The six-pointed star which has come to symbolize the Jewish people is called the Magen David, literally the "Shield of David". The six sides represent six directions – North, South, East, West, up and down. Medieval Jewish texts speak of a magic shield possessed by King David which protected him from his enemies. Tradition suggests that words from Isaiah 11:2, enumerating the six aspects of the divine spirit, were inscribed on the shield in the outer six triangles of the hexagram – the source of the six pointed star.

This important symbol not only resides on the flag of the State of Israel, but also as the symbol of Magen David Adom – the "Red Shield of David" – Israel’s equivalent to the Red Cross. Organized in 1930 by seven Israeli doctors, the operation was a shoestring, one-room emergency medical service. A second MDA group formed in Haifa in 1931 and a third in Jerusalem in 1934. By 1935, Magen David Adom was a national organization responsible for providing medical services to the public and the Hagana, the military arm of pre-state Israel. In July of 1950, the Knesset (Israel’s Parliament) ratified the Magen David Adom Law, which has charged the MDA with responsibility for providing auxiliary service to Israel's Army Medical Corps in wartime, including providing civilian emergency medical and first-aid services and maintaining a blood bank for civilian use.

The MDA currently operates a fleet of over 650 lifesaving vehicles, including 104 in the territories, sixteen of which have been bullet-proofed. Unfortunately, these units have been very busy recently, and after logging nearly 4 million miles each year, the MDA is having to replace the ambulances at a rate of 80 per year due to wear and tear from constant use.

Magen David Adom has been the first responder to hundreds of terrorist attacks during the current intifada. In just one week, March 2-10, MDA responded to 20 terror related events, helping nearly 400 who were wounded and 45 who were fatally wounded. In addition, MDA provides all blood plasma services to Israeli hospitals and the Israeli Defense Forces Medical Service, provides ambulatory services throughout the country – delivering babies and saving heart-attack victims, and provides Emergency Lifesaving Training for civilians, including postal workers, police, firefighters, tour-guides and others. The over 9000 volunteers and employees that make this operation run put their lives in danger each day in order to devotedly and determinedly fulfill their function of saving lives. As it says in the Talmud, "To save one life, it is as if you had saved the world."

To learn more about Magen David Adom, click here.