Legend

I read what Daniel P. Faigin wrote about the King David shield:

"Medieval Jewish texts spoke of a magic shield possessed by King David that protected him from his enemies. These texts claim the shield was inscribed with the seventy-two letter name of G-d, or with Shaddai (Almighty) or angelic names, and was eventually passed down to Judah Maccabee".

 

Trying on the WWW to elucidate who's behind these "Medieval Jewish texts"  I stumbled upon Hashkafah.com  where TheGrimReaper's brings the following wonderful legend:

 

"I heard (from Rabbi Reisman), that during Dovid's last battle against the plishtim (which was his very last battle), he was taken captive by Ishbi-Bnov. The Plishtim tried killing him, first by using an olive press to crush him. A nes happened and the ground underneath him caved in, allowing him to escape that particular way of dying. The plishtim then tried throwing him up into the air so that he'd land over their outstretched swords, but just then he was saved by Avishai ben Tzruya who said the Shem Hashem, causing Dovid to be suspended in mid-air. So four points on the star relate to the four directions (N, S, E, W) and the two stars going up and down are to commemerate the fact that Dovid was saved by miracles going down (being saved from the olivepress), and by miracles going up (being suspended in mid-air). (Shmuel 2, 21:15-17)"

 

Unexpected Star of David

Logo of Police Trinidad &Tobago

Source: wikipedia entry:
Trinidad and Tobago Police Service

We are talking about the same shape of two equilateral triangles in different colors, sizes, materials, ornaments and places. There is an amazing variety of these and that's why it is so fascinating to collect them on this blog.

Dionne Jarrette surprised me with her story about the unexpected appearance of this symbol on Trinidad Police jeeps, flag, hats and buttons of their uniform. How did it arrive to a place where there is no synagogue and where only a few Jews live?

The explanation is that in the 1930s Trinidad was a British colony and a British Colonel was transferred from Palestine to Trinidad. He was not Jewish, but he probably saw it in Palestine and decided to adopt it for the Trinidad Police force. Others believe it was a talisman that brought good luck and that's why it was chosen.

Magen David Alludes to the Sukkah Guests

When my son and I started developing the 3D folded paper Magen David a few years ago we thought it would be welcomed by secular Zionists. Later we thought that it fits as a decoration for Sukkoth, but we didn't know that there's a deep connection between it and the tradition of the Sukkah Guests (Ushpizen, or Ushpizin). I found it only today while I was immersed in searching articles about the origin of the Star of David . That's how I stumbled upon an answer of one of the rabbis in Ohr Somayach Yeshiva (I didn't find his name on the page). In it there was the following excerpt about the Ushpizen:

 

"Some people have the tradition to hanging a Magen David in their Sukkah. Perhaps the six sides allude to the six "Ushpizen" guests who visit during the first six days of Sukkoth: Avraham, Yitzchak, Yakob, Moshe, Aaron, and Yoseph. The star as a unified whole symbolizes the seventh "Ushpizen" -- David -- the "king" who unifies the whole. Furthermore, the Magen David has 12 sides: David as king unified the 12 tribes".

 

In Hebrew I read that the origin of the Sukkah Guests  tradition is in the Zohar, Volume 3 (Leviticus) Parsha Emor, 103, pp. 2) and it started in the 16^th century by Kabbalah sages who composed a special greeting for the guests.

 

Old Synagogue

Picture of Kazimerz Jewish Quarter, Krakow, Old Synagogue was taken by "hugovk" from Flickr.

He wrote to me:

I took the photo because its simplicity along the gates was striking. It just caught my eye.

Copyright: "hugovk" 2006

Star-of-David Tag Cloud

I love tag clouds – they visualize the concept map of a web site so elegantly. I hope this tag cloud of my Blog will help you see in a glance what it's all about.

 

 

Ancient    Appears    Ark    Asked    B.C     Ben    Blue    Book    Bowls    Candle    Candlestick    Center    Clear    Comments    Connection    Copper    Corners    Created    David    Description    Emblem  Find    Fire    Flag    Flower    Form    Front    Gate    Gold    Hebrew    High    India    Interesting    Israel    Israeli    Jerusalem    Jewish    Jews    Judaism King    Light    Lily    Lit    Lord    Magen    Making    Menorah    Mikraor    Nation    Ofir    Opinion    Order    Origin    Originally    People    Period    Person    Pillars    Place    Points  Posted    Projection    Put    Question    Religious  Research    Rose    Shield    Side    Smadar    Solomon    Star    Stars    Sukkoth    Symbol    Symbolizes    Symbolism  Tabernacle    Temple    Ten    Time    Triangle    Triangles    Tribes    Tzav-Pius    Uploaded    Uri Vessel      White    Word    Work    World    Yaaron    Year    Yehuda    Zeevveez

 

Star of David Bibliography

1. Talmud, Passover tractate pp. 107, second page (Magen David (Star of David) was mentioned for the first time in the context of the blessings that are said in the Haphtarah)

2. Yehuda Hadassi, Eshkol Hacoffer, (Hebrew), 12th century (the author calls the hexagram (star with 6 points) by the name Magen David (Star of David).

