View source for Foundation Stone

{{Short description|Rock at centre of the Dome of the Rock shrine}}
{{Other uses|Cornerstone (disambiguation)}}
[[File:The rock of the Dome of the Rock Corrected.jpg|upright=1.3|thumbnail|right|The Foundation Stone in the floor of the [[Dome of the Rock]] shrine in [[Jerusalem]]. The round hole at upper left penetrates to a small cave, known as the [[Well of Souls]], below. The cage-like structure just beyond the hole covers the stairway entrance to the cave (south is towards the top of the image).]]
[[File:Bottom of the Foundation Stone.jpg|upright=1.3|thumbnail|The bottom of the Foundation Stone, photo taken from the [[Well of Souls]]]]
The '''Foundation Stone''' ({{langx|he|אֶבֶן הַשְּׁתִיָּה|translit=ʾEḇen haŠeṯīyyā|lit=Foundation Stone}}), or the '''Noble Rock''' ({{langx|ar|الصخرة المشرفة|translit=al-Saḵrah al-Mušarrafah|lit=The Noble Stone}}) is the rock at the center of the [[Dome of the Rock]] in [[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]].

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]].<ref name=tanhuma /><ref>[[Mishnah|m.]] [[Yoma]] 5:2.</ref>

==Location==
The rock is located towards the centre of the [[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]] on top of vaults over a [[summit]] called [[Moriah|Mount Moriah]] which three millennia ago was the highest elevation in early Jerusalem's proximity to the [[City of David (historic)|City of David]].{{citation needed|date=October 2016}}

Early Muslim writings argue that the [[Dome of the Rock]], completed in 691, is the site of the [[Holy of Holies]] and therefore the location of the Foundation Stone. The [[History of the Prophets and Kings|history]] by the 9th-century writer [[al-Tabari]] has [[Kaʿb al-Aḥbār]], a Jewish convert to Islam, asking the caliph [[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 ({{transliteration|ar|bayt al-maqdis}}) at the time of the sons of Israel."<ref>''The History of al-Tabari'', vol. XII, Albany, New York: State University of New York Press 2007, pp. 194–195.</ref> ''[[Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer|Pirqe de-Rabbi Eliezer]]'' (9th century) also wrote: "[[Rabbi Ishmael]] said: In the future, the sons of [[Ishmael]] (the Arabs) will do fifteen things in the [[Land of Israel]]{{nbsp}}[...] They will fence in the breaches of the walls of the Temple and construct a building on the site of the sanctuary."<ref>{{Cite web|title=Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 30:12|url=https://www.sefaria.org/Pirkei_DeRabbi_Eliezer.30.12|access-date=2022-02-10|website=www.sefaria.org}}</ref>

Jewish sources have debated the precise location of the rock. [[Benjamin of Tudela]] wrote ({{c.|1170}}) that the site was in front of the Dome, on the site of the Western Wall.<ref>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}}).</ref> The ''Travels of [[Petachiah of Regensburg|Petachia of Ratisbon]]'',<ref>A. Benisch, Travels of Petachia of Ratisbon (with English translation), London, England, 1856. pp. 60–61.</ref> {{c.|1180}}, and ''Travels of a Student of the [[Nachmanides|Ramban]]''<ref>{{Cite web |title=HebrewBooks.org Sefer Detail: מסעות ארץ ישראל – יערי, אברהם, 1899–1966 |url=https://hebrewbooks.org/36832 |access-date=2022-02-10 |website=hebrewbooks.org |page=81ff}}</ref> ({{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 in Jerusalem|Temple]] sanctuary and courtyard." [[Obadiah ben Abraham Bartenura|Obadiah 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]], 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."<ref>Avraham Ya'ari, ''Igrot Eretz Yisrael'', Ramat Gan 1971. p. 134.</ref> [[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 {{transliteration|ar|al-Sakrah}}".<ref>{{Cite web|title=Teshuvot HaRadbaz Volume 2 691:2|url=https://www.sefaria.org/Teshuvot_HaRadbaz_Volume_2.691.2|access-date=2022-02-10|website=www.sefaria.org}}</ref>

