The Secret of the Star of David — Lesson VI, Rav Ziegler zatsal
Lesson VI · Rav Haim Ziegler זצ״ל

The Secret of the Star of David

Two triangles, two worlds, and the question of what man is for
A teaching of Rav Haim Ziegler zatsal · Éditions Gueoula
Translated from the French original; the French version remains the reference text.
The Secret of the Star of David
Two triangles, two worlds, and the question of what man is for

Judaism answers that man was created for delight — not an ordinary delight, but one infinite in time and infinite in intensity.

Every delight we know is limited. That is exactly the problem this lesson sets out to solve.

The Star of David draws the answer. It is made of two triangles: the material world, which begins wide and ends in a point, and the spiritual world, which begins in a point and widens without end.

Whoever manages to join the two has found the purpose.

📖 Read the lesson
1 The fundamental question: why man?
“What is Judaism’s answer? The purpose of man is delight. He created man so that man would delight.”

A contradiction appears at once. If G-d created man to delight, why be religious? One could delight without it. The religious man prays three times a day, does not eat pork, climbs the stairs on foot on Shabbat.

The Rav’s answer: this is not just any delight. It is a delight infinite in time and infinite in intensity, without limit in any domain.

And every delight we know is limited. It wears out, it stops, it tires. That is the problem, and the whole lesson starts there.

2 The Magen David: the shape of that purpose

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The Star of David is made of two triangles laid over one another. The Rav taught that this secret is carried by the Jewish people alone.

▽ The downward triangle — the material world. It begins wide and ends in a point. A young man has eyes to see the whole world, ears for every music, a nose for every fragrance: he catches a great deal. Then come the glasses, the fading hearing, the missing teeth, the walking stick. It begins wide and ends in a point.

△ The upward triangle — the spiritual world. It begins in a point and widens without end. A child comes into the world and his knowledge fits in a single point. The moment he begins to take in, it widens. The more he takes in, the fuller he is; the fuller he is, the more he takes in. How far? Toward an infinite world.

What the Rav drew from this: there is a world inside man that does not shrink with age. The body follows the first triangle; study follows the second.
3 The solution: joining the two triangles
“If the upper triangle — the infinite world, the world of eternity — were connected to the lower one, it would make the delight here infinite and eternal.”

Whoever joins these two triangles has found the purpose. That is what the Magen David draws: not two separate worlds, but two worlds set into one another.

And there, said the Rav, lies the secret of the people of Israel: how do you join these two triangles? The whole Torah, the whole practice, a lifetime of study serve only to answer that one question.

Did you follow the lesson?

Five questions on the teaching of Rav Ziegler zatsal.

1
According to the lesson, what is man’s purpose in Judaism?
That is the Rav’s starting point: man was created to delight, with a delight infinite in time and in intensity.
2
What is the problem with the delights we know?
They stop, they wear out. That is what forces the search for another kind of delight.
3
What does the downward-pointing triangle stand for?
It begins wide and ends in a point: youth that catches a great deal, then strength that withdraws.
4
What does the upward-pointing triangle stand for?
It begins in a point and widens without end: the more a man takes in, the fuller he is, and the more he takes in again.
5
What question, for the Rav, sums up the secret of Israel?
The Magen David draws the answer: connecting the infinite world to this one makes the delight of this world infinite.

Result