Product Description
Joshen pendant
Made of fine .925 Sterling Silver, with twelve beautiful colored zircons.
Includes the chain also in silver.
Why has this piece become so desired?
During the time the Great Temple was standing, the High Priest wore a breastplate, "the Joshen Mishpat" that contained twelve different precious stones representing each of the twelve tribes of Israel and possessed the power oracle. It was one of two methods of solving issues of importance to the community, where human error is not acceptable. Most of such decisions were made by the Sanhedrin, a council made up of seventy-one of the greatest sages of the generation. Each sage distinguished himself by having attained such a superior degree of Torah knowledge that even his instinctive responses to questions and life's experiences were consistent with the truths of the Torah.
Even so, personal prejudices were further minimized with the requirement that they be regulated according to the majority vote. But for certain questions such as going to war or not, Divine advice was sought through this breastplate. The names of the tribes and patriarchs were engraved on the stones, and in response to the High Priest's questions certain letters glowed. The High Priest was imbued in those moments of Divine inspiration, which means that he was given access to spheres of information that were beyond what can be deduced by simple human reasoning. He could determine the message by recombining the illuminated letters to form a sentence that constituted the last word on the matter.