TOPIC: EVERYONE IS CREATED EQUAL - WHAT IS ZER
ANPIN?
9-20-13 - DREAM - We had a very large family with many
children. We were going to take a plane trip somewhere, and we wanted
everyone to have the same identical accommodations, and seating, and even life
insurance. Everyone should be the same, no matter how old they were or
their size. Everyone should be the same.
Once we arranged the plane ride accommodations, then we
went out into a garden that we grew ourselves - and there too we wanted everything to
be identical - the bushes should be cut to the exact height, width, length, etc.
And even when it snowed later, even the snow had to be at
the same height throughout the garden - even when it fell in the garden.
Everything should be the same - everywhere.
The moment I woke up - the word "zer anpin" came into my
head, and won't leave me alone - I can't stop thinking about it and I don't know
what it means, though I've heard Joe say it a few times recently.
ALL HUMANITY ARE CREATED EQUAL - AT LEAST
OPPORTUNITY
EQUALITY
NOTE FROM DEE: I'VE WRITTEN OVER 90
PAGES ABOUT EQUALITY, AND I DON'T WANT TO SWAMP YOU WITH ALL THOSE DETAILS NOW,
SO I'M GOING TO WHITTLE THE TOPIC DOWN TO SOME PERTINENT POINTS.
POLITICAL
FROM 2006:
9-2-06 - I had a dream this morning in which the man in my dream world
who represents IEOSOUS (Jesus in Greek) gave me a gift of combat boots
with military blue socks in them and on each sock was a large picture of
Abraham Lincoln. I was told that when I wore those boots with the socks,
the photos of Abraham Lincoln had to show while I worked.
That dream gives a lot of responsibility to go with
whatever I write about Abraham Lincoln because whatever I say points to
him and his ideas which changed our country. I have a feeling that
something is happening or going to happen with regard to Civil Rights
that we have to look to Abraham Lincoln for guidance.
On the internet, there are over 3,000,000 sites
dealing with Abraham Lincoln and Civil Rights, so what can I possibly
say that will improve on what has already been said - not just add to
the number of pages already there.
In his "I have a dream" speech, Martin Luther King rightly invoked Abraham
Lincoln and quoted the Declaration of Independence,
predicating his powerful call for equal treatment under law
on "the true meaning of America's creed: 'We hold these truths to be
self-evident: that all men are created equal.'" The promise
of equal treatment without regard to race was one that that lay deep
in the grain of the American creed and the civil rights
tradition.
Equal treatment without regard to race remains the enduring promise of the
American creed. As Abraham Lincoln wrote in 1864
in response to prominent Democrats who urged him to rescind the Emancipation
Proclamation: "The promise, being made, must
be kept."
To build a vibrant church in the new
millennium, we need to listen once again to Jesus and his first disciples who
preached the equality of all persons (Matt.
23; 11-12; Luke 22: 24-26; Gal. 3:28).
"Now is the acceptable
time" (2 Cor. 6) for Catholics throughout the whole world to
reflect on what type of leadership, indeed what model of church,
we need for the new millennium.
The Second Vatican Council (1962-65) invited
all of us to read the signs of the times in the light of the
gospel. It called our faith community to perpetual renewal.
We have tried to be faithful to that call as we examine the life
of our church and our need for a Bishop of Rome who can lead our
faith community in a "universal agapé," or assembly of charity.
The millennium now passing away has been an
age of division among Christians. It is our hope that the third
millennium will become an age of reconciliation and unity.
In this spirit, Pope John Paul II invited
all Christians to reflect on the future of the Papacy "…that we
may seek - together, of course - the forms in which this
ministry [of Peter] may accomplish a service of love recognized
by all concerned…to find a way of exercising the primacy which,
while in no way renouncing what is essential to its mission, is
nonetheless open to a new situation." (Ut Unum Sint, No.95).
At the same time, voices within the World
Council of Churches are calling all Christian churches to commit
themselves in the year 2000 to begin preparation for a Universal
Christian Council.
We join our voices with these calls, and
declare our readiness to renew our faith community in light of
the signs of our times, and to dialogue and work with other churches on the basis of
equality.
To realize these dreams, we offer our
reflections on the qualities needed by our age in the next
Bishop of Rome. We share our thoughts in the spirit
of the woman in the gospel who mixed yeast with flour so that
her bread might expand and nourish a community. This is
our "yeast."
A Model of Church for
our Times: Ever Ancient, Ever New
To build a vibrant church in the new
millennium, we need to listen once again to Jesus and his
first disciples who preached the equality of all persons
(Matt. 23; 11-12; Luke 22: 24-26; Gal. 3:28).
