Monday, September 29, 2008

Beatles 1964 Performance In Israel

What is the Star of David doing on a ticket to the 1964 cancelled Beatles Performance in Israel? Israel cancelled the performance because there were politicians who said they were afraid it would corrupt the innocent minds of the Israeli youth (but what they really wanted was to gain some votes for next elections). 

Sunday, September 28, 2008

High Priest

Magen David appears on an old Happy New Year Card from Hayim Shtayer‘s collection. Along with the Magen David we see here a painting of the Jewish High Priest. Courtesy of Hayim Shtayer

Saturday, September 27, 2008

1947 Happy New Year Card from the USA

Yellow Magen David on a Happy New Year Card sent from the USA to Israel in 1947 and written in Yiddish English and Hebrew.

Copyright: Niza Wolfensohn 2008

Friday, September 26, 2008

1925 Happy Banknote

Magen David on a Happy New Year Card designed as a banknote, which was sent to Niza Wolfensohn's father (David Horowitz of blessed memory) by his American relatives in 1925:

Our Holy Father in Heaven, please pay to the owner of this banknote 120 years…

Copyright: Niza Wolfensohn 2008

Thursday, September 25, 2008

The Israeli Seamen Union Logo

Star of David and an anchor are the components of the Israeli Seamen Union logo.

Courtesy of Gideon from Israeli Collect Forum

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Bethlehem Pennsylvania, not Palestine

Bethlehem PA (Pennsylvania, not Palestine) USA 1986 Christmas postage stamp issued just because this city of about 70000 people is called after the birthplace of Jesus. On the cancel, we see the three Magi (aka:Wise Men, Kings, or Kings from the east) riding on their camels towards Bethlehem guided by the Star of Mary that looks exactly like the Star of David. Courtesy of Gideon from Israeli Collect Forum

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

ArtByLindaLou

Linda Lou wrote to me:

I have created some US postage stamps with the Star of David on them in my original designs
copyright: Linda Lou 2008
.

Monday, September 22, 2008

Elias Katz

Athlete Elias Katz (in the picture, wearing a Star of David) won a gold medal as a member of Finland’s championship 3,000-Meter team. Katz immigrated to Israel in 1933 and was the coach of the Israeli Olympic Team preparing for the 1948 Games in London. Arab terrorists murdered him in 1947, while he projected a film at a British army camp near Gaza.

Dobush from Kfar Aza referred me to this story and I thank him for that.

Katz Photo Credit:  International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, Netanya, Israel.

J. Siegman

More details:

http://www.jewishsports.net/BioPages/EliasKatz.htm

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Christian White Lily

On a postage stamp titled Madonna of Luxemburg (1945) we see a frame made from hexagrams and white Lilies alternately surrounding Mary with Jesus on her bosom. The hexagram is called sometimes the Star of Mary. The white lily symbolizes purity and virginity. Researcher Uri Ofir discovered that there’s also a connection between the Jewish six-pointed star and the White Lily since the Star of David comes from the Lily (and the knob) of the Tabernacle candlestick. The picture is courtesy of Gideon from the Israeli Stamp collector’s Forum “collect”.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Synagogue Ceiling From Damascus

Large Star of David appears in the center of an endless Star-of-David-pattern at the ceiling of Beit Shalom, 20 Ahad Ha'am St., Jerusalem, Israel. Lawyer Shalom Horowitz has brought this decoration many years ago from a Synagogue in Damascus. Picture is courtesy of Mr. Isaac Faingold.

Zoom in

Friday, September 19, 2008

Vets Logo

Star of David surrounding the shadows of a cat and a dog is the logo of the vets who supply vaccination and castration services with this vehicle. Picture is courtesy of MaxNathans from Flickr and I also thank Dobush from Kfat Aza who referred me to it.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Kosher for Passover Headstone

Dobush from Kfar Aza referred me to a an amazing story that Chaim Drizin published on

http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/499137/jewish/Kosher-For-Passover.htm

about a Jew who passed away in Namibia and on his headstone were engraved above his name a Magen David and the Hebrew words for "Kosher for Passover."  

The Testament of Solomon the Zodiac and the Hexagram



Stamp with zodiac on its body and Stars of David on its tab is courtesy of Hayim Shtayer and I thank him for telling me about the connection between these symbols as it appears on this peculiar stamp. The same connection is hinted in The Testament of Solomon, which deals with King Solomon’s controlling demons with his ring (Solomon’s Seal), which latter became the name of the pentagram and of the hexagram.

From: http://www.esotericarchives.com/solomon/testamen.htm

F. C. Conybeare Published his translation to the pseudepigraphical work titled The Testament of Solomon (dated 1-3 C.E.) in the Jewish Quarterly Review, October 1898. The zodiac appears in a few places there, i.e.,

Chapter 10. And Solomon said to him: "Tell me, O demon, to what zodiacal sign thou art subject." And he answered: "To the Water-pourer

Chapter 73: Then the first one came forward, and said: "I am the first decans of the zodiacal circle, and I am called the ram, and with me are these two."


