A star is worn
By Dea Hadar
Dangling from belly buttons, earlobes and necklaces, tattooed on private parts and featured boldly on clothing, the six-pointed Star of David is a best-seller these days
haaretzdaily.com
"Whoever has a Star of David, raise your hand!" the rapper Subliminal shouts to the perspiring crowd. The dense mass of youngsters obediently wave their Stars of David, refracting the light back to the stage. Subliminal (Kobi Shimoni) skips from one side of the makeshift stage to the other. This is the yard of the Gymnasia Realit high school in Rishon Letzion; the performance took place last Wednesday as the culmination of a day devoted to the effort to eradicate drunken driving. He wore red hip-hop garb and had a thick chain around his neck from which hung a clumsy Star of David - or magen David in Hebrew, meaning "shield of David." Next to him was his partner, "the Shadow" (Yoav Eliasi); behind him, the deejay's space (manned by Ami Yehezkel) is draped with the Israeli flag.
"My enemies are united, they want to annihilate me, we are nursing and arming those who hate us - enough!" he declaims-sings to the students who chant the ultranationalist lyrics word for word. Then they sing the chorus of "Divide and Rule": "Together we'll survive, alone we'll fall."
One of those flashing his Star of David is Uri, a 16-year-old student in the school. He was one of the first 5,000 people to buy the latest CD released by the rapper, in August. Attached to the disc was a Star of David with the same kind of chain that soldiers use for their army dog-tags. Now Uri is waving his in the air.
"For me, the Star of David is not some passing fashion - it symbolizes love for the state, and faith, and Zionism," says the teenager, whose bleached-blond hair is saturated with jell. "I will wear this for always."
Another flash from a Star of David emanates from the direction of Shiran Sultan, 17, who recently bought her large, silver-plated pendant in Jerusalem. "This Star of David is everything for me. I feel a tremendous closeness to it," she says, kissing it and pressing it against her chest. "I know that everyone is wearing these now. For most of them, it's a beauty thing, but for me it's Judaism. And it brings me luck. Everything that happens to me is thanks to this Star of David. It will be on me for all time, even when it is not in fashion anymore. Even in another 70 years, I will still wear it."
In the meantime, on the stage, Subliminal forges ahead relentlessly. "I won't give in today, won't ever give in, with a Star of David until my last day."
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