The Star of David Controversy

Sermon given October 22, 1999, by Rabbi Samuel M. Stahl

At Temple Beth-El, we always affix our official congregational seal to the bottom of our Conversion Certificates. The seal is in the form of a circle. The name of our congregation appears on the circumference. A star dominates the center. When I first saw it, I was surprised to note that the star has five points, like that on the Texas flag, instead of six. From this, I concluded that the founders of our congregation in 1874 wanted to identify more as Texans than as Jews.

After studying the history of the six-pointed Star of David more carefully, I am now not certain that my conclusion was correct. It was only at the very end of the last century that the Star of David had become an unequivocally Jewish symbol. Until then, it was not exclusively Jewish. Thus, in 1874, when our congregation was founded, the Magen David, or the Star of David, might not yet have been identified solely with Judaism.

The words, Magen David, literally mean the "Shield of David." It supposedly represents the symbol of six points on the armor that King David, the famed warrior, wore in battle. However, I can find no evidence of this claim.

In fact, 2000 years ago, the six-pointed star was used both on Jewish and non-Jewish buildings. The synagogue in Capernum, which many of us have visited in the Galilee, was built in the third century. There we can find a six-pointed star next to a five-pointed star and a swastika, which also is an ancient symbol. The six-pointed star was so rarely used in ancient Jewish works of art. If art dealers see a Jewish artifact with a six-pointed star, which is more than two centuries old, they suspect it is a forgery.

In those early days, if there was any distinctive Jewish symbol, at all, it was the menorah, the seven-branch candelabrum. The menorah became the sign of the mission of the Jewish people, for we are mandated to become a "light to the nations." For centuries, many non-Jews living in the Middle East and North Africa, thought the six-point star had magical powers which would bring them good luck.

In the Middle Ages, hostile governments often required our forebears to wear badges identifying them as Jews. These badges were not usually the six-pointed star. For some unknown reason, by the end of the nineteenth century, most synagogues had featured a six-pointed star to identify them as Jewish houses of worship, just as a cross marks the structure as a church.

In 1897, the World Jewish Congress met in Basle, Switzerland. It adopted the six-pointed star as its emblem. Since then, the Magen David has become universally acknowledged as a Jewish sign. In 1948, the six-pointed star was chosen to dominate the blue-and-white flag of the new State of Israel. Nonetheless, the official seal of the State of Israel features the menorah.

In modern times, some Jewish thinkers, like Franz Rosenzweig, have tried to give religious significance to the interlocking triangles of the star. They claim that the top triangle points upward to indicate our obligations toward God, while the bottom one points downward to signify our duties to our fellow human beings on earth. Others say that the three sides of each triangle represents the three groups of Jews in ancient Temple times: the priests, the Levites, and the Israelites.

All this is speculation. What is certain, however, is that in the twentieth century, the Star of David has become an exclusively Jewish symbol, so much so that Nazis forced Jews to wear this star on their clothing. The star in Nazi Europe became their yellow badge of shame. While wearing it, they were subject to all forms of humiliation and harassment in public places. The Nazis arrested those Jews caught without it and sent them to death camps.

Now that we acknowledge that the star is an exclusively Jewish symbol, we were stunned by the scandal that erupted last August in Gulfport, Mississippi. Ryan Green, son of a Jewish father and a Christian mother, is a fifteen-year-old student at Harrison Central High School in Gulfport. During the summer, his Jewish grandmother gave him a pendant with the Star of David as a sign of his Jewish heritage.

Ryan has been raised in both Judaism and Christianity. Yet this carrot-topped, freckled-face teenager wanted to wear his grandmother's gift to school on the first day of classes. One of his teachers suggested that he place it inside his shirt. Nonetheless, he wore it again to class the next day and school officials ordered him to remove it.

Shortly thereafter, the school superintendent, together with all the members of the school board, prohibited Ryan from donning his Star of David. They quoted a policy that forbids students from dressing with gang symbols. There are two gangs in Gulfport and both are largely inactive. One sports a six-pointed star, and the other a five-pointed star.

This stupid decision labeling the Star of David as a gang symbol sent shock waves through the Jewish community. It also angered staunch defenders of civil rights. Possibly a few centuries ago, it would have been possible to give alternate interpretations to the Star of David. However, in recent decades it has been clearly established solely as a Jewish symbol.

Critics accused school officials of promoting anti-Semitism and of stifling religious liberties. A week later, the school board, in response to much pressure, unanimously rescinded its decision and voted to exempt all religious symbols from its anti-gang policy. This didn't satisfy the American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi. The ACLU filed a complaint in federal court against the school board.

The American Jewish Congress, one of our three major national Jewish defense organizations, also pointed out that the school board did not bar crosses even though they were on the list of gang symbols. It seems that a Jewish symbol was singled out. The county sheriff explained that no gang uses the cross as its symbol. He was not convincing. Thus, the effect of the policy, contrary to the protestations of the school officials and the county sheriff, was anti-Jewish. It is not an action that we can defend as a safety issue. We should not let gangs define what our Jewish symbols can mean.

What lessons can we learn from this incident? First of all, we take pride that Ryan Green stood up for his rights at a time of life when peer pressure is intense, especially in a community where there are probably just a handful of Jews. We admire his courage in fulfilling the admonition of Hillel who said that: "Where there are no men, strive to be a man." (Avot 2:5) Ryan realized that there are times when one must be a non-conformist and go against the tide.

Secondly, we learned that it is not what symbols once meant but what they have come to mean today that is all important. For example, it would be almost inconceivable today to hold a Jewish wedding without the breaking of the glass. It would not seem like a Jewish wedding to us. The breaking of the glass probably started out as a superstition. The ancients believed that hovering around the wedding canopy are evil spirits, threatening to overturn the joy of the bride. By shattering the glass, we scare away those evil spirits.

Today that explanation is not compelling. Today we understand the breaking of the glass is not only a way of giving a special Jewish distinctiveness to a wedding ceremony. It also illustrates that, in the midst of joy, we should remember that life has its darker side.

Similarly, the Star of David, though once possibly a pagan sign, is today a token of Jewish pride and identification. It means that we belong to a Jewish people with whom we can be proudly identified.

A humorist, Scotty Kowall, gives his own take on the Gulfport incident in these clever words:

Mississippi leads the way into the next millennium. The Harrison County Board of Education has banned a student from wearing a Star of David to Harrison Central High School. The Board believes gang members use the Star of David to identify themselves and has a policy against symbols to forestall gang rivalries in the school. They banned the Star of David in the name of safety. Most people are outraged that religious freedom could be denied to an American in America . . .

I think Mississippi may be on to something. Wearing the Star of David does show an affiliation to a gang, a Jewish gang. They are not known for their toughness unless you are in Israel. The gang wearing the Star of David in Israel are very tough. You wouldn't try and take their pendant away from them. Wearing a cross shows an affiliation to a Christian gang . . .

We are a world of gangs. American gangs, Australian gangs, Canadian gangs, Republican gangs, Democratic gangs, Reform gangs, New York gangs, Mississippi gangs, Ranger gangs, Yankee gangs, Muslim gangs, Christian gangs, and Jewish gangs. Society could ban all symbols in the name of safety. Eventually everything would be banned and Americans would walk around like the Chinese did years ago in plain green suits. Before you know it you are walking around in a plain green suit. It could be worse. You could be forced to wear those silly Capri pants.

Amen.

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