Rishon Le’zion Founders

David's Shield with the Hebrew word Zion in its center appears on a 100 years old poster of Rishon Le’zion Founders 

Copyright: Niza Wolfensohn 2008

Monday, September 15, 2008

Six Directions

Artist: Dvorit Ben Shaul, Jerusalem, Israel
Title:Psalms 18:3
Technique: colored pencil on paper
Concept: Usually we ask "what is the Star of David" but in Psalms 18:3 which was written by King David the Shield is a verb, not a noun, and it stands for the Lord. The concept was introduced by Ze'ev Barkan on his Star of David blog and his friend Dvorit Ben Shaul illustrated it there.
Translation (of the Hebrew words from Psalms 18:3): "The Lord is my rock... my Shield, my salvation"...

This is a picture of one of the works that will be exhibited in Maryland University, USA, in a few days (21-23 September 2008) on a continuation exhibition to the Maged David Album exhibition that I initiated a few months ago in the Journalists' House in Tel Aviv with Curator Amili Gelbman.

See more Details

Participants:

Amili Gelbman

Beigel Aviva

Hedva Zloter

Meir Salomon

Ehud Shcori

Sabina Saad

Nava Sidon

Amos Plaut (Germany)

Dr. Martin Kieselstein

Jacob Porat

Neomi Rotem

Dvorit Ben-Shaul

Inbal Kurts

Prof. Zemira Mevarch

Dick Ben-Dor

Orit Man-Or

Daniel Abecasise

Israela Engel

Lucy Elkivity

Anat Kohen Ahdut

Michal Ashkenasi

Miri Lavee

Anat kedem

Ruth Armoni

Tamar Frisch Helviz

Rachel Ben-Hur

Tami Alkon Lorberboim

Tami Suez

Dr. Tamar Recer

Sunday, September 14, 2008

The National Diamond

Magen David appears as The National Diamond on a work by Artist Chava Gadish who lives in Hadera, Israel.

She wrote to me:

The Columbia Space Shuttle disaster, in which the first Israeli astronaut, Ilan Ramon, lost his life, affected me drastically, the same way it affected many of us, as Israelis and human beings. For me, his tragic death had a major effect on my artistic work. I continued painting landscapes, but those were different ones – landscapes of different worlds - genesis views, even somewhat surrealistic ones. I left the solid ground of reality, and shifted to a different reality – a virtual one. Quite fast I started painting the “Flight In Space” painting. In this painting a change occurred in my style, and through it I reached a style very different than any before. In recent years, my paintings have elements of floating constructions in a limits-breaking space. My paintings deal with space, natural cyclicality and the endlessness of the universe. To stress the infinity, I use the elements of perspective. The painting technique is oil paints on canvas and plywood
.

See more works on http://flickr.com/photos/zeevveez/sets/72157607297432761


Saturday, September 13, 2008

Dee Clements

At the Desert Holocaust Memorial in Palm Springs California there are seven bronze statues of Jews standing on a 20 feet marble Star of David (Yellow Badge). Each statue represents an aspect of the Holocaust:

Resistance

Begging for mercy

The boy from Warsaw ghetto

A rabbi praying

A dying man

The memorial was created in 2008 by sculptor Dee Clements (b. 1947) who lives in Chicago, Illinois, USA.

See the photos

Convention of the Children of Buchenwald

Star of David appears on a cancel prepared especially for the Convention of the Children of Buchenwald in 4.4.1995. Picture is courtesy of Dobush from Kfar Aza, Israel.

Friday, September 12, 2008

Zion violin



Star of David from 1922 on a Zion violin bronchure with music notes.  
Copyright: Niza wolfensohn 2008 
From Niza wolfensohn collection

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Hexagram and Zodiac

Since I have a hunch that the hexagram is connected deeply to the zodiac (like in the third century Bir Chana mosaic in the Bardo Museum in Tunisia), I started collecting materials about the zodiac and publishing them on a new Blog Pisces, and on another new Blog dedicated solely to Scorpio. Later I hope to cover the other zodiacal signs. In the process of asking people to participate in this project I stumbled upon the Flickr pages of Aaron from Antiquus-Astrology.com who sent me a few six pointed stars from one of his old astrology books. Here’s one drawing:

Mars – ruler of Aries & Scorpio (shown at his feet) – but why is the hexagram hiding his groins?

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Zombi

Yellow Badge appears on the chest of a figure in Moshe Givati painting from 2000, acrylic on canvas, 120x130 cm.

Moshe Givati was born in Hadera in 1934 and resides currently in Tel Aviv.