Other sources, operating under the belief that the [[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]] do not reconcile.<ref>Rav [[Ishtori Haparchi]] (14th Century), ''Kaftor VeFerach'', Provence, France.</ref> 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]], where no building currently stands. This is the view of [[Isaac Luria]]<ref>''Emek HaMelech'', Preface, paragraph 9.</ref> and the [[Maharsha]],<ref>[[Maharsha]], end of [[Makkot]].</ref> who state the prophecy that "[[Zion]] will become a ploughed field" indicates that no dwelling will be established there until the time of the [[Redemption (theology)|Redemption]]. 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 [[Qibli Mosque|al-Aqsa Mosque]].<ref name="auto">{{cite web|url=http://www.templemount.org/graphics/Fig6.html|title=Fig. 6. The Southern System (237 K)|publisher=Templemount.org|access-date=13 October 2014}}</ref>

Some believe the position is north of the Dome of the Rock, opposite the [[Golden Gate (Jerusalem)|Gate of Mercy]], which [[Immanuel Hai Ricchi]]<ref>[[Immanuel Hai Ricchi]], ''Aderet Eliyahu.''</ref> identifies as the Shushan Gate mentioned in the [[Talmud]]. This gate was described as being opposite the opening of the sanctuary.<ref name="auto1">{{cite web|url=http://www.templemount.org/graphics/Fig5.html|title=Fig. 5. The Northern System (63K)|publisher=Templemount.org|access-date=13 October 2014}}</ref>

Modern Jewish academics list four possible locations of the Foundation Stone:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.templemount.org/tempmt.html|title=The Hidden Secrets of the Temple Mount|publisher=Templemount.org|access-date=13 October 2014}}</ref>

#The stone that was located beneath the Ark of the Covenant is the one under the Dome of the Rock.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.templemount.org/graphics/Fig4.html|title=Fig 4 The Middle System (124 K)|publisher=Templemount.org|access-date=13 October 2014}}</ref>
#The stone that was located beneath the altar is now the one that is under the Dome of the Rock.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.templemount.org/graphics/Fig3.html|title=Fig. 3. The Central System (42 K)|publisher=Templemount.org|access-date=13 October 2014}}</ref>
#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.<ref name="auto"/>
#The stone that was located beneath the Ark of the Covenant is now inside the [[Dome of the Spirits|Spirits Dome]] situated to the north of the Dome of the Rock.<ref name="auto1"/>

==Description==
[[File:The Holy Rock, Jerusalem.jpg|thumb|1859 watercolor of the Foundation Stone by [[Carl Haag]]]]

Although the rock is part of the surrounding 90{{nbsp}}million-year-old, Upper [[Turonian]] Stage, [[Late Cretaceous]] [[karst]]ed [[Meleke|limestone]],{{Citation needed|date = October 2015}} 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]] reported that there are sections of the rock cut completely flat, which north-to-south have a width of 6 [[cubit]]s,<ref>[[Leen Ritmeyer|Ritmeyer, Leen]], The Quest (2006), pp. 263–268.</ref> precisely the width that the [[Mishnah]] credits to the wall of the Holy of Holies.<ref>Tractate [[Middot (Talmud)|Middot]] 4.7.</ref> According to Ritmeyer, a rectangular rock-cutting he discovered on the Foundation Stone marks the location where the [[Ark of the Covenant]] stood within the Holy of Holies.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Ritmeyer |first=Leen |title=The Ark of the Covenant: Where It Stood in Solomon's Temple |url=https://www.baslibrary.org/biblical-archaeology-review/22/1/5 |journal=Biblical Archaeology Review |publication-date=1996 |volume=22 |issue=1 |quote=}}</ref> Ritmeier's analysis was welcomed among biblical archeologists; however, scholars stated that this theory cannot be actually verified.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Archaeologist says he knows where Ark of Covenant stood |url=https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1996/01/06/archaeologist-says-he-knows-where-ark-of-covenant-stood/ |access-date=2022-04-21 |website=Tampa Bay Times |language=en}}</ref>
[[File:Temple area, Mosque of Omar (i.e., Dome of the Rock), etc. Rock Moriah, from the south LOC matpc.23162.jpg|thumb|Picture of the Foundation Stone taken in the second half of the 20th century]]

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

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&nbsp;cm SI) long and 1.5 cubits (min. 72.24&nbsp;cm SI) wide, which are the dimensions of the Ark of the Covenant (according to the [[Book of Exodus]]).<ref>{{bibleverse|Exodus|25:10|HE}}</ref>

The Mishnah<ref>Mishnah, [[Yoma]] 5:3.</ref> gives the height of the rock as three thumb-breadths (min. 6&nbsp;cm SI) above the ground. Radbaz<ref>[[David ben Solomon ibn Abi Zimra|Radbaz]], [[Responsa]] 639.</ref> 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]] construction.

