# Foundation Stone

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Not to be confused with [Cornerstone](/source/Cornerstone).

The **Foundation Stone** (Hebrew: אֶבֶן הַשְּׁתִיָּה, *ʾEḇen haŠeṯīyyā*, lit. 'Foundation Stone'), or the **Noble Rock** (Arabic: الصخرة المشرفة, *al-Saḵrah al-Mušarrafah*, lit. 'The Noble Stone'), is the rock at the center of the [Dome of the Rock](/source/Dome_of_the_Rock) in [Jerusalem](/source/Jerusalem). It is also known as the **Pierced Stone**, because it has a small hole on the southeastern corner that enters a cavern beneath the rock, known as the [Well of Souls](/source/Well_of_Souls).

Traditional Jewish sources mention the stone as the place from which the creation of the world began. Classical Jewish sources also identify its location with that of the [Holy of Holies](/source/Holy_of_Holies).[1][2]

## Location

The rock is located towards the centre of the [Temple Mount](/source/Temple_Mount), at the top of Jerusalem's Old City southern hill. The current shape is the result of an expansion by [Herod the Great](/source/Herod_the_Great) on top of vaults over a [summit](/source/Summit) called [Mount Moriah](/source/Moriah) which three millennia ago was the highest elevation in early Jerusalem's proximity to the [City of David](/source/City_of_David_(historic)).[citation needed]

Early Muslim writings argue that the [Dome of the Rock](/source/Dome_of_the_Rock), completed in 691, is the site of the [Holy of Holies](/source/Holy_of_Holies) and therefore the location of the Foundation Stone. The [history](/source/History_of_the_Prophets_and_Kings) by the 9th-century writer [al-Tabari](/source/Al-Tabari) has [Kaʿb al-Aḥbār](/source/Ka%CA%BFb_al-A%E1%B8%A5b%C4%81r), a Jewish convert to Islam, asking the caliph [Umar](/source/Umar) to build a mosque over the rock, to which Umar responds, "O Ka'b, you are imitating the Jewish religion!" Al-Tabari then identifies the rock with the place where the Romans had "buried the temple (*bayt al-maqdis*) at the time of the sons of Israel."[3] *[Pirqe de-Rabbi Eliezer](/source/Pirke_De-Rabbi_Eliezer)* (9th century) also wrote: "[Rabbi Ishmael](/source/Rabbi_Ishmael) said: In the future, the sons of [Ishmael](/source/Ishmael) (the Arabs) will do fifteen things in the [Land of Israel](/source/Land_of_Israel) [...] They will fence in the breaches of the walls of the Temple and construct a building on the site of the sanctuary."[4]

Jewish sources have debated the precise location of the rock. [Benjamin of Tudela](/source/Benjamin_of_Tudela) wrote (c. 1170) that the site was in front of the Dome, on the site of the Western Wall.[5] The *Travels of [Petachia of Ratisbon](/source/Petachiah_of_Regensburg)*,[6] c. 1180, and *Travels of a Student of the [Ramban](/source/Nachmanides)*[7] (c. 1400) state that "on the Temple Mount stands a beautiful sanctuary which an Arab king built long ago, over the place of the [Temple](/source/Temple_in_Jerusalem) sanctuary and courtyard." [Obadiah Bartenura](/source/Obadiah_ben_Abraham_Bartenura) says in a 1488 letter from Jerusalem that "I sought the Foundation Stone [which marks] the former place of the [Ark of the Covenant](/source/Ark_of_the_Covenant), and many told me that it is beneath a tall and beautiful dome which the Arabs built in the Temple, but the space beneath this dome is secured, such that no man may come to it, viz. to the place of the Foundation Stone, for the dome is very large."[8] [David ben Solomon ibn Abi Zimra](/source/David_ben_Solomon_ibn_Abi_Zimra) was convinced (c. 1570) that "under the dome [on the Temple Mount] – there is the Foundation Stone, undoubtedly – which the Arabs call *al-Sakrah*".[9]

