On Fri, 22 Jul 2005 03:40:24 UTC, avrum223@verizon.net (Avrum Lapin)
opined:

At 1:00 AM -0500 7/21/05, JewishGen Discussion Group digest wrote:

There is a large Mogen David stained window on a large church (Santa
Crocce) in Florence. The best explanation is that at the time the
church was designed "looks" were more important than being PC and the
architect went for what looked good (You can see a picture on the
cover of Rick Steve's book Italy 2005)

No, the reason for the appearance of the Magen David is not aesthetic,
nor has it anything to do with the absence of "PC". Its representation
in stained glass in Florence is not at all unusual. For example, it
occurs several times on the mosaic dome of the chapel of the Catholic
University of America, in Washington. Catholics will tell you that it
is the symbol of Mary, mother of Jesus (never mind that it became a
Jewish symbol only in the medieval era); it is therefore a
manifestation of Christian triumphalism, of which there are many
others. The Christian cross within the Magen David simply emphasizes
the basic message.

Travellers to Lomza can see another manifestation in one on the
churches near the Stary Rynek (the old market square), where the
tetragrammaton (four-letter name of God) appears on the wall in very
large Hebrew characters. Yet another one is very prominent in Prague,
on the Karlovy Most (Charles Bridge), where there is a large cross
bearing a life-size crucified Jesus, above which is the Hebrew
inscription "Holy. Holy, Holy is the Lord God of Armies" (sic: the
correct translation); this was erected there for the express purpose
of demonstrating to the Jewish population the triumph of Christianiy
over Judaism.

--
Stan Goodman, Qiryat Tiv'on, Israel

Searching:
NEACHOWICZ/NOACHOWICZ, NEJMAN/NAJMAN, SURALSKI: >from Lomza Gubernia
ISMACH: >from Lomza Gubernia, Galicia, and Ukraina
HERTANU, ABRAMOVICI, LAUER: >from Dorohoi District, Romania
GRISARU, VATARU: >from Iasi, Dorohoi, and Mileanca, Romania

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