==Jewish significance==
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[Image:Even shetiya.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Postcard depicting the Foundation Stone, c1925.]] -->
{{Main|Temple in Jerusalem}}

The Mishnah in tractate [[Yoma]]<ref>Tractate Yoma 5:2.</ref> mentions a stone situated in the Holy of Holies that was called {{transliteration|he|Shetiya}} and had been revealed by the early prophets (i.e. David and [[Samuel]]).<ref>Tractate [[Sotah]] 48b.</ref>

An early [[Christians|Christian]] source noting Jewish attachment to the rock may be found in the {{lang|la|[[Itinerarium Burdigalense]]}}, written between 333 and 334 CE when Jerusalem was under [[Roman Empire|Roman]] 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."<ref>{{cite web |title=Bordeaux Pilgrim – Text: 7a. Jerusalem (first part) |url=http://www.christusrex.org/www1/ofm/pilgr/bord/10Bord07aJerus.html#590 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070204134058/http://www.christusrex.org/www1/ofm/pilgr/bord/10Bord07aJerus.html#590 |archive-date=4 February 2007 |access-date=13 October 2014 |publisher=Christusrex.org}}</ref>

According to the sages of the Talmud,<ref>Tractate [[Yoma]] 54b.</ref> it was from this rock that the world was created, itself being the first part of the Earth to come into existence.<ref>[[Vayechi]] 1:231.</ref> 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]]. It was on this rock that Adam—and later [[Cain and Abel]] and [[Noah]]—offered sacrifices to God. Jewish sources identify this rock as the place of the [[Binding of Isaac]] mentioned in the [[Bible]], where [[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]] dreamt about angels ascending and descending on a ladder and consequently consecrating and offering a sacrifice upon.<ref>[[Rashi]], Genesis 28:11.</ref>

The Roman-era [[midrash]] {{transliteration|he|[[Tanhuma]]}}<ref name="tanhuma">[[Tosefta|t.]] [[Yoma]] 2:12; [[Jerusalem Talmud|y.]] Yoma 5:3; [[Talmud|b.]] Yoma 54b; [[Pesikta de-Rav Kahana|PdRK]] 26:4; [[Leviticus Rabbah|Lev. R.]] 20:4.</ref> sums up the centrality of and holiness of the site in Judaism:{{poemquote|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]] purchased a threshing floor owned by [[Araunah]] the [[Jebusite]],<ref>{{bibleverse|1 Chronicles|21:25|HE}}, {{bibleverse|2 Samuel|24:18–25|HE}}</ref> 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]], who completed [[Solomon's Temple|the Temple]] in {{c.|950 BCE}}.

[[Toledot Yeshu|''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]] libated with wine. On it were written the letters of the [[Shem HaMephorash|Explicit Name]], 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. But [[Jesus]] wrote the Name on parchment, cut open his thigh, and hid it beneath his skin. The dogs barked at him and caused him to forget the Name, but later he retrieved the parchment from his thigh and relearned it."<ref>{{Cite web |title=Das Leben Jesu nach jüdischen Quellen / herausgegeben und erläutert von Samuel Krauss |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044015698889&seq=65 |access-date=2025-02-26 |website=HathiTrust |pages=40-41 |language=he}}</ref> In the words of the {{transliteration|he|[[Zohar]]}}, "The world was not created until God took a stone called {{transliteration|he|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.<ref>[[Zohar]] [[Vayechi]] 1:231; [[Midrash]] [[Tanchuma]] [[Acharei]] Ch.3 (see ''Etz Yosef'' commentary); [[Maimonides]], Beis HaBechirah 4:1.</ref> During the [[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]] service.

===Commemoration in Jewish law===
The [[Jerusalem Talmud]] states:

{{blockquote|Women are accustomed not to prepare or attach [[warp and weft|warp]] threads to a weaving [[loom]] from [[Rosh Chodesh]] [[Av (month)|Av]] onwards (till after [[Tisha B'Av]]), because during the month of Av the Foundation Stone [and the Temple] was destroyed.<ref>[[Jerusalem Talmud]], [[Pesachim]] 4:1. Aramaic text: "נשייא דנהגן דלא למי שתייה עמרא מן דאב עליל מנהג – שבו פסקה אבן שתייה".</ref>}}

Citing this, the {{transliteration|he|[[Mishnah Berurah]]}}<ref>[[Mishnah Berurah]], 551:7, 8.</ref> rules that not only are women not to prepare or attach warp threads to a weaving [[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]].