We need to build structures in our
church which reflect that equality so that we may live, pray
and minister to one another as a "discipleship of equals."
Only then will we follow the example of Jesus who sends the
Spirit, not to a small group, but to the whole community of
faith. Only then will we live out the teaching of Vatican
II which recognizes us all as the People of God,
co-responsible for decision-making in the life of
our church.
We need to restore a church that values dialogue and
justice in its internal life as well as its approach to the
world.
We need to reestablish a church that respects and
celebrates our worldwide diversity, a church in which there
is freedom to live our faith in different ways in different
cultures.
We need to resurrect a church that recognizes the
importance of local churches where the Word is preached in
ways that local cultures can hear it. The building of this
restored church is the work of the whole People of God, not
only the Bishop of Rome, other bishops and the clergy.
We begin by urging that we restore the practice of the
early church and develop structures that permit the People
of God to participate in a prominent way in the election of
all church leaders. This would include the election of the
Pope, the Bishop of Rome. This renewal of an ancient
tradition will acknowledge the action of the Spirit in
community of the faithful.
The Next Bishop of Rome
We would be greatly helped in renewing our church by a leader
who reads the "signs of the times" in concert with the people, a
collaborative Bishop of Rome who can listen as well as preach,
and dialogue as well as teach. We need a leader who truly
embraces and consults the sensus fidelium (sense of the
faithful).
We especially need a leader who recognizes the awakening of
women's consciousness as a significant "sign of our times."
Women, more than half of our church, have grown conscious of
their dignity and equality with men. They are calling our
faith community to respect and implement that equality in its
own life.
We need a Bishop of Rome who respects the differences among
us as well as challenges us to live the gospel.
We need a Pope who distinguishes between his pastoral
ministry as the Bishop of Rome, and the ministry of Peter in
which he is in dialogue with the universal church. As
Bishop of Rome, he serves the faithful of Rome as any bishop
serves a diocese. He would retire at the age
established for all bishops. As president of the worldwide
agapé, he would act as a brother bishop who invites the world's
bishops to share leadership with him and with other members of
the People of God who are called forth by the faithful. In
that spirit, he would reform the Curia (papal cabinet) so that
it might serve, rather than dominate, other bishops and the
church universal.
But most of all, we need a Bishop of Rome and a Universal
Pastor who is:
a visionary leader who promotes a profound discernment
on church ministry by all the People of God and calls them
to consider the possibility of welcoming into ministry all
those qualified whatever their gender, marital status or
sexual orientation;
a respecter of the consciences of Catholics who calls
forth a genuine public dialogue on the theologies, moral
teaching and policies in the church so that our faith
community might share experiences, begin to heal its
alienation and resurrect a sense of unity and enthusiasm for
the faith;
a pastor who encourages academic freedom for theologians
and other scholars in order to foster a healthy diversity of
opinions in the church;
a reconciler who welcomes "liberals" and "conservatives"
to share the same church;
a leader who recognizes the cultural pluralism of the
church and celebrates the diversity that flowers in
different parts of our world;
a collaborator with a sense of history who is willing to
restore the tradition of full participation of the people in
church and who invites all Catholics to share governance and
decision-making, including the election of church leaders;
a pioneer who encourages initiative and experimentation
and calls Catholics to develop an adult sense of
responsibility for their faith community;
an ecumenist who engages in serious dialogue with
Christians of the Reformation and Orthodox traditions in an
effort to bring about the dream of Christian unity;
a brother to the Jewish people who will work to
dismantle any vestiges of anti-Semitism and build strong
bonds of spiritual kinship that recognize our common
heritage flowing from Abraham and Sarah;
a student of religious traditions other than
Christianity and Judaism who welcomes interfaith dialogue,
and seeks to learn from the rich diversity of insights in
these traditions;
a lover whose arms embrace the world and whose policies
express a special solidarity with the poor and oppressed;
a prophet who is tireless in promoting justice,
equality, peace and nonviolence in our world and in our
church;
a lover of the earth who recognizes and promotes the
integrity of all creation;
a gentle soul with a sense of humor; and
a Brother Bishop who can happily shed the trappings of
the powerful of this world (Luke 22: 25-26) and walk with us
as we together re-create our community of faith to make the
Spirit of Jesus come alive in the third millennium.
What we need in the new millennium
is a Bishop of Rome who
is a Universal Pastor
"A POPE FOR THE TIME
TO COME"
Baha'ists also believe in the equality of men
and women, universal education, world peace,
and the creation of a world federal system of
government. ...
