“The Star of David”
What does the Star of David mean to a Jewish person? It is hard to explain to a non-Jewish person because the Star of David inspires quiet pride, mixed equally of both political and religious feelings. It is an important symbol because it stands for justice and fair play.
In the Bible, two of the wisest characters were Solomon and David; indeed, the Star of David was once called Solomon’s Seal in medieval times. The stories in the Bible are subjected to the vagaries of poor translations and changing interpretations over the years, but the major episodes in the lives of Solomon and David have stood the test of time.
They represent human intelligence, kindness, and wisdom accompanied by a holy faith unusually profound. Thus, whenever in Jewish history something good happens, people will compare it to the standards set by Solomon and David. There are many places where divinity and humanity meet in the Bible but hardly ever more sublimely than when they meet in the chapters devoted to Solomon and David.
As is well known, the Jewish people suffered tremendous persecution in many countries throughout the centuries. Were it not for the inspiration drawn from stories about Solomon and David, the Jewish people might not have endured. Moses, too, is an often-praised hero but even liberation from slavery means little without the wisdom of leaders to make that new-found freedom meaningful.
Until the twentieth century, the Star of David was a symbol of resistance and hope for an oppressed people who only wanted to be left alone to worship in peace. As a son of a Jewish family, I understood as much.
For a long time it was never easy for me to criticize Israel for its shameful treatment of the Arabs and Palestinians, but finally that step was taken: it was a pledge of my own that the banner of the house of King David would not be allowed to drag in the mud so low.
The history of the recent peace negotiations has been topsy-turvy but at least it’s a start. And the crazed Israeli citizen who began this latest round of trouble–what do I think of him? He was a man whose religious extremism had carried him into a religious psychosis; he became demented, bereft of reason, and left himself no choice but that of going berserk or of committing suicide. Apparently, he chose both.
Did he die for a “holy cause”? Did he die so that “his side” might win? He died an insane man who completely shamed his country and his religion. He violated every tenet of Judaism; he abdicated all moral responsibility and destroyed his own faith in that last moment of murderous insanity.
No government-sponsored act of violence, this–and no government in the world would let itself be held accountable for the acts of violent madmen. It may be small consolation to the families of those who died but they have laid one of the costliest sacrifices upon the altar of freedom in all the annals of man’s history.
This man’s last act of madness–at the dawning of a new era of a relationship based on equality, not fear–is a sad reminder to us all: that an obsession with “righteousness” can transform itself into an evil impulse in the batting of an eye.
It is disquieting, to say the least, when anything as “holy” and “pure” and “infallible” as religion purports to be, leads to the unraveling of human reason in the mind of a man once normal and sane.
If war, hatred, and prejudice contribute to this man’s violent acts—to violate the sanctity of life–cannot the forces for peace on both sides understand that such insanity must be stopped at all costs? Shall we write as epitaph for the twentieth century that an insane man’s violence touched off a new chapter in a world war that has no end?
Or shall we be able to say—someday if not today–that the insane senselessness of such violence brought people back to their senses: the only viable solution for the road to war is to be found on the road to peace!
No more war and no more killing! That is what this Jew is offering to all peoples. I extend my hand in friendship to my Palestinian brother and hope to meet him face to face.
Until then, I urge people on both sides to remain calm and to do whatever they can to return society to normal so that the peace process may continue.
There are extremists on both sides, as peace activists know all too well.
The Muslims who have been chanting verses from the Koran that sanctify dying for one’s religion in battle as the noblest of deeds, are hardly the ones to be arguing that all the blame belongs to Israel and only to Israel.
I believe the Israeli government can make us proud of the Star of David once more by continuing the peace talks, knowing that the hardest obstacle to overcome is often the last.
I will mourn for the dead, but let the living move on towards the light.