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]].<ref>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]]. It is brought down by the ''Kolbo, [[Halakha]] [[Tisha B'Av]]'', and ''[[Machzor Vitri]]'' 263.</ref>

===Liturgical references===
In the days when [[Selichot]] are recited, in the days leading up to [[Rosh Hashanah]] until [[Yom Kippur]], the supplications include the following references:

{{verse translation|lang=he|italicsoff=y|rtl1=y|טענתנו גפי קרת נתונים, ישבתנו שן סלע איתנים|You carried us and placed us on the [Holy] City's height, You settled us on the Patriarch's rocky peak.<ref>[[ArtScroll]] [[Selichot]], Second day, Selicha 5.</ref>}}

{{verse translation|lang=he|italicsoff=y|rtl1=y|
רבוצה עליו אבן שתית חטובים ...שמה בתוך לפני מזיב מאשנבים|Upon it lying the stone from which the foundation was hewn... Who gives ear from which the waters flow [i.e. the foundation stone "from which flow all the waters of the world"].<ref>ArtScroll Selichot, [[Fast of Gedalia]], Selicha 46.</ref>}}

During [[Sukkot]], the following references to the Foundation Stone are mentioned in the [[Sukkot#Prayers|Hoshanot]] recital:

{{verse translation|lang=he|italicsoff=y|rtl1=y|
הושענא! – אבן שתיה – הושענא|Please save! – Foundation Stone – Please save!}}

{{verse translation|lang=he|italicsoff=y|rtl1=y|
הושענא! – תאדרנו באבן תלולה – הושענא|Please save! – Adorn us with the elevated Stone – Please save!}}

==Islamic significance==
The [[Masjid al-Haram]] in [[Mecca]], is thought by commentators of the [[Quran]] to be the place from where Muslims believe [[Muhammad]] began his [[Isra and Mi'raj|Night Journey]].<ref>{{cite journal | author = M. Anwarul Islam and Zaid F. Al-hamad | title = The Dome of the Rock: Origin of its octagonal plan | journal = Palestine Exploration Quarterly | volume = 139 | issue = 2 | year = 2007 | pages = 109–128| doi = 10.1179/003103207x194145 | s2cid = 162578242 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal | author = Nasser Rabbat |title = The meaning of the Umayyad Dome of the Rock | journal = Muqarnas | volume = 6 | year = 1989 | pages = 12–21|doi = 10.2307/1602276 |jstor = 1602276 }}</ref> Although the Quran does not specifically mention Jerusalem in name as the ascension site, labelling the site as the "farthest mosque" (from which the later-built [[Al-Aqsa]] was named), in certain [[Hadith]] it is said that the Al-Aqsa Mosque is in Jerusalem.<ref name="Sahih Bukhari Hadith Volume 5, Book 58, Number 226:">{{cite web|title=Sahih Bukhari Hadith Volume 5, Book 58, Number 226|url=http://www.usc.edu/org/cmje/religious-texts/hadith/bukhari/058-sbt.php#005.058.226|access-date=2013-10-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170425165314/http://www.usc.edu/org/cmje/religious-texts/hadith/bukhari/058-sbt.php#005.058.226|archive-date=2017-04-25|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[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, Israel |pages=15–16 |chapter=II: Haunted Springs and Water Demons in Palestine}}</ref>

Beneath the Foundation Stone is a cavern known as the [[Well of Souls]]. It is sometimes thought of as the traditional hiding place of the [[Ark of the Covenant]].

==See also==
{{Portal|Islam|Judaism}}
* [[List of individual rocks]]
* [[Axis mundi]]
* [[Black Stone]]
* [[Jerusalem in Islam]]
* [[Jerusalem in Judaism]]
* [[Mount Gerizim]]
* [[Baetylus]]

==References==
{{Reflist|3}}

==External links==
* {{Commons category-inline|Foundation Stone (Temple Mount)}}

{{Temple Mount}}
{{Holy sites in Judaism}}

{{Coord|31.7780|N|35.2354|E|type:landmark_scale:10000|display=title}}

[[Category:Islamic holy places]]
[[Category:Jewish holy places]]
[[Category:Sacred rocks]]
[[Category:Temple Mount]]