Other sources, operating under the belief that the [Southern Wall](/source/Southern_Wall) of the Temple Mount as it stood in their time was the Southern Wall of the Biblical era, argued that the measurements given in the [Talmud](/source/Talmud) do not reconcile.[10] The Holy of Holies ends up being too far north and they therefore locate the Foundation Stone as being directly opposite the current exposed section of the [Western Wall](/source/Western_Wall), where no building currently stands. This is the view of [Isaac Luria](/source/Isaac_Luria)[11] and the [Maharsha](/source/Maharsha),[12] who state the prophecy that "[Zion](/source/Zion) will become a ploughed field" indicates that no dwelling will be established there until the time of the [Redemption](/source/Redemption_(theology)). It therefore follows that the footprint of the Temple courtyard and Holy of Holies is situated in the unbuilt area between the Dome of the Rock and [al-Aqsa Mosque](/source/Qibli_Mosque).[13]

Some believe the position is north of the Dome of the Rock, opposite the [Gate of Mercy](/source/Golden_Gate_(Jerusalem)), which [Immanuel Hai Ricchi](/source/Immanuel_Hai_Ricchi)[14] identifies as the Shushan Gate mentioned in the [Talmud](/source/Talmud). This gate was described as being opposite the opening of the sanctuary.[15]

Modern Jewish academics list four possible locations of the Foundation Stone:[16]

1. The stone that was located beneath the Ark of the Covenant is the one under the Dome of the Rock.[17]
1. The stone that was located beneath the altar is now the one that is under the Dome of the Rock.[18]
1. The stone that was located beneath the Ark of the Covenant is now near El Kas fountain to the South of the Dome of the Rock.[13]
1. The stone that was located beneath the Ark of the Covenant is now inside the [Spirits Dome](/source/Dome_of_the_Spirits) situated to the north of the Dome of the Rock.[15]

## Description

Although the rock is part of the surrounding 90 million-year-old, Upper [Turonian](/source/Turonian) Stage, [Late Cretaceous](/source/Late_Cretaceous) [karsted](/source/Karst) [limestone](/source/Meleke),[citation needed] the southern side forms a ledge, with a gap between it and the surrounding ground; a set of steps currently uses this gap to provide access from the Dome of the Rock to the Well of Souls beneath it.

Archaeologist [Leen Ritmeyer](/source/Leen_Ritmeyer) reported that there are sections of the rock cut completely flat, which north-to-south have a width of 6 [cubits](/source/Cubit),[19] precisely the width that the [Mishnah](/source/Mishnah) credits to the wall of the Holy of Holies.[20] According to Ritmeyer, a rectangular rock-cutting he discovered on the Foundation Stone marks the location where the [Ark of the Covenant](/source/Ark_of_the_Covenant) stood within the Holy of Holies.[21] Ritmeyer's analysis was welcomed among biblical archeologists; however, scholars stated that this theory cannot be actually verified.[22]

The rock has several artificial cuts in its surface generally attributed to the [Crusaders](/source/Crusades), whose frequent damage to the rock was so severe that the [Christian kings of Jerusalem](/source/Kingdom_of_Jerusalem) placed a protective marble slab over the rock. The marble slab was removed after Jerusalem had been taken over by [Saladin](/source/Saladin) in [1187](/source/1187).[citation needed]

Measuring the flat surface as the position of the southern wall of a square enclosure, the west and north sides of which are formed by the low clean-cut *scarp* at these edges of the rock, at the position of the hypothetical centre is a rectangular cut in the rock that is about 2.5 cubits (min. 120.4 cm SI) long and 1.5 cubits (min. 72.24 cm SI) wide, which are the dimensions of the Ark of the Covenant (according to the [Book of Exodus](/source/Book_of_Exodus)).[23]

The Mishnah[24] gives the height of the rock as three thumb-breadths (min. 6 cm SI) above the ground. Radbaz[25] discusses the apparent contradiction of the Mishnah's measurements and the actual measurement of the rock within the Dome he estimates as a "height of two men" above the ground. He concluded that many changes in the natural configuration of the Temple Mount have taken place which can be attributed to excavations made by the various occupiers of Jerusalem since the [Second Temple](/source/Second_Temple) construction.