Another idea came about the ball in cup symbolism. It may be
related to Zer Anpin,
the Bridegroom, within the Tree of Life -- here shown color coded within the
Flower of Life pattern --
Six spheres of the Tree of Life are associated with the
Bridegroom, Zer Anpin. Five of those spheres (4, 5, 7, 8, 9) are depicted in
red, above. The sixth is sphere 6 (Tipharet),
depicted in green. Note how the arrangement is like a green ball in a red cup.
According to the great scholar and interpreter,
Thomas Jude Germinario, Zer Anpin is the
Son, the Supernal Man of the Kabbalah, the Messiah of the Jews, and the Christ
of the Gentiles. His Bride, and the Queen of His Kingdom, is Malkut, sphere 10,
at the bottom of the Tree of Life. This relates to the
Shechinah, God’s feminine
Presence in the material World. The Shechinah is associated with the Holy
Spirit. Her symbols include cloud and fire. For example, in
Exodus 13:21, She appears as a
pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, to lead the people. An
aspect of Shechinah is the feminine
Neshamah, a collective Soul.
Malkut is the Womb within which individual Souls are incrementally assembled to
constitute the universal Soul -- She who is to be, at the end of Time, the Bride
of Zer Anpin, the Supernal Man.
The Divine Image of Zer Anpin is to be transmitted to the
Body of Man, so that it may become the Similitude of the Supernal Man. The
mystical Body of Man compares to a Temple, with the Soul centrally located, and
the “Holy of Holies” as its innermost Heart. In this way, one has direct contact
with the Essence of God.
Thomas
writes that the Son subdues Death by hanging from the Tree in the
Garden. "By virtue of the Son’s
Self-sacrifice, the Tree of Death becomes the Tree of Life." I recall that
Joseph Campbell said that the
Fruit of the Tree of Life is Jesus. I found an illustration of the idea
here.
According to Thomas, the mystic
visionary, William Blake, identifies
the dominance of the spectral ego-persona as the eclipsing of Vision and
Imagination by Reason and Moral Virtue. This imbalance has the effect of
deforming both the collective Body of Man and the Tree of Life.
In his brilliant
article
analyzing prophecies concerning the Popes, Thomas explains Nostradamus Quatrain
C5, Q92 --
The Covenant of Circumcision
Some nine days after the arrival of the White Sheet Hill
formation in June, 2010, a
phallic type crop formation appeared nearby on 4 July 2010. It was presumed
to be a hoax, and was mostly ignored. However, hoax or not, such symbolism is
quite important in Kabbalistic circles. It is also quite germane to the concept
of Zer Anpin. Thomas writes extensively about the
Covenant of Circumcision.
The
phallic crop formation was composed of two circles from which a long pathway
extended to a third circle at the end. It was pointed directly at the June White
Sheet Hill crop formation.
In Kabbalism, there is a symbolic phallus within the Tree of
Life -- sphere 9, Yesod. It extends to sphere 10, Malkut/Earth, via the Middle
Pillar pathway connecting them. Remember that sphere 9 is one of the six
Sephirot composing Zer Anpin. This phallus is the symbolic procreative organ of
the Supernal Man, Zer Anpin, which implants the soul seeds into the womb --
Malkut/Earth, sphere 10. The 2006 Fife, Scotland, crop formation, illustrated
above, fits this symbolism especially well. The three circles above the womb,
sperm, and ball in cup glyphs, compare with the spheres above Malkut (10) on the
Middle Pillar - Yesod (9), Tiphareth (6), and Keter (1), or alternately,
the hidden sphere of Daat.
Kabbalistic tradition teaches that a difficulty happened in
the creation process which caused the
Shevirah -- the Shattering
of the Vessels (Sephirot-spheres). This caused many problems, one of which is
the Qliphoth (or Qlippot) -
where our perception of the upper source Worlds of the
Olam
became opaque, obstructing our view. Our perceptions are thus limited to the
"phallic" area of Yesod until the
Tikkun Olam -- the repair
of the Tree of Life and the World.
Circumcision symbolizes removing the opaque obstruction to
our perceptions, so that our view becomes clear. We can then perceive up into
the timeless spiritual realms above. The Divine Light from above is no longer
obstructed, removing the
impediment to its flow into our World through the incarnation of living
Souls.
The process is to lift Malkut up to the level of Binah. The
effect brings the attribute of Mercy to the Feminine in our world, which
mitigates the harsh judgmental tendency. The Shechinah then returns from her
Exile in this World.
