Rocks and stones, The editor The foundation stone: the center of creation Midrashim about the stone from which the world was woven The traveling rock When Moses struck the rock and what happened later James Kugel A couple of pebbles and a sling: How David killed Goliath: elaboration and refutation Mosaic floors in ancient synagogues An archaeologist looks at the changing attitudes towards synagogue art Rachel Hachlili On One Stone - a short story by S.Y. Agnon: When a mystic gives up his writings to a rock A. Mintz / A.G. Hoffman Twelve gems and their magical qualities An unpublished medieval manuscript discusses the virtues of the tribal gems Joshua Trachtenberg A magical worm called the Shamir How the stones of the Temple emerged cut and ready from the quarry The midrash A Hebrew lesson: the rootword a-v-n: Two tablets, five stones and a potter's wheel Joseph Lowin