-
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.
