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.