How the Star of David came to be added to Meher Baba's emblem

The Temple Menorah has long been the symbol of Judaism. Use of the symbol dates back 3000 years. 

Early representation of the menorah on a Judea coin, 40–37 BC

The symbol associated with Judaism today is the Star of David. The Star of David gained prominence as a Jewish symbol in 14th-century Prague following the rise of Cabalistic Judaism and only became a widespread religious symbol in the 19th century, coinciding with the rise of Jewish Zionism. Today it is the symbol of the state of Israel.

So, how did the symbol of Israel wind up on Meher Baba's emblem? This is that story.

Meher Baba's emblem was not a project that Meher Baba initiated. It was from its inception the product of his followers, beginning with Dr. William Donkin. Dr. Donkin was both a doctor and a very good artist.

Dr. William Donkin & one of his paintings

Donkin traveled with Baba on his mast tours in the 1940s and wrote The Wayfarers chronicling these tours in 1948. He drew the emblem as a frontispiece for his book. A frontispiece is a decorative illustration found near the beginning of a book. 

Below is his original frontispiece from The Wayfarers (1948).

The symbol became a common motif in Baba things. Below it appears on one of Baba's chair cushions used by him.

The Sufis, who edited and published God Speaks, must have liked the symbol as they included it on the cover and as its interior frontispiece when it came out in 1955.

The symbol remained the same in all four printings of the fist edition, 1955, 1967, 1968, & 1970.

But when the 2nd Revised Edition of God Speaks came out in 1973, the frontispiece and cover were different. The Jewish symbol had been added. What accounts for this?

First, some startling facts. Meher Baba designed his tomb when it was constructed in 1938. He had religious symbols carved for the top, one for each corner. They represented Zoroastrianism, Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam. They did not include any Jewish symbol. 

Next, Meher Baba never used the word "Judaism." There are a few possible reasons for this. Ancient Judaism largely ended with the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD, afterward first merging into Christianity, and later the remainder merging into Islam in 600 AD. But more importantly, Judaism is not an Avataric religion. It respects no Avatar. While all six Avatars of this age that Baba spoke of are represented by the symbols atop his tomb: Zoroaster, Ram, Krishna, Buddha, Jesus, and Mohammad (millions of Hindus today accept Gautama Buddha as the ninth avatar of Lord Vishnu). Baba also said that the Jews crucified Christ. "But these Parsis! I feel that when I was Jesus, the Parsis were Jews. The Jews were the cause of my crucifixion." (Lord Meher, 1986 print edition, p. 4675) For these reasons, adding the modern symbol of the Jewish Zionist state to his emblem seems a bit far fetched. Well then, who put it there?

In 1962, a Russian Jewish émigré to America, Vivian Agostini (whose birth name was Ida Losh), and who was living in New York, came and met Meher Baba. Impressed with him, she got the idea to cast a bronze medallion to give away at the 1964 World's Fair in New York. To her medallion she added the Jewish star.

Later, in 1973, the Sufis — apparently liking the inclusion by Agostini — changed the symbol in God Speaks to be in line with it. And still later the new symbol replaced Donkin's original image in The Wayfarers. Donkin had passed away in 1969 so had no say in this.

Therefore, today the symbol usually appears like this: 

Meher Baba never referred to Judaism as a religion, but only to "Jews." We can only guess why. As for being inclusive of other faiths on the emblem, why Judaism? There are more Shintos and Sikhs than Jews in the world. Why exclude them? Why exclude Confucianism? Hundreds of millions of people in China, South Korea, Taiwan, and Vietnam practice Confucian ethics.

In what way is adding the Jewish symbol to Baba's emblem being inclusive, but not these?

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To download a cleaned up original emblem go here.