3. Gershom Scholem, "The Star of David: History of a Symbol," in The Messianic Idea in Judaism (New York: Schocken, 1972

4. Franz Rosenzweig, "The Star of Redemption", ISBN 0-299-20720-X , Translated by Barbara E. Galli, (the relationships between God, humanity and world as they are connected by creation, revelation and redemption" – excerpt from Wikipedia) ("Rosenzweig composed The Star of Redemption into the form of a geometric structure to reflect the Star of David as a picture of reality.The work is in three parts each with three books beginning with an introduction and ending with an epilogue or a transitional "gate" into the next book").

5. Uri Ofir, "Hadegel book", Sefer Lakol , 2001 (Hebrew)

6. Uri Ofir, "The Emblem Book", Sefer Lakol, 2002, (Hebrew)

7. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_of_David

8. http://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%9E%D7%92%D7%9F_%D7%93%D7%95%D7%93 (Hebrew)

9. http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=38&letter=M&search=magen%20david

10. W. Gunther Plaut, "The Magen David: How the Six-Poined Star Became an Emblem for the Jewish" ("All Jews now put it on their shields; it has become their Magen, their protection. It belonged to David in legend and folklore, and under his name it became the property of the whole Jewish people.")

11. M Costa, "Hatakh ha-zahav, hotam Shelomoh u-magen-David", Poalim, 1990 (Hebrew)

12. Abigail Pogrebin, "Stars of David : Prominent Jews Talk About Being Jewish" ("60 interviews conducted by journalist Pogrebin explore the thoughts of well-known artists, politicians and others in the public eye on the complexities of Jewish identity"… Sarah Jessica Parker, Dustin Hoffman, William Kristol, Gloria Steinem and others).

13. Scott R. Benarde, "Stars of David: Rock'N'Roll's Jewish Stories" , 2003 ("how Judaism has shaped and influenced the makers of rock music over the past fifty years").

14. Shlomo Weiss, "The Structure of Creation : The Star of David as a Blueprint of the Universe" ,Thiele ,2006 ISBN: 1-4196-2254-4 ("How and why our world was created")

15. W. T Reid, "The spiritual symbolism of the Star of David", Ohio Messianic Testimony, 1943

16. R Brasch "The star of David", Angus and Robertson Sydney, Australia, 1956

17. Abram Poljak, "The cross in the Star of David", The Jewish Christian Community Press,1938

18. Asher Eder, "The Star of David", Jerusalem, Rubin Mass, 1987, 139 pages ("Comprehensive study of the meaning and history of this ancient Jewish symbol").

19. J. Leite de Vasconcellos (1858-1941), Signum Salomonis (Solomon's Seal), 1918 [in Portugese]. Vasconcellos suggests that the hexagram entered Portugal through Jews who settled there before the Roman period.

23. Kanof, Abram, Jewish symbolic art, Jerusalem Gefen Publishing, 1990 ISBN 965-229-055-6

24. Barkan Ze'ev, Star of David album, Jerusalem, 2008, Private Publishing

25. The Mystery Of The Menorah And The Star Richard A. Freund University of Hartford in

Nationalism, Zionism and ethnic mobilization of the Jews in 1900 and beyond‏ ed. Michael Berkowitz, 2004 ISBN 9004131841

26. Hohertz, Edmund,  History of a symbol: the Hexagram. A historic review of the use of the Star of David. Num, Apr77, 12pp, illus. (coins)

By American NumismaticSociety

Published 1947 American Numismatic Society

27. Geal Alan, On Hexagrams (and heraldry).
28. The symbolism of the pentagram in West european rock art: a semiotic approach by Fernando Coimbra, 2011
29. The Universal Kabbalah by Leonora Leet, 2012, Chapter one

Smadar Yaaron

Magen DAvid picture  is courtesy of Smadar Yaaron with whom I spoke today on the phone. I promised to go see her show when it comes to Jerusalem.