Copyright: Shiff collection, Tel Aviv

Zoom in and see more of Givati’s Magen David works on : http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=givati&w=29001414%40N00

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

Hillel Kook aka Peter Bergson

Yellow Badge appears on  the cover page of a book about Hillel Kook aka Peter Bergson

(Wyman, David S., Medoff, Rafael. A Race Against Death: Peter Bergson, America, and the Holocaust. New Press, 2004. ISBN 1-56584-856-X). 

From David Wyman’s website:

Hillel Kook (known as Peter Bergson) succeeded in shattering the wall of silence that surrounded news about Hitler's annihilation of the Jews.

During World War II, Kook spearheaded an extraordinary campaign of public rallies, hard-hitting newspaper advertisements, and lobbying in Congress that forced America to confront the Holocaust. Whether by mobilizing hundreds of rabbis to march on Washington, or by recruiting Hollywood celebrities such as Edward G. Robinson and Eddie Cantor to support the Jewish cause, Kook displayed an uncanny ability to take a long-ignored issue and propel it to the forefront of public interest.

Picture is courtesy of Rafael Medoff.

Copyright: Wyman, David S., Medoff, Rafael 2008

Monday, September 08, 2008

Planar Close Packing-2

Troy R. Bishop noticed my August 6, 2006 Star of David posting about his article, "Starring the Circle," and Planar Close Packing and wrote to me:

I thought you might enjoy my view of the Star of David as a two-dimensional representation of what is really a three-dimensional reality.

 I have prepared and attached a short (9-page) excerpt from my book, "The Multilevelate Universe," currently available at amazon.com.  The front portion of the material is not going to be of interest to you, since it uses terms and concepts that have been developed earlier in the full book and will be puzzling without the earlier portions.  But the final paragraph or two and the illustrations that apply to it might interest you.

So here’s the final paragraphs:

 See how the visible and hidden lines of the cubical outline, taking on seemingly

unaccustomed turnings, are really the versal hexagon (hence

the versal disk). The versal hexagon, we see in this new perspective,

is the versal cube seen along the structatal cubal diagonal, the

perception of depth along the line-of-sight being lost because of the

The Diamond Ladder

orientation of the observer and compressed into the planarity of the

versal hexagon.

In the versal cube, the Star-of-David pattern of the versal hexagon

is seen, released from its two-dimensional bondage, viewed

in the clarity of three dimensions. It is in reality two structures

mistaken as one: the separate, parallel versal sheets observed, like

two celestial constellations, from a direction that causes them to

appear to lie in the same plane. The origin—the one unidentified

bead—of the versal cube is the synthoton of the multilevelate triate,

the unonic needle’s eye from—or through—which the versate blossoms

into being.

And here is one of Troy R. Bishop's illustrations:

 

The Star of David D’or

Star of David appears on the new Songs of the Many Jewish prayers disc by David D’or. David D’or is a star, and his first name is David, so that the Israeli national symbol gets in this case a new meaning :the Star of David D’or.

Sunday, September 07, 2008

Neckwear Magen David

Star of David patchwork made from neckwear that I photographed in a house of a friend. I reckon there's no other work that looks exactly like it and from this aspect it is unique.

Saturday, September 06, 2008

Sabbatical Year



The Logo of the fund for Shmitah (Year of Remission or Sabbatical Year) of money is in the shape of a Magen David made from palms. The six palms represent the six working years and the white hole in the center- the Sabbatical Year. When you stop holding something -  the palm of your hand is stretched – and this is the exact meaning of the Hebrew word Shmitah. 

Friday, September 05, 2008

Cross on the Star of David



Dobush from Kfar Aza sent this picture to me courtesy of his friend, the writer of this book, Prof. Uri Bialer. The full name of the book is:
Cross on the Star of David: the Christian world in Israel's foreign policy, 1948-1967
Publisher: Bloomington, IN : Indiana University Press, c2005.
http://isbndb.com/d/book/cross_on_the_star_of_david.html

Thursday, September 04, 2008

Mezuzah From India


Two Stars of David on a Mezuzah From India, more than 100 years old, bought by artist Sabina Saad in an antique store in Jaffa, Israel.
Copyright: Sabina Saad 2008

Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Seashells

Picture of Star of David made from seashells on the wall of the building in Hagalil Street, Haifa is courtesy of Niza wolfensohn.
Copyright: Niza Wolfsohn (who sent the picture to me via Dobush from Kfar Aza)
This building served the Jewish settlements Police, which was established in 1936.

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Playing Around

A circle of black Stars of David on white background is the outcome of artist Sabina Saad's playing around with her camera.
Copyright: Sabina Saad 2008
See more on Flickr

Monday, September 01, 2008

I am Lion of Zion

Two lions
Two peacocks
Two palm trees
and one SIX pointed star
Copyright: Dvorit Ben Shaul 2008
Technique: colored pencils on paper
Inspired by Bob Marley lyrics:
See they want to be the star
So they fighting tribal war
And they saying iron like a lion in zion