The Four Crowns Hidden in the Letters of Jacob's Name

Midrash Aggadah, Exodus 1:5

"And all the souls issuing from the loin, etc." And why does it not say "issuing from the loin of Israel," but rather "issuing from the loin of Jacob"? To teach you that the letters of Jacob (Yaakov) correspond to the four crowns with which his children crown the Holy One, blessed be He. Yod (10) corresponds to the Ten Commandments; ayin (70) corresponds to the seventy elders of the Sanhedrin; kuf (100) corresponds to the Heikhal which they built for their Creator, whose length was a hundred cubits, as it is said, "And the Heikhal was a hundred cubits"; bet (2) corresponds to the two Tablets of the Covenant. And in the merit of Jacob, Israel were redeemed from Egypt, and the world endures, as it is said, "And He established it unto Jacob for a statute" (Psalms 105:10).

Themes

Biblical References