Thursday, February 28, 2008

Max Grunwald

Following are a few IMPORTANT excerpts about the MEANING and the HISTORY of the Star of David from the entry that rabbi and folklorist Max Grunwald wrote on the Universal Jewish Encyclopedia in 1948 (Vol. 9, pp. 506-507).
Researchers would certainly find here a few leads to follow…

  1. According to the teachings of the Rosicrucians, it was known to the ancient Egyptians, Hindus, Chinese and Peruvians…
  2. in the Jewish catacombs at the Villa Torlonia, near Rome…
  3. in an Arabic amulet of the 9th cent.;
  4. in Byzantine magic texts;
  5. in medieval books of magic (but as a pentagraph);
  6. in German folklore;
  7. in the relics of the Templars…
  8. as the “Order of the Seal of Solomon” in Abyssinia (from 1874 on);
  9. in the old town hall of Vienna;
  10. on or in churches at Aquileia, Brandenburg, Stendal, Hannover, Lüneburg and Bad Gastein (the latter is the most recent date)…
  11. A Hebrew manuscript of 1564 in the Hamburg Stadtbibliothek, has the symbol accompanied by the words, magen david…
  12. according to the Cabalistic view… the representation of the Ten Sefiroth as the mathematical figure of the Tree of Life. Mythologically, it designates the emergence of the microcosm (man) from the macrocosm (the universe), of the Zeir Anpin (immediate aspect of God) from the Aba Veumma (hidden aspect of God); according to this analogy, the Messiah David will arise from the “bosom of Abraham,” the foundation stone of the world…
  13. The use of the term “shield” points to an astrological and mythical connection, and is reminiscent of the shield of Melkart (Hercules), with which the latter slew the giant Antaeus. Just as this was preserved in the temple at Gadeira, so the shield of David, according to David Reubeni, was preserved in the synagogue at Bologna…
  14. As a Messianic symbol, it represented the zodiacal sign of Pisces (February 21 to March 20), the time of the year in which the Messiah was supposed to appear.

Borders

Joseph Jacobs A. Freimann wrote in their entry “borders” in the Jewish Encyclopedia

The borders in some editions of the Soncino press are artistically executed, as are those produced by the Gersonides at Prague; those of the prayer-book, Prague, 1527, and of the Pentateuch, Prague, 1530, are remarkable for their beauty. On the top of the title-page of the tur Orach Chayyim, Prague, 1540, Moses is represented with the tablets of the Law; below are two lions, a crown over a city gate (the coat of arms of Prague), and to the right and left winged men with shields; in addition, a "David's shield" on the right side and a ewer on the left. The same design is found in the Prague editions of the seventeenth century.

Intersecting Triangles

Here are some excerpts about the meaning of the Star of David from the website of the royalarch [org au:
Mackey says that of all talismans, he knew of none, except perhaps the cross, which was so generally prevalent among the ancients as the Seal of Solomon or David's Shield. He considered the Interlaced Triangles as the greatest Oriental Talisman. Later it was adopted by Christians as an emblem of their faith, but with varying interpretations the two triangles were said to be symbols …of prayer and remission, sometimes of creation and redemption, of life and death, or of resurrection and judgment; and finally of the two natures of our Lord - divine and human… To a Rosicrucian ... Their book of Ancient symbolism, "Behold the Sign" says that all through nature the law of duality exists and when opposing polarities are linked a creation results. In March, 1853, an article entitled "ancient Masons Marks", in the Freemasons' Quarterly Magazine (London) claimed that … the symbol was known to Christians as a figure of the ineffable name of Jehovah, within which were often met the I.H.S. of the Greek Church…

The Star of the Magi

Here's an amazing paragraph about the origin of the Christian star of Bethlehem

From:The Paradoxes Of The Highest Science

by Éliphas Lévi, 1922

In one of the secret books of Merop--a book antedating Christianity, three Magi are shown as seeking the lost wisdom of Zoroaster in order to save mankind from maya,--ignorance. A star appears, a six-pointed star, and leads them to the cave where Zarathushtra's Book of Wisdom is buried.