The Biblical Covenant of Circumcision involves the story of
Abram and his wife, Sarai
(or Sara), having their names changed to Abraham and
Sarah. The letter "H" (Heh) was added to each of their
names. The reference is to the two Hehs in the
Tetragrammaton, the
four letters of the Divine Name, YHVH (or YHWH). The four letters relate to male
and female spheres of the Tree of Life. The first letter, Y (Yod), represents
the first male emanation, Chochmah/Wisdom, the supernal Father -- sphere 2 of
the Tree of Life. The first Heh represents Binah/Understanding, the first Female
aspect of the Godhead -- sphere 3. The V (Vau) connotes the “Body” of six
Sephirot which together comprise the Son, Zer Anpin. The final Heh signifies
Malkut/Shechinah, the Bride of Binah’s Son, Zer Anpin -- sphere 10.
The four sets of Sephirot comprising the Tetragrammaton
define the five levels of the universal Soul (or
Pleroma). The letter
Heh, and therefore the the two Feminine aspects, associate with the number five.
The symbolic purpose is to restore to Man the one component
of his eternal Symmetry that was lost in the Fall -- Equilibrium, represented by
the Heh in Abraham’s rectified name.
Thomas writes in detail about Zer Anpin and the Covenant of
Circumcision in these articles --
The Zohar's
imagery expoundes its role in Creation, where it is the microscopic
equivalent of
Arich Anpin (Macroprosopus) in the Sephirotic
tree of life. The
Siphra Dtzenioutha portrays it as the revealed face of God, and the
Idra Rabba elaborates on the Kabbalistic significance of its several
attributes. Its
Tetragrammaton is IHVH (יהוה), the traditional
name of God in
Judaism.
In 16th century
Lurianic doctrine it becomes systemised as one of the 6 Primary
Partzufim Divine Personae, as part of the cosmic process of Tikkun
Rectification.
Uniting Zeir Anpin-Short Face with Nukvah-Female
Zeir Anpin, the emotional
sephirot centred around
Tiferet
(Beauty), is the
transcendent revelation of God to Creation ("The Holy One Blessed Be
He"), a perceptible manifestation of the essential Divine infinity (the
Tetragrammaton
name of God).
Nukvah ("Female" of Zeir Anpin) is the indwelling
immanent
Shekhinah (Feminine Divine Presence) within Creation, the concealed
Divine finitude (the name
Elokim).
In Medieval Kabbalah, the sin of
Adam, as
well as later sin, introduces apparent separation (perceived from
Creation) between the two, bringing exile and constriction on High. The
task of man is restoring union (Yichud) to the Male and Female Divine
manifestations. This is the origin of the Kabbalistic
prayer
formula recited before performing a
Jewish
observance. Within the tetragrammaton, the first two letters signify
the Concealed World/Upper Unity with God, and the latter two signify the
Created World/Lower Unity:
"For the sake of the union of the Holy One Blessed be He, and His
Shekhinah, to unite the name Y-H with V-H in a perfect union, in the
name of all Israel"
In
Lurianic Kabbalah, the origin of disharmony in the Sephirot is
located earlier, in the primordial
Realm of Tohu before the creation of Man, though later sin brings
further exile. The task of man, while also affecting Male-Female union
on High, involves Messianic redemption of the exiled "Sparks of
Holiness" (Birur) from Tohu that are scattered within Physical
existence. Birur becomes the inner dimension of Yichud. Each indwelling
spark is relatively female in relation to the person who redeems it from
captivity. The collectivity of all sparks, similar to the collective
People of Israel, also comprises the exiled Shekhinah, awaiting raising
up to God.
While all 32 paths originate in Keter, they cannot be comprehended on
that inscrutable plane. Instead, the Soul dimension enables the paths to be
experienced by replicating all 32 of them within Malkut,
which is the plane of manifestation.
The Tree of Life can only direct the development of the material Universe
by virtue of its fruit. That fruit, we know, consists of the Souls which
“hang” from the Tree. These Souls are conceived by the Male-Female
intercourse at the level of the Father and Mother, who are the
Personifications of Chochmah/Wisdom and Binah/Understanding. The Kabbalah
calls this level of the Soul Neshamah, which means “breath”.
Below this plane, the intercourse of the Son and his Bride impart motion to
the Soul at the level of Ruach, the Spirit Wind. We recall that the Son, Zer
Anpin, is a composite Body consisting of Six Sephira: Chesed/Mercy,
Gevurah/Judgment, Tipheret/Beauty, Netzach/Victory, Hod/Splendor, and
Yesod/Foundation. Finally, the Bride herself personifies Malkut,
the Womb wherein the Soul comes to rest at the level Nephesh.
