Star of David

Star of David, Jewish symbol composed of two overlaid equilateral triangles that form a six-pointed star or hexagram: ✡. It was not a commonly used symbol in Judaism in antiquity, but it grew in prominence in Jewish circles in Europe during the Middle Ages. It was first explicitly referred to as the Shield of David (Hebrew: Magen David) in the 14th century. Its six-point form led to its description as a star in European languages. By the 19th century the symbol became a widespread emblem of Judaism. Today it appears conspicuously on synagogues, Jewish tombstones, kippahs, jewelry, and the flag of Israel.

Early decorative art and magic

The hexagram appears sporadically on early Jewish cultural artifacts, and the earliest extant example is a seal from Sidon (now in Lebanon) dated to the 7th century bce. The seal bears the name Joshua ben Asayahu, which indicates worship of Yahweh, the God of the Israelites. The hexagram is also found on a frieze carving in a synagogue at Capernaum—located near the Sea of Galilee in present-day Israel—generally dated to the 4th–5th century ce. In that frieze it appears alongside many other decorative designs, including floral imagery and a pentagram, and scholars do not consider it to have a clear religious meaning. In about the 6th century a hexagram was carved next to the name David on a Jewish tombstone in Taranto, Italy, but its significance there remains unclear. Scholars generally consider these early examples of the hexagram to be magical signs or decorations, but while the designs themselves remain clear after millenniums, the meanings do not. For much of early Judaism, the menorah, not the Star of David, was the more salient image representing the Jewish religion and community.

The Star of David is not mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, nor does the Bible associate a hexagram with King David. The Shield of David (Magen David) is mentioned in the Babylonian Talmud (completed c. 600 ce), in reference to God’s protection of David—a concept and not a physical shield or visual symbol. The Babylonian Talmud does mention a ring possessed by King Solomon that could ward off demons. The notion later developed that the Seal of Solomon was a five- or six-pointed star that possessed magical powers. This idea later became common in Islamic symbolism, in which the Seal of Solomon often appears in the five- or six-pointed form. The Seal of Solomon has been found on signet rings and coinage in Islamic archaeological contexts. The symbol is said to have given Solomon the ability to control the jinn.

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Medieval manuscripts, mysticism, and emblems

In the Middle Ages hexagrams appeared with greater frequency among Jews but did not yet assume any special religious or social significance—they are found as a decoration on some medieval Roman Catholic cathedrals as well as on Jewish synagogues. The hexagram gradually became a common decorative design in Jewish manuscripts. Hexagrams are featured on decorative carpet pages, interlaced with inscriptions of biblical passages, in the Leningrad Codex, the oldest known complete manuscript of the Hebrew Bible, completed in Cairo about 1008. Hexagrams also appear in Jewish manuscripts in Italy and Germany in the 13th–15th century, and, from the 15th–16th century, as a printer’s mark in Jewish books published in Lisbon, Constantinople (Istanbul), and Prague.

The first explicit association of the hexagram with the Shield of David (Magen David) appears in 1300 in a work of Kabbala—Jewish mysticism—entitled Sefer ha-Gevul (“Book of the Border”) by early Kabbalist David ben Judah. In the ensuing centuries, the Shield of David gained currency among medieval Jewish adherents of practical Kabbala, a form of Jewish mysticism that employs amulets and sacred formulas. For these Kabbalists the Shield of David served as a protection against evil spirits, paralleling the magical powers associated with the similar Seal of Solomon.

The Shield of David continued to develop as a religious symbol in Judaism in the early modern period. It was increasingly disambiguated from the Seal of Solomon, which came to be defined as a pentagram. In the 18th century followers of Shabbetaianism—founded by Shabbetai Tzevi, a self-proclaimed messiah—regarded the Shield of David as a symbol of the messiah, who was expected to descend from the Davidic line.

The Shield of David gradually shifted from a symbol of magic and mysticism into a symbol of communal identity, beginning in Prague in the late Middle Ages. The Shield of David likely appeared on the official banner of Prague’s Jewish community in 1490. In the 1530s it became the official emblem of Prague’s Jewish town. This was the first documented use of the Shield of David as an official symbol of a Jewish community. From Prague, the Star of David as a Jewish communal and political emblem spread, and from the 17th–18th century onward the six-pointed star became the official seal of many Jewish communities and a general sign of Judaism in central and western Europe. In 1656 a signpost in Vienna demarcated the border between Jewish and Christian parts of town with a Christian cross beside a Shield of David; this is often cited as the first clear example of the Shield of David as a symbol not merely of a Jewish community but of Judaism itself.

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Modern symbol of persecution and freedom

The Star of David was widely adopted by European Jews in the 19th century as a striking and simple emblem of Judaism in imitation of the cross of Christianity. In the early years of modern Zionism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, various flags associated with the movement featured a Star of David centered on a white field with blue stripes above and below, resembling the design of a prayer shawl (ṭallit). Many variations of this design emerged as banners for the Zionist movement, the exact history of which is disputed, but in due course the Star of David became a symbol across the Jewish Diaspora of longing for freedom and self-determination.

The use of the Star of David as a Jewish emblem took a dark turn from 1939–45, when in many parts of Nazi-occupied Europe Jews were forced to wear identifying badges in the shape of the Star of David. Since medieval times Jews in Europe had been required to wear identifying badges, often yellow in color, but the use of the Star of David for that purpose was rare prior to the Nazi era. Beginning in 1939 in occupied Poland, the badge was white with a blue Star of David outline. From 1941 the compulsory Nazi-era badges for Jews featured a yellow Star of David, often with the word “Jew” in local languages printed in the center. The Star of David in this context became a sign marking Jews for exclusion and persecution, thus subverting the symbol’s role as an affirming icon of Jewish strength and identity. For some Jewish commentators, the horrors of this era nevertheless invested the Star of David with a symbolism indicating martyrdom and heroism. In an article on the history of the Star of David in the journal Commentary in 1949, Kabbala scholar Gershom Scholem wrote that this oppressive use of the Star of David supercharged its reclamation and adoption as a symbol of Judaism:

But even Zionism did not do so much to confer the sacredness of a true symbol on the Shield of David as did that mad dictator who made of it a badge of shame for millions of our people, who compelled them to wear it publicly on their clothing as the badge of exclusion and of eventual extermination. Under this sign they moved along the road of horror and degradation, struggle and heroism. If there be such a thing as a soil that grows meaning for symbols, this is it.

The flag of the Zionist movement was displayed in Palestine and was raised when Israel declared independence on May 14, 1948. Later that year the Zionist banner was adopted as the official flag of Israel. The Star of David became the national symbol of the only Jewish state in the modern period.

For Jewish people today, the Star of David conveys a constellation of connotations, varying from person to person, including mystical, religious, ethnic, personal, and geopolitical dimensions. It appears on synagogues, Jewish schools, cemetery markers, kippahs, seder plates, menorahs, and many other ritual objects. The six-pointed star also appears on items that are not inherently religious, such as logos of Jewish organizations, holiday decorations, commercial items, and even foodstuffs. Jews today often wear Star of David necklaces and rings to demonstrate religious and cultural belonging, pride, and solidarity through fashion. Yet the Star of David is also used, along with other Jewish symbols, in antisemitic propaganda and cartoons. Because of its use on the flag of Israel, the Star of David can carry strong political meanings connected with Zionism and the State of Israel.