The Shield of David
Rabbi Zamir Cohen,Shlita The Shield of David
There is a tradition
that when King David would go out to war
he would go out with a shield
that had a drawing on it comprised of two triangles;
one upright and one upside-down,
superimposed one on the other,
and therefore, this diagram was known as the Shield of David.
What does it symbolize?
There are many secrets contained in the Shield of David.
On a more simple level,
the triangle and upside-down triangle represents
male and female,
two opposites that create perfect harmony.
According to Judaism, the entire creation
is based on the principle of naturally occurring opposites-
two opposites that create one complete whole.
An unmarried man and an unmarried woman
they are still only considered half a person.
When they get married
they turn into a complete person.
"Male and female He created them ...
... and He blessed them ...
... and He called their name ADAM (=mankind)."
That is to say
the entire creation is based on the idea
that I am only a half.
The second half is needed
in order to complete myself and become whole.
However, on a deeper level
these two triangles,
when they interjoin,
form six spaces
small triangles that appear around the edges,
and one center space which is hexagonal,
and all the six surrounding triangles are inter-connected to it.
The Maharal from Prague,
one of the great Kabbalists,
wrote that the number six
expresses the aspect of materiality.
Every physical object is confined to six sides:
East, West, North, South, above and below.
On the other hand, the aspect of the number seven
corresponds to the inner dimension.
The spirituality that exists within the physical,
like the electrons that are within the atom,
is the spirituality that gives life to the physical.
Like the soul within the body,
the seventh dimension that gives life to the body.
And this is the reason
that Judaism is saturated by the number seven.
The seventh day is The Sabbath,
the seventh year is The Sabbatical Year,
the Festivals are seven days long,
a bride and groom rejoice for seven days of blessings,
so, too, there are seven days of mourning,
family purity requires waiting seven days,
there are seven branches on the Menorah,
A man winds the strap of tefillin (phylacteries) seven times around his arm,
and so on.
There are many more "sevens" in Judaism.
Why is this so?
It's due to the the seventh dimension in nature
which is what gives life.
It is the inner spirituality that gives existence
to all of the surrounding physicality.
And this is the reason, in anticipation of the Sabbath, we say
"Let us go to greet the Sabbath ...
... for it is the source of all blessing."
The Sabbath is actually in the center
with its influence affecting
the three prior days of the week
as well as the three following days.
And when a person works
six days of the week,
he produces material, he earns money.
However, the physical that lacks its soul,
that lacks spirituality,
will not endure.
A blessing in money is not
what appears in your pay slip.
Rather, that you should be able
to enjoy all of your money.
And the Sabbath which is the "source of all blessings",
explains the Maharal,
means that observing the laws of the Sabbath
brings in the spiritual dimension
of the Seventh day
into the other six days of the week.
It puts the soul into the physical
and then the physical can endure.
Beyond this there is an even deeper level.
The Shield of David is comprised of
an upper line and a lower line.
The upper line represents
the spiritual world and the heavens,
while the lower line represents
this world.
The nature of a person is
that while he is in this world
in any endeavor that
relates to the physical,
he initially has great aspirations
and he feels spaciousness.
He advances, makes strides, and exerts himself.
But the more he attains and reaches his aim, his goal;
his motivation decreases and dwindles
until it disappears.
On the other hand,
in spiritual matters it is exactly the opposite.
When you begin from a small point
you continually expand
and continually develop boundlessly!
The wider part of the inverted triangle
widens infinitely
since the two angled lines
diverge forever.
As opposed to
the lower triangles which start off wide
but end with the two lines meeting
and ending at a fixed point.
And the Kabbalist masters also teach us
that when a person acts in this world,
he also influences the higher worlds.
And after impacting the higher worlds,
the abundance goes down and returns into this world.
This too is hinted at in the Shield of David.
A person can act below in this world
in either a positive or negative way,
as instructed by the Creator.
(The word Torah comes from the word meaning instruction.)
When he acts in a positive way,
he generates abundance in the higher worlds.
In other words, what a person does here,
represented by the lower line, doesn't just remain below
but ascends up and penetrates the higher worlds.
And after his influence in the higher worlds,
it then returns back down again
to influence this world
with goodness and blessing
in accordance with his deeds.