The eighth Edomite King is meant to be a
prototype of the Messiah. His name, Hadar, meaning “Beauty”, identifies him
with the Sephirah Tipheret, which is the Heart of the supernal Body of Man,
Zer Anpin. While no queens are mentioned in connection with his seven
defunct predecessors, Hadar is accounted as having a wife named Mehetabel,
signifying one “rectified by God”. Rectification, of course, points us back
in the direction of the Covenant of Circumcision, the ritual excision of the
false covering that obscures the Divine Image in Man.
The rite of Circumcision was given to Abraham in order to remove the
obstruction, created by the Sin of our First Parents, to the River carrying
the “gold” of Righteous Souls into Malkut’s Garden
of incarnation. This explains the name of Queen Mehetabel’s grandmother, Mey
Zahab — literally, the “Waters of Gold”.
In the Bahir it states: "Sixth is the adorned, glorious, delightful
throne of glory, the house of the world to come. Its place is engraved
in wisdom as it says 'God said: Let there be light, and there was
light.'"
Tiferet is the force that integrates the
Sefira of
Chesed
("compassion") and
Gevurah
("Strength, or Judgement (din)"). These two forces are,
respectively, expansive (giving) and restrictive (receiving). Either of
them without the other could not manifest the flow of Divine energy;
they must be balanced in perfect proportion by balancing compassion with
discipline. This balance can be seen in the role of Tiferet, wherein the
conflicting forces are harmonized, and creation flowers forth. Tiferet
also balances Netzach and Hod in a similar manner. In that case Hod can
be seen as the intellect where Netzach is seen as emotion.
Tiferet also occupies a place on the middle pillar, and can be seen
as a lower reflection of Kether, as well as a higher reflection of Yesod
and Malkuth. Tiferet relates to the sun, and as such, it takes a central
place in the lower face of the Tree of Life, much in the same manner
that the sun is at the center of the solar system. It is not the center
of the universe, as one could perhaps argue Kether to be, but rather it
is the center of our local astronomical system. Nonetheless, it is the
sun that gives light and life, even though it did not create itself.
Tiferet can be seen as a metaphor for these same attributes.
Tiferet is unique amongst the Sephirot as it is connected to all the
other Sephirot (except Malkuth) via the subjective paths of the
unconscious. Its position down the center between Keter and Yesod
indicates to many Kabbalists that it is somewhat of a "converting"
Sephirot between form (Yesod) and force (Keter). In other words, all
crossing over the middle path via Tiferet results in a reversed
polarity. The law of conservation of energy and mass tends to
corroborate this – in all cases of energy transmutation, a sacrifice is
necessary so a new form may be born.
Tiferet is the middle of the tree. Five Sefirot surround it: above
are Chesed at the right (south) and Gevurah at the left (north), and
below are
Netzach at the right,
Hod at the left, and
Yesod directly below. Together these six are a single entity, Zer
Anpin, which is the masculine counterpart of the feminine sefira
Malkuth. In certain contexts, Tiferet alone represents all the
sefirot of Zer Anpin, so that the entire tree appears with only five
sefirot: Keter,
Chochmah,
Binah, Tiferet, and Malkhut.
In the standard tree, Tiferet has eight paths, leading
(counterclockwise) to Keter (through
Daat), Binah, Gevurah, Hod, Yesod, Netsach, Chesed, and Chokmah.
Tiferet can be also a variation of the word "Tifarah" and in Modern
Hebrew used in
Israel
is translated as "Glory" (from God – "Elohim,
Adonay)
Non-Jewish
associations
In Christian Cabala, Tiphereth is especially associated with
Jesus Christ, 'God the Son' (as opposed to
Kether, which is God the father, and
Yesod,
the
Holy Spirit). This is because this is the Sephirah in which the
divine force 'sacrifices' itself, transmutating into the forces of
energy and matter, in order that creation might come to be. It is the
sephirah in which 'God becomes a mortal man'. Illustrative of the
process of Tipharet is Jesus' teaching in the
Book of John, "No one comes to the Father except through me". Kether
is raw energy as the Godhead and is as such unknowable by the conscious
mind; Tiphareth (the son) balances the force and form of Kether and
Yesod respectively allowing Kether to assume a knowable form. A
Christian mystic, in relating to Jesus, repeats the process in the other
direction, by transmutating that which is lower, in order to achieve the
divine. In terms of the Kabbalah, Tipharet encompasses not only "God the
Son" but also the related myths of Osiris and other sacrificial gods.
The archangel of this sphere is
Raphael, and the
Malachim is the Angelic order. The astrological correspondence is
again the sun, and the zodiac associated with Tiferet is
Leo.
