![]() ![]() “After we decided to use the menorah,” Gabriel Shamir later recalled, “we looked for another element and concluded that olive branches are the most beautiful expression of the Jewish people’s love of peace.” They flanked the menorah in their design with olive leaves, reminding the world of the Jewish people’s ancient heritage in the Land of Israel. They suggested the emblem that is familiar to millions of Israelis today for the national seal: a modern rendering of the ancient menorah. Born in Latvia, they each studied art in Germany before moving to the Land of Israel in the 1920s and establishing a popular graphic design studio in Tel Aviv. Maxim and Gabriel Shamir were celebrated graphic designers. When the State of Israel was declared in 1948, the new country asked artists to submit ideas for a national symbol. ![]() To this day, the Arch of Titus stands in the center of Rome, depicting that day and showing the menorah being carted away. The holiday of Hanukkah commemorates re-lighting this precious candelabra after it was desecrated by occupying Greek soldiers and Jewish soldiers recaptured and restored the Temple in the year 139 BCE.ġ11 years later, in 70 CE, Roman soldiers, led by Titus, sacked the Temple and took the beautiful Menorah with them back to Rome. When Jews conquered Jerusalem and built the ancient Temple there, they moved the menorah to the Temple, where it was kept lit all the time. The golden menorah was placed in the Mishkan, the very first Jewish house of worship. The Torah relates how God Himself gave Moses instructions for building this holy seven-branched candelabra on Mount Sinai: “You shall make a menorah of pure gold…” (Exodus 25: 31-40) The official emblem of the State of Israel, the Menorah is a key Jewish emblem. Yellow had long been used as a distinctive, humiliating color that European Jews were forced to wear in some European communities, and the Star of David was by then seen as the quintessentially Jewish symbol. During the Holocaust, Nazis forced Jews to wear yellow patches of the six pointed Star of David. The Jewish star soon spread to other Jewish communities, and synagogues and Jewish tombstones featured Jewish stars as ornaments. A Jewish prayer book printed in Prague in 1512 features a beautiful Jewish star on its cover with the quote “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 1354, King Charles IV of Bohemia bestowed a red flag with a six pointed star on it to the Jews of Prague, and the star was adopted by the Jews of Prague as their symbol. A Jewish tombstone in southern Italy dating from the Third Century CE is decorated with a six pointed star. Six pointed stars have been found in Jewish settings for hundreds of years. It also can be seen as a correlation to Shabbat, with a central core (corresponding to Shabbat) surrounded by six points, corresponding to the six other days of the week. The Star of David also has twelve individual sides, corresponding to the twelve Tribes of Israel. Some symbolic explanations for the six-pointed star being identified with Judaism include Kabbalistic explanations of it representing two arrows, one pointing up to heaven and one down to earth. This construction is said to have made King David’s shield more sturdy than his opponents. These were said to comprise two triangles, one pointing up and one pointing down, joined in the middle, forming a six pointed star. There is a legend that King David indeed did carry a six pointed star with him, in the form of his shield and the shields his soldiers carried. This beautiful image is also found in Jewish liturgy: each Shabbat after we hear the Haftarah read in synagogue, the reader refers to the Divine as Magen David, the protector of David and the Jewish people. The Talmud mentions Magen David – literally, the Shield of King David – protecting King David and his descendent, the Messiah (Pesachim 117b). While the six-pointed Star of David might be more recent, the term Magen David is old. Surprisingly, given its widespread popularity, the Star of David is fairly recent and has only been associated with Jews for a few hundred years. It appears on many Jewish tombstones and is the central symbol on the Israeli flag. The Star of David, the Magen David, is one of the most recognizable Jewish symbols. Here are some symbols that are commonly identified as Jewish, along with their history and symbolism. Is there a universal Jewish symbol? Around the world people associate a plethora of signs with Jews and Judaism, from the Star of David to the menorah to the hamsa hand symbol. A post shared by Judaism by Is The Jewish Symbol? ![]()
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