Maghain Aboth synagogue in Singapore. Picture in Wikipedia.
What can you learn about Judaism from the top front of this building which you can see from the other side of the road and in close up photos? Or, if you already know about Judaism, what could you explain when showing a visitor around Singapore or around my blog post?
The Star
First the star. It is a six point star. Everything before and during the lifetime of Jesus was shared by the Jews whose descendants remained Jews as well as those who kept the Torah (first 5 books of Moses) as well as the Chritisans who kept the old Jewish books as the Old Testament and added the stories of Jesus as the New Testament. The star is six pointed, and is known to Moslems as the engaging alliterative seal of Solomon. I saw the six point star on a Muslim building in India. A more popular star for other religions and drawing a star in the sky is a five point star. The one with six points composed of two triangles is easier to draw with a ruler. Another version has it the star filled in.
Regarding reading the name of the synagogue, the first thing to notice about Hebrew is that you read from right to left. That\s the same as Arabic. A Moslem girlfriend of mine in Singapore was amazed and delighted to learn this. I remember her eyes opening wide, her mouth wide, her gasp of amazement, her excitement!
Who changed the direction of the alphabet? I don't know. I shall find out and tell you later.
The Chinese write up and down, side to side, in any direction which suits. In the lifts (elevators) in cashew Heights and other condos, the floor numbers go from top to bottom in one column and then up and down in the second column. Very confusing to the Brits who expect numbers to start at the bottom, go across, then the same upwards. At first sight, getting in and out of the lift fast between floors, it looked random.
So, I tell my Chinese friends, Hebrew and Arabic words go from right to left. A Chinese friend of mine was not phased, impressed or surprised. To him, just a fact.
Starting from the right, the letters for the Hebrew name of Magain Aboth, shield of our fathers, the first letter is M. It is a curved letter, a bit like a McDonalds arch.
The vowels are not shown when capital letters are carved onto a building. Think of it as being a bit like text language on a mobile phone. Or Speedwriting. So the next two letter of the first word are G and N. The G is like a G turned around because you are writing in the opposite direction.
The N is the final letter of the word and final letters are either longer or shorter. Think of the English word happily. In the middle of the word we write the i quickly but stick a dot on top to help identify the vowel. Hebrew also has vowels on top, or in the middle, or underneath, to help distinguish them in handwriting, cursive or curved and connected, but may lose the dots and dashes in large or capital letters. The final letter in the English word happily has a curvy tail, a fancy end to the word. Notice fancy and curvy also end with the curvy Y. But the words in and this and cursive and with and middle and final have the short i with the dot in the middle.
The dots for vowels ai and uh and o are missing from the lettering. However like the i under the dot, you can see placeholders for the missing vowels. What looks a bit like a cross is a placeholder for the A or aleph. The second letter of the word is b, as in alphabet (a Greek word, but the Hebrew is nearly the same, aleph, bet). The b is also facing the other way. It has a curve like the lower half of the letter b.
The letter for the vowel O is a bit like the letter i. Finally the letter Th looks a bit like the letters t and h scrunched together. Or, if you prefer, just the h with the fancy feet, like the Italic h with a shortened upright.
Here is the Hebrew alphabet in box form which is half way down the article in Wikipedia.
| Alef | Gimel | Dalet | Zayin | Chet | Tet | Yod | Kaf | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| א | ב | ג | ד | ה | ו | ז | ח | ט | י | כ |
| ך | ||||||||||
| Lamed | Mem | Samech | Ayin | Tsadik | Qof | Resh | Tav | |||
| ל | מ | נ | ס | ע | פ | צ | ק | ר | ש | ת |
| ם | ן | ף | ץ |
About the Author
Angela Lansbury, is a semi-retired travel writer still researching bucket list countries and seeking out the special, unusual, people, places, landmarks, hotels, museums and trails, fabulous foods, recipes, clothes and online souvenir shopping.
Angela Lansbury is a member of Toastmasters International.
Angela Lansbury B A Hons is the author of ten books by regular publishers plus another ten self-published books.
About Angela The Speaker & Trainer
Angela Lansbury is a teacher of English and other languages to Toastmasters clubs and businesses.
Angela has several blogs speeches, comedy and song writing and organizing, writing intermittently, but writes almost daily on these three:
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