Christianity primarily focuses on Tipharet as a driving spiritual
force, emphasising the points of love, beauty, self sacrifice and
service in its greater aspect. Particularly the
Osirian
sect and other derivations of pantheistic religions, with their
personification of gods, emphasise the unknowable from the standpoint of
Yesod. The eastern religions, particularly
Taoism
and Buddhism are more closely related to Kether, with their focus on
unity and the indefinable aspect of the Divine.
Tiphereth is associated with divine love, with healing, balance and
harmony. In comparing with Eastern traditions, Tiphereth is usually
associated with the central
Anahatachakra
in tantric tradition, which contains many of the same archetypal ideas.
The pre-coronation name of
Ethiopian Emperor
Haile Selassie the First was "Tafari Makonnen". This name Tafari (or
Teferi) is the Ethiopic form of Tiferet.
"Jewish Star" redirects here. For the newspaper, see
The Jewish Star.
"Magen David" redirects here. For the commentator, see
David HaLevi Segal.
The Star of David, known in Hebrew as the Shield of David
or Magen David (Hebrewמָגֵן דָּוִד;
Biblical Hebrew Māḡēn Dāwīḏ
[maːˈɣeːn daːˈwiːð],
Tiberian
[mɔˈɣen dɔˈvið],
Modern Hebrew
[maˈɡen daˈvid],
Ashkenazi Hebrew and
YiddishMogein Dovid
[ˈmɔɡeɪn ˈdɔvid] or Mogen Dovid), is a generally
recognized symbol of
Jewish identity and
Judaism.
Its shape is that of a
hexagram, the compound of two
equilateral triangles. The hexagram has been in use as a symbol of
Judaism since the 17th century, with precedents in the 14th to 16th
centuries in
Central Europe, where the Shield of David was partly used in
conjunction with the
Seal of Solomon (the hexagram) on Jewish flags. Its use probably
derives from medieval (11th to 13th century) Jewish protective amulets (segulot).
The term "Shield of David" is also used in the
Siddur
(Jewish prayer book) as a title of the
God of Israel.
History
The
Jewish Encyclopedia cites a 12th-century
Karaite document as the earliest Jewish literary source to mention
the symbol.
Its use as a symbol of the Jewish community dates to the 17th century.
Pentagrams are also known to have been used as the Star of David
dating from the
Second Temple period.
The Hebrew term for Shield of David (Magen) may be found in Psalm
3:3.
The hexagram does appear occasionally in Jewish contexts since
antiquity, apparently as a decorative motif. For example, in Israel,
there is a stone bearing a hexagram from the arch of a 3rd–4th century
synagogue in the Galilee.
Originally, the hexagram may have been employed as an architectural
ornament on synagogues, as it is, for example, on the cathedrals of
Brandenburg and
Stendal,
and on the
Marktkirche at
Hanover.
A pentagram in this form is found on the ancient synagogue at Tell Hum.
In the synagogues, perhaps, it was associated with the
mezuzah.
The use of the hexagram in a Jewish context as a possibly meaningful
symbol may occur as early as the 11th century, in the decoration of the
carpet page of the famous
Tanakh
manuscript, the
Leningrad Codex dated 1008. Similarly, the symbol illuminates a
medieval Tanakh manuscript dated 1307 belonging to Rabbi Yosef bar
Yehuda ben Marvas from Toledo, Spain. A Siddur dated 1512 from Prague
displays a large hexagram on the cover with the phrase, "He will merit
to bestow a bountiful gift on anyone who grasps the Shield of David."
Origin of the name
Star on a window
The name 'Shield of David' was used by at least the 11th century as a
title of the
God of Israel, independent of the use of the symbol. The phrase
occurs independently as a Divine title in the
Siddur,
the traditional Jewish prayer book, where it poetically refers to the
Divine protection of ancient King David and the anticipated restoration
of his dynastic house, perhaps based on Psalm 18, which is attributed to
David, and in which God is compared to a shield (v. 31 and v. 36). The
term occurs at the end of the "Samkhaynu/Gladden us" blessing, which is
recited after the reading of the Haftara portion on Saturday and
holidays.
The earliest known text related to Judaism which mentions a sign
called the "Shield of David" is Eshkol Ha-Kofer by the
KaraiteJudah Hadassi, in the mid-12th century CE:
Seven names of angels precede the
mezuzah: Michael, Gabriel, etc. …Tetragrammaton
protect you! And likewise the sign, called the "Shield of David", is
placed beside the name of each angel.
This book is of
Karaite, and not of
Rabbinic Jewish origin, and it does not describe the shape of the
sign in any way.
A Shield of David has been noted on a Jewish
tombstone in
Taranto,
Apulia in Southern
Italy,
which may date as early as the third century
CE.
