The Rebbe Was Against Using The Magen David Symbol

Is This A Bizzare Scene, or What?

Rabbi G noticed and pointed out something about the Chabad Kinus Backdrop Stage. In connection with that:

“ I was dismayed to see images depicted at the Kinus Hashluchim that resemble inverted Masonic icons, including the dubious "Square and Compass" and idolatrous obelisk. Not sure who is responsible for this bizarre error. Let us hope and pray that this lapse was merely a grave oversight and not deliberate. Kinus organizers ought to know how the Rebbe firmly negated ANY use of the six-point star (i.e. the so-called "Star of David") in connection to Chabad or anything Jewish. How dare they brazenly depict what appears to be truncated "Star of David" that closely resembles the "Square and Compass" rachmono litzlan.“

Many have asked ... for some clarification with regards to the six-point star and its use as an alleged Jewish symbol.

It is well known that the Rebbe repeatedly instructed chassidim NOT to use the six-point star, called the “Magen David.” There are countless stories about instructions received by shluchim and rabbis to remove the symbol from Torah scroll mantels, from parochot (ark curtains), and from other places.

R. Yitzhak Flohr presented the Rebbe with a silver menorah decorated with a Magen David, the Rebbe broke off the Magen David and gave it back to him. When the Rebbe visited Camp Gan Israel in the Catskills and saw a sticker with a Magen David on the wall of one of the bunk houses, he instructed that it be promptly removed.

When author R. Hanoch Glitzenstein printed the book 'Or Chassidut' and printed the shape of a Magen David on the cover, the Rebbe ordered all the covers to be removed and sent to geniza. The Rebbe did NOT want the Magen David to appear on any publication, advertisement, or logo representing Chabad.

It’s clear that the Rebbe did NOT approve of the Magen David’s use as a universal Jewish symbol, in synagogues, or in connection to Chabad in any way, but there were a few cases in which he tolerated it:

1. A Magen David had been engraved on the tombstone of the saintly Rabbi Levi Yitzhak Schneerson, the Rebbe's father, who passed away in 1944. Years later, when the tombstone was renovated, the Magen David was removed, and a photo was sent to the Rebbe. The Rebbe knew that there had once been a Magen David and instructed that they put it back.

2. Some report that there was a Magen David engraved on the Rebbe's silver kiddush cup. However, it was also reported in the name of R. Berel Junik, the Rebbe’s attendant, that the Rebbe’s personal kiddush cup did NOT have a Magen David. Instead, R. Junik frequently switched the kiddush cups the Rebbe used for a new one and would give the old one to family or acquaintances, and one of these cups happened to have a Magen David.

3. In the Aron Kodesh (ark) in 770 there is an inconspicuous and hardly noticeable Magen David in the upper section.

Why was the Rebbe generally opposed to its use as a Jewish symbol?

Some speculate that it’s because the symbol was usurped by Zionists, or that it became a political icon associated with the State of Israel. Others point to its odious similarity to the iconic “square and compass,” the ubiquitous symbol of a dubious secret society called Freemasonry.

However, it must be pointed out that there is no source that the six-point star ever was used on King David’s shields, or that it was ever an authentic Jewish symbol. The earliest mention of it is from a Karaite author, Judah Hadassi, in the twelfth century CE. Hardly a reliable source.

So it’s not only the Magen David’s association with anti-Torah ideologies, secular states, or pagan societies, that would discourage its use as a Jewish symbol. It’s that it never was an authentic Jewish symbol to begin with.

In fact, the very notion of icons is discouraged in Torah thought. Illustrations of the two tablets, the menorah, or lions, for example, might be fine, but the moment an icon becomes objectified and used as a symbol of our faith in its entirety, it has no place in our religion.

Torah scrolls, mezuzos, and tefillin, are holy objects and are assigned sacred significance by Torah law, but images and icons have no symbolic significance.

That’s not to say that there aren’t deeper lessons behind certain shapes, like the six-point star, circles or hexagons, for example. In fact, the Rebbe once wrote a lengthy letter on the deeper significance of this shape to a professor who was referred to him by his father-in-law, the previous Rebbe.

However, it’s abundantly clear that the Magen David is NOT regarded as a Jewish symbol by the Rebbe and should NOT be used in any shul or Chabad institution in any noticeable way. Whoever is responsible for the Magen-David-like backdrop at the recent Kinus Hashluchim should IMMEDIATELY apologize and take full responsibility for this unacceptable breach.

And, as I mentioned in my social media post, this suspicious display also had shapes that resembled pyramids and obelisks, both of polytheistic origin and still used widely by Freemasons and other secret societies. It is unconscionable that the Rebbe's holy name and movement was associated with such impure imagery! Shomu shomayim. The organizers of the Kinus should apologize to all shluchim and to the entire Chabad community for misrepresenting the Rebbe in such a reckless way.

to view the video https://www.chabad.org/221818