## Jewish significance

Main article: [Temple in Jerusalem](/source/Temple_in_Jerusalem)

The Mishnah in tractate [Yoma](/source/Yoma)[26] mentions a stone situated in the Holy of Holies that was called *Shetiya* and had been revealed by the early prophets (i.e. David and [Samuel](/source/Samuel)).[27]

An early [Christian](/source/Christians) source noting Jewish attachment to the rock may be found in the *[Itinerarium Burdigalense](/source/Itinerarium_Burdigalense)*, written between 333 and 334 CE when Jerusalem was under [Roman](/source/Roman_Empire) rule, which describes a "perforated stone to which the Jews come every year and anoint it, bewail themselves with groans, rend their garments, and so depart."[28]

According to the sages of the Talmud,[29] it was from this rock that the world was created, itself being the first part of the Earth to come into existence.[30] According to the Talmud, it was close to the Foundation Stone, on the site of the altar, that God gathered the earth that was formed into [Adam](/source/Adam). It was on this rock that Adam—and later [Cain and Abel](/source/Cain_and_Abel) and [Noah](/source/Noah)—offered sacrifices to God. Jewish sources identify this rock as the place of the [Binding of Isaac](/source/Binding_of_Isaac) mentioned in the [Bible](/source/Bible), where [Abraham](/source/Abraham) fulfilled God's test to see if he would be willing to sacrifice his son. The mountain is identified as Moriah in Genesis 22. It is also identified as the rock upon which [Jacob](/source/Jacob) dreamt about angels ascending and descending on a ladder and consequently consecrating and offering a sacrifice upon.[31]

The Roman-era [midrash](/source/Midrash) *[Tanhuma](/source/Tanhuma)*[1] sums up the centrality of and holiness of the site in Judaism:

As the navel is set in the centre of the human body, so is the land of Israel the navel of the world... situated in the centre of the world, and Jerusalem in the centre of the land of Israel, and the sanctuary in the centre of Jerusalem, and the holy place in the centre of the sanctuary, and the ark in the centre of the holy place, and the Foundation Stone before the holy place, because from it the world was founded.

When, according to the Bible, King [David](/source/David) purchased a threshing floor owned by [Araunah](/source/Araunah) the [Jebusite](/source/Jebusite),[32] it is believed that it was upon this rock that he offered the sacrifice mentioned in the verse. He wanted to construct a permanent temple there, but as his hands were "bloodied", he was forbidden to do so himself. The task was left to his son [Solomon](/source/Solomon), who completed [the Temple](/source/Solomon's_Temple) in c. 950 BCE.

*[Toledot Yeshu](/source/Toledot_Yeshu)* reports that "It was called *Shetiyya* because God placed it there (שת אותה יה; cf. *Zohar*, Vayechi 43), and this is the stone which [Jacob](/source/Jacob) libated with wine. On it were written the letters of the [Explicit Name](/source/Shem_HaMephorash), and anyone who knew them could perform magic to his heart's desire. The Sages feared lest youths obtain the Name and destroy the world, so they set two iron hounds at the gate, which would bark at any comer to cause him to forget what he had learned. In the words of the *[Zohar](/source/Zohar)*, "The world was not created until God took a stone called *Even haShetiya* and threw it into the depths where it was fixed from above till below, and from it the world expanded. It is the centre point of the world and on this spot stood the Holy of Holies."

### Role in the Temple

Situated inside the Holy of Holies, the Foundation Stone is believed to have been the rock upon which the Ark of the Covenant was placed in Solomon's Temple.[33] During the [Second Temple](/source/Second_Temple) period when the Ark of the Covenant was not present, the stone was used by the High Priest who offered up the incense and sprinkled the blood of the sacrifices on it during the annual [Yom Kippur](/source/Yom_Kippur) service.

### Commemoration in Jewish law

The [Jerusalem Talmud](/source/Jerusalem_Talmud) states:

Women are accustomed not to prepare or attach [warp](/source/Warp_and_weft) threads to a weaving [loom](/source/Loom) from [Rosh Chodesh](/source/Rosh_Chodesh) [Av](/source/Av_(month)) onwards (till after [Tisha B'Av](/source/Tisha_B'Av)), because during the month of Av the Foundation Stone [and the Temple] was destroyed.[34]

Citing this, the *[Mishnah Berurah](/source/Mishnah_Berurah)*[35] rules that not only are women not to prepare or attach warp threads to a weaving [loom](/source/Loom), but it is forbidden for anyone to make, buy or wear new clothes or shoes from the beginning of the week in which Tisha B'Av falls until after the fast, and that people should ideally not do so from the beginning of Av. This period is known as [The Nine Days](/source/The_Nine_Days).