The Jews of Apulia were noted for their scholarship in
Kabbalah, which has been connected to the use of the Star of David.
Medieval Kabbalistic
grimoires show hexagrams among the tables of
segulot, but without identifying them as "Shield of David".
In the Renaissance Period, in the 16th-century Land of Israel, the
book Ets Khayim conveys the Kabbalah of Ha-Ari (Rabbi
Isaac Luria) who arranges the traditional items on the seder plate
for Passover into two triangles, where they explicitly correspond to
Jewish mystical concepts. The six
sfirot
of the masculine Zer Anpin correspond to the six items on the seder
plate, while the seventh sfira being the feminine Malkhut corresponds to
the plate itself.
However, these seder-plate triangles are parallel, one above the
other, and do not actually form a hexagram,.
According to G.S. Oegema (1996)
Isaac Luria provided the Shield of David with a further mystical
meaning. In his book Etz Chayim he teaches that the elements of the plate for the
Seder evening have to be placed in the order of the hexagram: above
the three sefirot "Crown", "Wisdom", and "Insight", below the other
seven.
Similarly, M. Costa
wrote that M. Gudemann and other researchers in the 1920s claimed that
Isaac Luria was influential in turning the Star of David into a
national Jewish emblem by teaching that the elements of the plate for
the
Seder evening have to be placed in the order of the hexagram
Gershom Scholem (1990) disagrees with this view, arguing that Isaac
Luria talked about parallel triangles one beneath the other and not
about the hexagram.
The Star of David at least since the 20th century remains associated
with the number seven and thus with the
Menorah, and popular accounts associate it with the six directions of
space plus the center (under the influence of the description of space
found in the
Sefer Yetsira: Up, Down, East, West, South, North, and Center), or
the Six Sefirot of the Male (Zeir
Anpin) united with the Seventh Sefirot of the Female (Nukva).
Some say that one triangle represents the ruling
tribe of Judah and the other the former ruling
tribe of Benjamin. It is also seen as a
dalet and
yud, the
two letters assigned to Judah. There are 12 Vav, or "men," representing
the 12 tribes or patriarchs of Israel.
Jewish flags
In 1354,
King of BohemiaCharles IV prescribed for the Jews of
Prague
a red flag with both David's shield and
Solomon's seal, while the red flag with which the Jews met
King Matthias of Hungary in the 15th century showed two pentagrams
with two golden stars.
In 1460, the Jews of
Ofen (Budapest,
Hungary)
received
King Matthias Corvinus with a red flag on which were two Shields of
David and two stars. In the first
Hebrew prayer book, printed in
Prague
in 1512, a large Shield of David appears on the cover. In the
colophon is written: "Each man beneath his flag according to the
house of their fathers…and he will merit to bestow a bountiful gift on
anyone who grasps the Shield of David." In 1592, Mordechai Maizel was
allowed to affix "a flag of King David, similar to that located on the
Main Synagogue" on his synagogue in Prague. In 1648, the Jews of Prague
were again allowed a flag, in acknowledgment of their part in defending
the city against the
Swedes
in the
Battle of Prague (1648). On a red background was a yellow Shield of
David, in the center of which was a Swedish star.
As a symbol of
Judaism
In the 17th century, the Shield of David as the hexagram began to
represent the Jewish community generally, when the Jewish quarter of
Vienna was formally distinguished from the rest of the city by a
boundary stone having the hexagram on one side and the Christian cross
on the other. By the 18th century, the Shield appeared to represent the
Jewish people in both secular (politics) and religious (synagogue)
contexts. The Star of David can be found on the tombstones of religious
Jews in Europe since the 18th century.
Hexagram at
Humayun's Tomb, Delhi, India, completed in 1572 AD
Following
Jewish emancipation after the
French revolution, Jewish communities chose the Star of David to
represent themselves, comparable to the cross used by most
Christians. Then in the 19th century, it began to
signify the Jewish people internationally, when the early
Zionist movement adopted it as the symbol of the Jewish people,
after the
Dreyfus affair in France in the 19th century. From here, other
Jewish community organizations adopted it too.
A Star of David, often yellow-colored, was used by the
Nazis
during
the Holocaust as a method of identifying
Jews. After
the
German invasion of Poland in 1939 there were initially different
local decrees forcing Jews to wear a distinct sign – in the
General Government e.g. a white armband with a blue Star of David on
it, in the
Warthegau a
yellow badge in the form of a Star of David on the left side of the
breast and on the back. If a Jew was found without wearing the star in
public, they could be subjected to severe punishment. The requirement to
wear the Star of David with the word Jude (German
for Jew) inscribed was then extended to all Jews over the age of six in
the
Reich and the
Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (by a decree issued on September
1, 1941 signed by
Reinhard Heydrich) and was gradually introduced in
other German-occupied areas.
