PEOPLE OF THE LAND
Selections from classical Torah sources
which express the special relationship between
the People of Israel and Eretz Yisrael

YAAKOV -
Laying the Foundation

Both on his way out of Eretz Yisrael before his marriage and during his last years in Egypt, Yaakov always had in mind his responsibility for laying the foundation for the Sanctuaries which his descendants would someday erect.

The stone which Yaakov had set up as a matzeivah (pillar) after sleeping and experiencing a prophetic dream on what would someday become the Temple Mount was, writes Ohr Hachayim, the Even Shetiah (Foundation Stone). This was the stone from which creation of the world began, and upon it would rest the Holy Ark in the Beit Hamikdash.

While in Egypt, Yaakov planted the cedar trees whose wood his descendants would take with them on their way out of bondage to use for the boards of the Mishkan sanctuary.

Yaakov thus laid the foundation for the Sanctuary in which his posterity would serve Hashem on their way to Eretz Yisrael, and for the Beit Hamikdash they would build in Yerushalayim.