In further commemoration of the Foundation Stone, it is also forbidden to eat meat or drink wine from the beginning of the week in which Tisha B'av falls until after the fast. Some have the custom to refrain from these foodstuffs from Rosh Chodesh Av, while others do so from the [Seventeenth of Tammuz](/source/Seventeenth_of_Tammuz).[36]

### Liturgical references

In the days when [Selichot](/source/Selichot) are recited, in the days leading up to [Rosh Hashanah](/source/Rosh_Hashanah) until [Yom Kippur](/source/Yom_Kippur), the supplications include the following references:

טענתנו גפי קרת נתונים, ישבתנו שן סלע איתנים

רבוצה עליו אבן שתית חטובים ...שמה בתוך לפני מזיב מאשנבים

During [Sukkot](/source/Sukkot), the following references to the Foundation Stone are mentioned in the [Hoshanot](/source/Sukkot#Prayers) recital:

הושענא! – אבן שתיה – הושענא

הושענא! – תאדרנו באבן תלולה – הושענא

## Islamic significance

The [Masjid al-Haram](/source/Masjid_al-Haram) in [Mecca](/source/Mecca), is the place according to the [Quran](/source/Quran) from where Muslims believe [Muhammad](/source/Muhammad) began his [Night Journey and Ascension](/source/Isra_and_Mi'raj), the miraculous journey from Al-Masjid al-Haram in [Mecca](/source/Mecca) to Al-Masjid al-Aqsa in [Jerusalem](/source/Jerusalem).[[Quran Sura Isra]. The qibla (direction of prayer) was still toward Al-Masjid al-Aqsa in [Jerusalem](/source/Jerusalem). The rock is revered but not worshipped. So the dome marks and protects a site connected to one of Islam’s most important spiritual narratives. To Muslims, the [Dome of the Rock](/source/Dome_of_the_Rock) in Al Haram Al Sharif/[Noble Sanctuary](/source/Noble_Sanctuary) in [Jerusalem](/source/Jerusalem) is honored because of its connection to sacred events, not because the rock possesses divine power. [37]

[Tawfiq Canaan](/source/Tawfiq_Canaan), in 1922, recorded a local tradition that describes four living waters flowing from under the rock. To the south: Hammam esh-Shifa, to the east: Siloam, to the north: 'En Haddji and En Qashleh, and to the west: Hammam es-Sultan.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Canaan |first=Tawfiq |title=Studies in Palestinian Customs and Folklore |publisher=The Palestine Oriental Society |year=1922 |location=Jerusalem, Palestine]

## See also

- [List of individual rocks](/source/List_of_individual_rocks)
- [Axis mundi](/source/Axis_mundi)
- [Black Stone](/source/Black_Stone)
- [Jerusalem in Islam](/source/Jerusalem_in_Islam)
- [Jerusalem in Judaism](/source/Jerusalem_in_Judaism)
- [Mount Gerizim](/source/Mount_Gerizim)
- [Baetylus](/source/Baetylus)

## References

1. [t.](/source/Tosefta) [Yoma](/source/Yoma) 2:12; [y.](/source/Jerusalem_Talmud) Yoma 5:3; [b.](/source/Talmud) Yoma 54b; [PdRK](/source/Pesikta_de-Rav_Kahana) 26:4; [Lev. R.](/source/Leviticus_Rabbah) 20:4.

1. [m.](/source/Mishnah) [Yoma](/source/Yoma) 5:2.

1. *The History of al-Tabari*, vol. XII, Albany, New York: State University of New York Press 2007, pp. 194–195.

1. ["Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 30:12"](https://www.sefaria.org/Pirkei_DeRabbi_Eliezer.30.12). *www.sefaria.org*. Retrieved 2022-02-10.

1. The Itinerary of Benjamin of Tudela: Travels in the Middle Ages; (English translation originally published by Joseph Simon/Pangloss Press in 1993, ISBN 0-934710-07-4).

1. A. Benisch, Travels of Petachia of Ratisbon (with English translation), London, England, 1856. pp. 60–61.

1. ["HebrewBooks.org Sefer Detail: מסעות ארץ ישראל – יערי, אברהם, 1899–1966"](https://hebrewbooks.org/36832). *hebrewbooks.org*. p. 81ff. Retrieved 2022-02-10.

1. Avraham Ya'ari, *Igrot Eretz Yisrael*, Ramat Gan 1971. p. 134.

1. ["Teshuvot HaRadbaz Volume 2 691:2"](https://www.sefaria.org/Teshuvot_HaRadbaz_Volume_2.691.2). *www.sefaria.org*. Retrieved 2022-02-10.

