Q&A: The Foundation Stone
The Foundation Stone
Question
Where is it explained that the Foundation Stone alludes to the drinking of wine?
Secondly, where is the following saying brought in the name of the Hasidim: “Forever, O Lord, Your word stands firm in the heavens” — that God’s words stand forever and sustain the heavens and all of creation, but that this alone was not enough; rather, the Holy One, blessed be He, wanted to give the Torah through which heaven and earth would continue to exist and be perfected until the final rectification,
and that the Ten Commandments are the root of the entire Torah?
Answer
Hello,
This is a matter for researchers and students of aggadic literature. But it is clear that all this appeared even before Hasidism.
Regarding God’s word standing in the heavens, see the commentators on this verse in Psalms. It already appears in Radak, and I assume there are others as well.
I think that Rabbi Menachem Azariah of Fano noted the parallel between the Ten Commandments and the ten utterances. I have now found something much earlier as well: https://www.yeshiva.org.il/ask/83632
As for the Ten Commandments being the root of the entire Torah, see here (from note 24 onward): https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%A2%D7%A9%D7%A8%D7%AA_%D7%94%D7%93%D7%99%D7%91%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%AA#%D7%9E%D7%A2%D7%9E%D7%93%D7%9D_%D7%A9%D7%9C_%D7%A2%D7%A9%D7%A8%D7%AA_%D7%94%D7%93%D7%99%D7%91%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%AA_%D7%91%D7%99%D7%94%D7%93%D7%95%D7%AA