Star of David

In Temple Beth El on June 2001 the Rabbi gave a sermon about the Star of David. I liked his
Introduction about the essence of a symbol:
"A symbol," according to Mircea Eliade, "speaks to the whole human being and not only to the intelligence." Symbols are powerful, often eliciting strong emotional reactions, both positive and negative”.
Like most of the general reviews on this subject the Rabbi from Temple Beth El doesn't mention Uri Ofir's theory that the origin of the Star of David is from the Tabernacle about a year after the exodus. For any future sermon - I sent him the link...

I found a very nicely designed Star of David on a Driving Blessing wrote by Rabbi Janet Marder of Congregation Beth Am in Los Altos, California. The Hebrew words for "choose life" form two of the six triangles and the rest is made by the conventional lines of the emblem.
The Driving Blessing includes a presentation that Jewish parents may give to their child upon receiving his driver's license. Getting this license is a life cycle event, which signifies independence and taking responsibilities.
The same design of a Star of David is on Choose-Life Key Ring that is offered on the same website.
This is a modern and updated ritual and I guess the more people will hear about it the more they will use it.

Numbers are international. We cannot be sure that Pythagoras invented the Tetraktys all by himself – he could have learned it from the Egyptians or from the Israelites. Symbols are international – we find the hexagram or the pentagram or the lily almost in every culture.
The Star of David has six triangles surrounding one hexagon. The interlocking tetraktyses have 13 points. 13 include the meanings of the numbers six and seven, twelve and one. Twelve and one is the basis for the theory about the encampment of the Tribes.

There's a Christian Star of David from the 7th century AD in the mosaic floor of the Euthymius Monastery in the Judean Dessert. In order to get there you need to drive east of Jerusalem in the direction of Jericho until Mishor Adummim and near the gas station to turn right and drive for one mile into the industrial area. Khan el-Ahmar means red hostel.
Y. Hirschfeld wrote an extensive article about the Euthymius Monastery and in it I found the following description:
The easternmost unit contains a six-pointed star pattern with a red chalice at its center…The mosaic stone pavements of the northern aisle were almost completely destroyed, except for a small section at its eastern end. In this section a small portion has survived of a six-pointed star identical with the six-pointed star of the southern aisle.

Hashomer Hatzair Magen David

The emblem of Hashomer Hatzair is very similar to the Star of David found on Sufa ruins, but I'm not sure the members of this youth movement know about it.


Picture of the Star of David on the emblem of Hashomer Hatzair   is courtesy of Wikipedia

One more proof that Uri Ofir's Theory about the Jewish origin of the Star of David is not famous as it should be is that the WHITE LILY (that was used, according to his theory, as a model for the Star of David shaped candle holder in the Menorah in the Tabernacle right after the Exodus, and which is the symbol of Israel) isn't regarded by the Jewish world as sacred as it is regarded by the Christian world.
That's why Dr. Michelle Zakai of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beersheba is working with her team on speeding up the flowering of the Lilium Candidum, naturally flowering in May, so that it could be sold to Christians before Easter, at the end of March.