The Torah describes the High Priest’s breastplate of judgment (choshen mishpat), comprising a gold front plate adorned with 12 precious stones, each representing one of the 12 tribes of Israel.
Rabbeinu Bachya (1255-1340) describes how the colour of each stone reflects a characteristic of one of the tribes (Exodus 28:15). For instance, Reuben’s stone was red to symbolise “the blush on his face” when he confessed to his sin involving his father’s maidservant, Bilhah (Genesis 35:22), whereas the stone of the tribe of Levi, which “glowed like red-hot coal”, represented wisdom.
According to the Zohar, despite the distinct nature of the stones, and the tribes which they represent, on a higher level they form a single stone (Exodus21). This is the meaning of Jacob’s taking “some of the stones of the place” and putting them under his head just before his famous vision (Genesis 28:11).
Tradition holds that these stones became one, the foundation stone of “God’s house” (Genesis 28:22). For the Zohar, all stones become subsumed in the Divine presence, known as the “Stone of Israel” (Genesis 49:24).
