876

Text Appearing Before Image:

The lantern here represented, which is constructed of wood, and painted green, red, white, and blue, is called tureiya (the Arabic name of the Pleiades), and, together with the frame above, from which six lamps are suspended, and which is termed khatim Suleyman (or Solomons seal), composes what is called a heml kanadeel. 

My book on OCLC WorldCat

Mysterious Seal

Dear Reader

If you happen to know anything about this seal please send me a comment

(c) Ruben Frankenstein 2016

Here's an attempt by  SalvationJourney.com to understand this seal:

Hebrew tetragrammaton ("four letters") יהוה (Yod Heh Vav Heh), which was transliterated into Roman script as Y H W H. The actual name of God is Yehoshuah and He appeared in the flesh as Yeshuah / Jesus. It appears at the top of the image as you know. You have ten stars which could represent the ten lost tribes of Israel. You have a lion which is the tribe of Judah also had the keys to the temple and the lion is above the number X as in ten tribes.  The bird has the scales of justice and could represent judgement. Not sure about the number VII. Was there seven years of plagues? The sun image could be the spirit of God that was in the temple behind the veil where only the high priest could enter once a year. The internal image could represent the ark of the covenant. I could go on by everything is really a guess on my part. Another attempt by ANDREW NOBLE: This looks like a seal for a Kabbalistic occult society, possibly from the 17th through to 19th Centuries. Explore the works of Raymond Lully, Cornelis Aggripa and Eliphas Levi as the works of these authors will shed more light on the attributions of the seal. The design is based on the tenfold sephra of the tree of life. The lion holds the key to the tenfold structure and this is highlighted by the Roman numeral, X. Only the most persistent initiate can access the multifold knowledge encoded in the tree. Ten stars hang above the three pillars. The lion with key on the door of the Bank of England https://goo.gl/f9aD2e Seven stairs ascend to the 'heart center'. The dove holds the scales next to the Roman numeral VII. The initiate would need to be fully grounded and aware of their own nature to complete the ascent. Thoth holding the scales would be the equivalent Egyptian attribution. Seven has a long association with magic and time - http://www.betemunah.org/seven.html The Star of David in this attribution represents the human personality of man and three represents his spiritual nature.  The twelve squares represent the threefold dimensions of the four elements and the twelve houses of the zodiac. In numerology, 1+2=3.  The chain is called the abyss and seperates the archetypal world - one, the dynamic aspect of one being two and the creative world - three being the joining of the father and the mother in generative union. This is the abstract idea of the 'god force', This is the 'burning bush' encountered by Moses on the summit, 3 on top of seven. Four to nine represents the formative world where the intellectual image is built and finally, number ten is the material world. Above the centre pillar the name of God is embellished, YHVH in Hebrew. This knowledge is the 'true ark' carried out of Egypt by the Hebrews. For a full appreciation of this knowledge, search for and down The Book of Thoth by Alister Crowley. = 27/8/17 I just got this email in Hebrew and translated it for you: Shalom Zeev Thank you very much, the second response is coming a little closer but for the time being I received the opinion of an expert historian familiar with such questions Professor Falk Wiesenthal of the University of Düsseldorf identified the seal As the seal of the Masonic Order from the first half of the 19th century. All symbols are of Freemasonry. Temple of Solomon With the pillars of Yachin and Boaz symbolizes the plan of the divine order of the world. So does The High Priest's Afod Shield Attached are photographs of similar Masonic symbols For comparison With regards to peace Reuven Frankenstein University of Freiburg

The Star of David and the Menorah

The Magen David and the Menorah (like also the Ten Commandments, the map of Israel, the Israeli flag, the Western Wall) are synonymous symbols that competed in the past and compete also nowadays on the representation of the Jewish nation, Zionism and the State of Israel.

Until the destruction of the Second Temple by the year of 70 C.E. the Menorah served as tool of worship. Since then it serves as symbol to the destruction of the Second Temple, to the holocaust, and to the revival of Israel. The Magen David serves also, in the form of the yellow patch, as symbol to the holocaust, and, in center the Israeli flag, to the revival of the Jewish Nation.

