yeh-SOHD
Yesod means foundation — the base on which a structure stands. Its plural, Yesodot, names the foundational principles that everything else depends on.
A building in the ancient world was only as strong as its yesod. The prophets and psalmists used it to speak of the moral and spiritual foundations of a life and a nation.
"Behold, I am laying in Zion a foundation (yesod) stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone."
— Isaiah 28:16
"For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ."
— 1 Corinthians 3:11
"He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock."
— Luke 6:48
Build on foundations that can hold the weight of who you are becoming. Do the unseen work of laying the yesod before you build anything visible.
Part of the Avodah Lexicon at Avodah Dynamics.
The Yesodot ("foundations") are the Hebrew words the entire Avodah ecosystem is built on — the lexicon of this very library. Yesod is the word for the foundation itself: dig deep before you build high.