The Inception Of The 12 Tribes
Bashi Alt, Avital Davydov, Miriam Zicherman, Ellinor Davidov

The theme of this project is שׁלום אמת, lying for peace. An example of this topic that we see in the Torah is “ויהי בּבּקר והנה לאה”- “and it was in the morning and behold Leah.” This quote is referring to when Rachel was about to marry Yaakov, and Lavan, Rachel and Leah’s father, switched Rachel with Leah. Rachel knew that her father was planning to put her sister under the veil so in order to keep the peace between her and her father, she lied to Yaakov by giving the signs to Leah. If not for Rachel giving the signs over to her sister, not only would she be embarrassed, but it would cause Shalom Bias (peace in the home) issues between Lavan and his daughters, and between Yakkov and Leah. Even though lying cost her marriage to Yaakov, at that moment it kept the peace in her family. It also opened a gateway to the birth of the Twelve Tribes.

For our project, we made a white wedding altar, covered with flowers. On the pathway to the altar we added white stones. And embedded in the stones, we added 12 gemstones. Inside the altar we have two rings that are linked together. The quote to our project is attached to the rings. The wedding altar represents the marriage between Yakkov and Leah, which was supposed to be the marriage between Yakkov and Rachel. The rings represent the unity between Yakkov and Leah and eventually the unity between Yakkov and Rachel. The rings signify the peace that was kept in their lives because Rachel gave Leah the signs. The 12 Gemstones are all different colors that, in the future, were placed on the חושן, to represent the 12 Tribes that came from Yakkov and his wives. The pathway leading up to the altar has many white stones to represent the generations that came from this marriage as a result from the 12 Tribes being born. The flowers that are placed on the altar represent all the beauty and growth that come from peace. The pebbles being white show represent the purity of the nation coming out of this marriage. Even though the situation seemed rough and felt they were going through a rocky time each stone is smooth symbolizing that everything works out in the end. The rings are gold because it's the most valuable type of metal and this marriage was extremely valuable to the building of Ka’al Yisroel. Overall the marriage between Yakkov and Leah is what led to the building of the nation we are today.