The Menorah symbolizes the creation of the world in seven days; the central candle symbolizes the seventh Day. The Magen David also symbolizes (among other things) the creation of the world in seven days, while its invisible center symbolizes the seventh Day.

In the Menorah were 22 cups representing the alphabet characters. Nethaniel Yaakov Daniel from Tel Aviv discovered these 22 characters recently in the shape of the Magen David.

Since the Magen David and the Menorah symbolize similar things no wonder they were competitors. On the other hand, since it is hard to decide whom to use, there is no wonder that people decide "to go for sure" and to use them both.

Prominent example to the competition between the Magen David and the Menorah in the generation of the decision makers we will be able to find in the discussions of the committee of the flag and the symbol by the year of 1948. In the Course of time indeed the Menorah was chosen to symbolize the state, but during the discussions rose number of times offers to introduce along side also the Magen David (that found its way to the center of the Israeli flag).

The controversy in the Jewish tradition concerning the source of the Magen David proves how much it was important to the Israeli nation to decide which of the two symbols was more important. The acceptable version is indeed that king David used a shield carrying upon it a Magen David, but there were during history important leaders who claimed that on the Shield of David was the form of the Menorah. For instance: Rabbi Chaim Yosef David Azulai in his book "Midbar Kedamot", Yitzhak Arama in his book "Akedat Yitzhak", Rabbi Zvi Elimelach Shapira in his book "Bney Isaskhar " and Rabbi Hayim Elazar Shapira in his book "Divrey Torah". The Menorah was during generations the senior representative of our nation - archaeologists discovered in their excavations many more Menorahs than Magen Davids… Nowadays it seems as if the controversy was ended, and the Magen David takes the first place as our national symbol.

An Interesting position in this controversy has researcher Uri Ofir that proves in his study on the Jewish source of the Magen David according to traditional sources that these two symbols equal in their importance. He shows that the Magen Davids held the candles in the Tabernacle Menorah after the Exodus. Since the lamp in its entirety was not made by hand it must have been made by the Lord in person - so that the Lord is responsible both to the form of the Magen David and to the form of the.

A Number of examples to the partnership of these symbols:

In synagogues and in Jewish cemeteries the Magen Davids and the Menorah appear frequently together. These two symbols appear frequently together also on Happy New Year and on Ex- Libris in the years before the establishment of the state of Israel.

 Magen David and Menorah appear together in the Rali Museum in Caesarea from October 1993 above marble sculpture of People that contributed to establish the state: Hertzel, Weitzmann, Arthur James Balfour, Harry Truman and David Ben Gurion.

In the holocaust memorial of Estonia, there is a Magen David carved on one side and a Menorah on the other.

In the holocaust memorial of Bialistok, there is a Magen David formed by pebbles alongside a tombstone with a Menorah.

A Menorah and a yellow Magen David (in memory of the yellow patch?) appear on the Memorial in Herzl Mount for the Jewish fighters in the Polish Army who lost their lives in WWII. In addition, there’s in Herzl Mount another large statue of a Menorah on a Magen David.

Menorah and a Magen David are the elements that compose the logo of the World Zionist Congress.

On a JNF postage stamp (“for Torah and certificate”) these two symbols appear along with the flag.

Nazi Propaganda postcard shows President Roosevelt holding Menorah and a Magen David to show how he backs the Jews and identifies with them.

The Magen David and the Menorah were prevalent motives in Bezalel art at the start of previous century.

Artist Chanoch Ben Dov erected in Maalot a big statue of a Menorah with a Magen David at its bottom.

In the 5 November 2007 the sculpture David’s Menorah by artist David Soussanna was placed in Jerusalem near the Knesset.

In a number of works by Aviva Beigel appear Israeli identity symbols including the Magen David and the Menorah.

In an article in Yediot Ahronot from 20 April 2007 Jasmine Levy interviewed five Israeli artists about changing the Israeli flag. Yaacov Agam said that the Magen David is not a Jewish symbol and suggested to replace it with the rainbow, which is the Menorah upside down.

The logo of the Messianic Jews is a combination of a Menorah with a Magen David and a fish.

In the Karaite Synagogue in Moshav Matzliach the Menorah appears along with a Magen David and the Ten Commandments.