The
flag of Israel, depicting a blue Star of David on a white
background, between two horizontal blue stripes was adopted on October
28, 1948, five months after the country's establishment. The origins of
the flag's design date from the
First Zionist Congress in 1897; the flag has subsequently been known
as the "flag of Zion".
Some
Orthodox Jewish groups reject the use of the Jewish Star of David
because of its association with
magic.
Neturei Karta and
Satmar reject it because they associate it with
Zionism.
Many
Modern Orthodox synagogues, and many synagogues of other Jewish
movements, however, have the Israeli flag with the Star of David
prominently displayed at the front of the synagogues near the Ark
containing the Torah scrolls.
Magen David Adom (MDA) (Red Star of David or, translated
literally, Red Shield of David) is Israel's only official
emergency medical, disaster, ambulance service. It is an official member
of the
International Committee of the Red Cross since June 2006.
According
to the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Magen David Adom was
boycotted by the International Committee of the Red Cross, which refused
to grant the organization membership because "it was…argued that having
an emblem used by only one country was contrary to the principles of
universality."[21]
Other commentators said the ICRC did not recognize the medical and
humanitarian use of this Jewish symbol, a Red Shield, alongside the
Christian cross and the Muslim crescent.
Athletes
Jewish major league baseball player
Gabe Kapler had a Star of David tattooed on his left calf in 2000,
with the words "strong-willed" and "strong-minded", major leaguer
Mike "SuperJew" Epstein drew a Star of David on his baseball glove,
and major leaguer
Ron Blomberg had a Star of David emblazoned in the knob of his bat
which is on display at the
Baseball Hall of Fame.
NBA basketball star
Amar'e Stoudemire, who says he is spiritually and culturally Jewish,
had a Star of David tattoo put on his left hand in 2010.
NFL football
defensive endIgor Olshansky has Star of David tattoos on each side of his neck,
near his shoulders.
Israeli golfer
Laetitia Beck displays a blue-and-white magen david symbol on her
golf apparel.
Jewish world
light heavyweight world champion boxer
Mike "The Jewish Bomber" Rossman fought with a Star of David
embroidered on his boxing trunks, and also has a blue Star of David
tattoo on the outside of his right calf.
World
heavyweight boxing champion
Max Baer fought with a Star of David on his trunks as well, notably,
for the first time as he knocked out
Nazi Germany hero
Max Schmeling in 1933; Hitler never permitted Schmeling to fight a
Jew again.
Other boxers who fought with Stars of David embroidered on
their trunks to reflect their ethno-religious pride included world
lightweight champion
Benny "the Ghetto Wizard" Leonard (who said he felt as though he was
fighting for all Jews), world light heavyweight boxing champion
Battling Levinsky,
Barney Ross (world champion as a lightweight, as a junior
welterweight, and as a welterweight), world flyweight boxing champion
Victor "Young" Peres ("Young"), and more recently
World Boxing Association super welterweight champion
Yuri Foreman and light middleweight
Boyd Melson.
Welterweight
Dmitriy Salita even boxes under the nickname "Star of David".
Teams
Hakoah Vienna was a Jewish sports club founded in Vienna, Austria,
in 1909 whose teams competed with the Star of David on the chest of
their uniforms, and won the 1925
Austrian League soccer championship.
Similarly, The
Philadelphia Sphas basketball team in Philadelphia (whose name was
an acronym of its founding South Philadelphia Hebrew Association) wore a
large Star of David on their jerseys to proudly proclaim their Jewish
identity, as they competed in the first half of the 20th century.
Maccabi clubs still use the Star of David in their emblems.
As a gang symbol
Some
criminal gangs, including the
Gangster Disciples and those affiliated with the
Folk Nation, use the Star of David as their symbol. In the case of
the Gangster Disciples this is a reference to the group's founder,
David Barksdale.
Miscellaneous
In
Unicode, the "Star of David" symbol is U+2721 (✡).
A recruitment poster published in American Jewish
magazines during WWI. Daughter of
Zion (representing the Jewish people): Your
Old New Land must have you! Join the
Jewish regiment.
A similar term, "Shield of Abraham"
appears in the first blessing of the "Amidah"
prayer, which was written in early Rabbinic times (around year
1, a millennium before the first documentation of the term in
reference to a six-point star). That term is probably based on
Genesis 15:1, where God promises to shield Abraham.
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