Star of David

Stamp With Hebrew Poetry Yellow BadgeJNF issued in 1987 a holocaust stamp with a yellow badge on concentration camp prisoner uniform, and with two Hebrew poems: one by Chayim Guri (1923 - )and one by Avraham Shlonsky (1900 – 1973). IMHO the idea of displaying poems on stamps is brilliant, and I’m sorry this is the only instance of poems on stamps that I know… The stamps are courtesy of Hayim Shtayer and part of his collection.

Herzl’s emblem for the Zionist Congress star of david

Photo is courtesy of Dr. Haim Grossman.

Since I helped organize the Magen David Festival in Yavne I was very pleased to read what Dov Gutterman wrote on 7 June 2007 in the Flags of the World website:

I was invited to give a lecture during a "Magen David Festival" held in the city of Yavne on Passover. Just before me, there was a lecture by Dr. Haim Grossman, who lectured about "Herzel and the Magen David", and his findings gave me the missing link.

As we know, Herzl's idea about the flag of the Jewish homeland was made of seven gold stars on white background. Dr. Grossman sent me scan from Herz'l diary in which one can see that the stars were arranged as such: 6 stars will make a virtual Magen David and the seventh star will be above them. Putting gold stars on white flag is not a good idea as in quite a short distance this flag will be seen as white-only flag, and therefore, it is not surprising that it was not adopted.

However, Herzl designed one thing more. He designed an emblem for the Zionist Congress. Again, thanks to Dr. Grossman findings, we can see that Herzl's idea was exactly the same as the central device of the first Zionist flag.

So, Wolfson may "invent" the blue stripes but for the center of the flag he took the Zionist Congress emblem designed by Herz'l.

Solomon’s seal Dome of the Rock-3

Here the Solomon Seals appear above the arch of the Dome of the Rock. Actually there are more six-pointed stars on the Temple Mount, in Jerusalem: a large one is to be found on a wooden ornament that had been inside the Dome of the Rock, but was transferred to Rockefeller Museum. Another large one is embedded in the marble floor of the Dome of the Chain, immediately to the east of the Dome of the Rock.

Copyright: ©David Kolker 2008

Dome of the Rock-2 Solomon’s sealThe Dome of the Rock is the first Muslim monument. It was built by Abd al-Malik in the 7^th century. The six-pointed stars appear on the exterior of the Dome, between the arches. Since they look exactly like the Jewish Stars of David, and since the Palestinians chose the Dome of the Rock as their national symbol, many tourists get confused and ask why does the Jewish national emblem appear on the Muslim national symbol, but actually we are dealing here with the Muslim hexagram, called Solomon Seal.

Copyright: ©David Kolker 2008

Dome of the Rock Solomon’s sealThe six-pointed stars appear in the most important sites of the monotheistic religions, like the Holy Arks in Jewish Synagogues, facades and stained glasses of Christian Cathedrals (even in a mosaic floor of the Vatican library). Here they appear on the exterior of the Muslim Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount, in Jerusalem, running above all, and alongside some, of the arches (on a green background). Photo is courtesy of David Kolker, who took the photo this past summer. Copyright: ©David Kolker 2008

Star of Canada hexagramPhoto of Star of David made to look like a maple leaf is courtesy of jcjface from Flickr who wrote to me that

The star is from the front of the Ontario Science Centre in Canada. It's etched into the sidewalk outside.

Maple leaf is the emblem of Canada.

Coexist-star-of-david-2Photo of Star of David in the word Coexist on a big billboard poster in a public park in Amsterdam outside the Van Gogh museum is courtesy of
garethmooney from Flickr.