The Star of David (“Magen David”)

 

During the holiday season, I hang a large, shiny, tinseled, blue and silver Star of David in my home along with my Christmas decorations. Another tiny Star of David handmade by my daughter from popsicle sticks sits atop one of my many Christmas trees. I also have a mezuzah (a symbol of God’s watchful care over the home, as it was described to me) near my doorway but that’s for a different blog entry.

My stepfather was Jewish so we celebrated all Jewish and Christian holidays. It’s just not holiday time without it. As strange as that sounds. I need to display my Star of David around the holidays.

Recently, I wondered about its significance which, always, of course, leads to a blog entry. As with most topics I like to research, its origins are rather vague. The Star of David had not been mentioned in the rabbinic texts until the Middle Ages. After this time, a deeper spiritual meaning was associated with the star by Kabbalists. The David in question would be King David. Medieval Jewish texts spoke of a magic shield possessed by King David which protected him from his enemies.

The "Magen David" or “shield of David”, is seen as a symbol of unity. It is also known as a hexagram or more rarely, “Solomon’s Seal”. The Star of David was first used as a Jewish symbol in 1354. The Jewish people were given the right to have a flag by Emperor Charles IV. The people chose the Star of David as their symbol.

Soon, it became a symbol of the Jewish people and was used as decoration for Jewish architecture. Unfortunately, this symbol of unity was turned into something negative during World War II, when Jewish people were forced to wear a yellow Star of David on their clothes as a badge of shame. Yellow was considered to be a negative color.

Fortunately, after that atrocious time in history ended, the Star of David was turned back into a symbol of respect and honor. During the founding of Israel, the Zionists brought national attention to the symbol by placing the it on the flag of Israel.

The Kabbalists thought that the six points of the star represented God's rule of the universe (north, south, east, west, up and down). The triangles also represented the good and evil in all of us and the star could be used as protection against evil spirits.

The structure of the star, with two overlapping triangles, has also been thought to represent the relationship between God and the Jewish people. The star that points up symbolizes God and the star that points down represents us here on earth. 

חנוכה שמח