1. Rav [Ishtori Haparchi](/source/Ishtori_Haparchi) (14th Century), *Kaftor VeFerach*, Provence, France.

1. *Emek HaMelech*, Preface, paragraph 9.

1. [Maharsha](/source/Maharsha), end of [Makkot](/source/Makkot).

1. ["Fig. 6. The Southern System (237 K)"](http://www.templemount.org/graphics/Fig6.html). Templemount.org. Retrieved 13 October 2014.

1. [Immanuel Hai Ricchi](/source/Immanuel_Hai_Ricchi), *Aderet Eliyahu.*

1. ["Fig. 5. The Northern System (63K)"](http://www.templemount.org/graphics/Fig5.html). Templemount.org. Retrieved 13 October 2014.

1. ["The Hidden Secrets of the Temple Mount"](http://www.templemount.org/tempmt.html). Templemount.org. Retrieved 13 October 2014.

1. ["Fig 4 The Middle System (124 K)"](http://www.templemount.org/graphics/Fig4.html). Templemount.org. Retrieved 13 October 2014.

1. ["Fig. 3. The Central System (42 K)"](http://www.templemount.org/graphics/Fig3.html). Templemount.org. Retrieved 13 October 2014.

1. [Ritmeyer, Leen](/source/Leen_Ritmeyer), The Quest (2006), pp. 263–268.

1. Tractate [Middot](/source/Middot_(Talmud)) 4.7.

1. Ritmeyer, Leen (1996). ["The Ark of the Covenant: Where It Stood in Solomon's Temple"](https://www.baslibrary.org/biblical-archaeology-review/22/1/5). *Biblical Archaeology Review*. **22** (1)

1. ["Archaeologist says he knows where Ark of Covenant stood"](https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1996/01/06/archaeologist-says-he-knows-where-ark-of-covenant-stood/). *Tampa Bay Times*. Retrieved 2022-04-21.

1. Mishnah, [Yoma](/source/Yoma) 5:3.

1. [Radbaz](/source/David_ben_Solomon_ibn_Abi_Zimra), [Responsa](/source/Responsa) 639.

1. Tractate Yoma 5:2.

1. Tractate [Sotah](/source/Sotah) 48b.

1. ["Bordeaux Pilgrim – Text: 7a. Jerusalem (first part)"](https://web.archive.org/web/20070204134058/http://www.christusrex.org/www1/ofm/pilgr/bord/10Bord07aJerus.html#590). Christusrex.org. Archived from [the original](http://www.christusrex.org/www1/ofm/pilgr/bord/10Bord07aJerus.html#590) on 4 February 2007. Retrieved 13 October 2014.

1. Tractate [Yoma](/source/Yoma) 54b.

1. [Vayechi](/source/Vayechi) 1:231.

1. [Rashi](/source/Rashi), Genesis 28:11.

1. ,

1. [Zohar](/source/Zohar) [Vayechi](/source/Vayechi) 1:231; [Midrash](/source/Midrash) [Tanchuma](/source/Tanchuma) [Acharei](/source/Acharei) Ch.3 (see *Etz Yosef* commentary); [Maimonides](/source/Maimonides), Beis HaBechirah 4:1.

1. [Jerusalem Talmud](/source/Jerusalem_Talmud), [Pesachim](/source/Pesachim) 4:1. Aramaic text: "נשייא דנהגן דלא למי שתייה עמרא מן דאב עליל מנהג – שבו פסקה אבן שתייה".

1. [Mishnah Berurah](/source/Mishnah_Berurah), 551:7, 8.

1. This is derived from the fact that another version of the same piece of Talmud reads: "למישתייה חמרא" "(to refrain) from drinking wine". This follows the version recorded by [Hai Gaon](/source/Hai_Gaon). It is brought down by the *Kolbo, [Halakha](/source/Halakha) [Tisha B'Av](/source/Tisha_B'Av)*, and *[Machzor Vitri](/source/Machzor_Vitri)* 263.

1. ["Sahih Bukhari Hadith Volume 5, Book 58, Number 226"](https://web.archive.org/web/20170425165314/http://www.usc.edu/org/cmje/religious-texts/hadith/bukhari/058-sbt.php#005.058.226). Archived from [the original](http://www.usc.edu/org/cmje/religious-texts/hadith/bukhari/058-sbt.php#005.058.226) on 2017-04-25. Retrieved 2013-10-08.

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