As Jacob flees from his brother Esau, he arrives at a place that would later become known as Beth El (House of God). The biblical text presents us with an intriguing detail that might easily be missed by casual readers. When Jacob prepares for sleep, the verse states, “He took from the stones of the place and put them around his head” (Genesis 28:11). However, when he awakes the next morning after his famous dream of angels ascending and descending a ladder, the text reads:
While some translate even the first verse as singular, the sages interpreted it differently, noting the subtle shift from plural to singular—from “stones” to “stone.” According to their tradition, something remarkable happened during that fateful night. As Jacob gathered stones to protect himself from wild animals, the stones began to quarrel among themselves. Each stone insisted, “Let the righteous one lay his head upon me!” Their competition grew until God intervened, miraculously merging all the stones into a single stone.
But why would such a miracle be necessary? What deeper meaning lies beneath this seemingly simple tale of competing rocks?
Rabbi Yehuda Amital answers this question by referring to a second comment of the sages:
“Rabbi Yehuda said: He took twelve stones – in accordance with God’s decree that he would father twelve tribes. [Jacob] said, ‘Abraham did not establish [the twelve tribes]; Isaac did not establish them; what of me? If these twelve stones join together, I will know that I will father twelve tribes.’ When the twelve stones joined together, he knew that he would establish the twelve tribes.” (Bereishit Rabba 68, 11)
According to Rabbi Amital, we can understand the first comment of the sages in light of the second one. Jacob knew he had a pivotal role in Jewish history. As the father of the twelve tribes of Israel, his challenge wasn’t merely to establish a family, but to forge a nation that could unite diverse strengths and characteristics into a harmonious whole. Each future tribe would bring its unique gifts: some would be scholars, others warriors, merchants, or farmers. Like the arguing stones, each one would want their “father’s head to rest on them,” each would claim primacy, insisting that their particular strength should be central to the nation’s identity.
The miracle of the unified stone served as a divine message to Jacob: yes, he would be the father of the twelve tribes, and yes, it was possible to build a nation incorporating different, sometimes competing elements. Just as the separate stones merged into one, the future tribes of Israel could form a unified people while preserving their distinct characteristics.
This message carries particular resonance in our modern world, where societies often struggle with questions of unity amid diversity. How do we maintain cohesion while celebrating differences? How do we build communities that are both unified and diverse?
The story of Jacob’s stones suggests that true unity doesn’t require uniformity. Rather, it comes from recognizing that our different strengths and perspectives, when properly aligned, create something greater than the sum of their parts. Like those ancient stones that became one, we too can find ways to unite while maintaining our unique contributions to the whole.
As Jacob went on to establish the twelve tribes of Israel, he carried with him this lesson from that transformative night at Beth El. The single stone that had once been many became a monument not just to his famous dream, but to the possibility of achieving unity through diversity—a message that remains as relevant today as it was in biblical times.
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