"[This book] is not a study in depth of the growth of Israel's armed forces, nor is it a historical analysis of the military doctrines which those forces developed. It is rather a sketch, a profile of the people and events which moulded first the resistance movement and then the army of the Jewish State"--Author's note.

A study of the evolution of the six-pointed star (in Hebrew, "Magen David" - "the Shield of David") as a Jewish symbol, from the Middle Ages to the present. For antisemitism, see pp. 68-72, "Jewish Hat and Jewish Badge as Distinctive Marks, " and pp. 120-125, "The Shield of David as an Antisemitic Symbol."

Jews first arrived in the New World in 1654, seeking religious freedom. Since the beginning of American nationhood, Jewish volunteers and conscripts fought in the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, on both sides of the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, in both World Wars, and in the Korean, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Over the years, the American military learned to integrate its Jewish servicemen and women by providing Jewish military chaplains, kosher food, religious services, and placing the Star of David on the graves of fallen Jewish soldiers. The end of conscription and the establishment of the All-Volunteer Force in 1973 offered other paths to serve our country. American Jews have contributed with distinction in the arts and sciences, academia, entertainment, government, and in building the economy. For Jews, America is the Goldene Medina—the Golden Country.

The Shield of David is the graphing of points (3x,6y) being (1a); (6x,9y) being (2a); (9x,3y) being (3a); then it is (6x,3y) being (1b); (3x,9y) being (2b); and (9x,6y) being (3b). Being still yet, there is still an important number being the graphed (9x,9y).

When Petros, the leader of the disciples of Joshua, began a secret journey up the Jordan River, he is not certain who he will meet along the way. He does know some of the players of his mission and where to meet them, but does not know the big picture. Then a mysterious hooded person approaches him on the sandy shores of the Dead Sea, more familiar to him than strange. Together they will face the uncertainty of a mission known only to The Shield of David. Author Vidda Crochetta chronicles the greatest story ever told unlike any author before him. The Shield of David is five women who combine their resources and unite to protect a charismatic Galilean populist preacher to save him from himself. The man is more important to them than his mission to challenge the Roman and Jewish authorities who disregard the concerns of ordinary people and support the established elite.

This book is a collection of letters from a religious Jew in Israel to a Christian friend in Barcelona on life as an Orthodox Jew. Equal parts lighthearted and insightful, it's a thorough and entertaining introduction to the basic concepts of Judaism.