Genesis Paintings on Youtube

Dick Ben Dor's 7 Genesis Paintings on Stars of David frames are now on Youtube. It is a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation converted to video. I think it's a great Israeli art!

Page Number Bullets

Number Bullets MY BOOKS star of David

I made these page number bullets for my new English Book from the Diwali photo Ben Piven sent me. 

When Did King David Live?

I asked researcher Dr. David Inbar when Did King David Live in order that I will know since when I have to track the archeological footprints of the Shield which is related to him. (You will be able to delve more in the theory of Dr. David Inbar in his Hebrew book: A Journey to the Biblical Past, published in 1988).

Following is his answer (which reminds me of the thought-provoking saying: absence of proof is not a proof of absence):

Historians, biblical scholars, archaeologists and other scientists of old-world subjects of research, tend to agree that the beginning times of the people of Israel is not (and can’t) provable, yet. There are no remains of the Patriarchs’ activities in the land of Israel in general – and in the Beer Sheba valley in particular . It is agreed by most of the above scholars, that the Patriarchs – if any of them existed at all, were living during the 20th – 18th centuries B.C.E
(during MB II age) but because there are no archaeological evidences of that time in the Beer Sheba valley, the general scholarly trend, is to deny the historical narrative of the patriarchs, or to pretext the facts that there are no archaeological, cultural and material remains of the patriarchs because they were a nomadic society, therefore leaving no remains and no traces of their existence just like the Bedouin nomadic desert dwellers of today. However, the Biblical narrative of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and their descendants is very clear and vivid. One can feel the Biblical narrative in the tips of one’s hands, so realistic is the description of the patriarchs. The absence of evidences of the age above does not put the patriarchs in the complete mythological side of our narrative . If the Biblical story teller is right, one must deepen its research in the Beer Sheba valley and look as deep in the ground as possible . I searched the geographical history of the identification of Biblical Beer Sheba town and valley and I found it historically correct. I started looking for evidences matching the Patriarchs’ Biblical description . No match was found in the Middle Bronze age II (about the end of the 3rd millennium B.C.E, or in the Late Bronze period (there are not even one LB site in the Beer Sheba valley and its vicinity (Iron I – II periods or even Early Bronze I – II periods) there are not even one EB Site in the valley of Beer Sheba valley) and the only period in the above area left to search for the Biblical patriarchs’ story is the 5th millennium B.P remnants, which are abundant in the above valley and was earlier to the Israeli 1ST temples’ period finds in the region. To my great surprise, the wonderful excavations made by some of the best archaeologists like Dothan, Perrot and others, I could easily attach the Chalcolithic (5th millennium) period of the Beer – Sheba valley to the Biblical, patriarchs’ narrative.

The chronological peg to the history of Israel is the departure of Egypt, in 3760. This year marks the end of the Chalcolithic period in Israel. Up to 3760 we sat in Egypt as its rulers starting with Menasheh who was called in Egyptian Menas. The founder of this dynasty was Joseph, son of Jacob, who was called in Egyptian Osephis. David started ruling in 3221 after 495 years of the Prophets and 40 years of King Saul & Samuel. So that we can start looking for archeological footprints of David’s Shield in the 4th millennium, way before other Middle Eastern cultures like Sumer, Ugarite, Babylon and Assyria.

Dr David Inbar was born in the town of Rehovot, Israel, in 1939; He grew up in kibbutz Ramat Hakovesh and became a farmer. he enlisted to the Israeli Army, serving in the field Engineering corps; he became an officer and was severely wounded in 1966, in a battle in the West bank . Because of this battle he was decorated with the medal of bravery). After a long recovery, David was sent by the Israeli army to study in the university of Tel Aviv and his subjects of studies were: General Geography and Middle Eastern Affaires . He served after that in the Intelligence corps as a military researcher for about 7 years; he has been released from the Army and went to study Archaeology and ancient Middle Eastern Cultures and languages (including Classic Egyptian, Ugarite, old Greece and old Hebrew-Punic). After he accomplished his graduate studies at the University of Tel Aviv, he continued his academic studies for PhD) in the University of Bar-Ilan in Ramat-Gan.