Jacob's Pillow

"And he took from the stones of the place" (Genesis 28:11). Rabbi Judah said: Twelve stones he took. Thus the Holy One, blessed be He, had decreed that He would raise up twelve tribes. He said: Abraham did not raise them up, Isaac did not raise them up; as for me, if these twelve stones join together one to another, I will know that I am to raise up twelve tribes. When the twelve stones joined together one to another, he knew that he was to raise up twelve tribes. Rabbi Levi and Rabbi Eleazar in the name of Rabbi Yose bar Zimra said: He made them like a kind of gutter and placed them beneath his head, for he was afraid of the wild beasts. Rabbi Berechiah in the name of Rabbi Levi said: Those stones that Jacob our father placed beneath his head became beneath him like a bed and like a nurse: the righteous men and righteous women, the prophets and prophetesses who came forth from him.