Like Jacob, we have left so many of our homes empty handed. In the intervening centuries between Jacob and ourselves even Jewish ritual vessels have tended toward the portable - fewer stone pillars and more small spice boxes and mezuzot. Of course the ultimate irony of Jacob's pillars is that they have been outlasted by the very intangible memories that they represented. They have succumbed to the passage of time, lost beyond memory. But the story itself, the words and thoughts of holy dreams and promises, this has survived.
Ritual objects have a sacred quality.
Metal, cloth, rocks and stones can hold a perceivable power as they are associated with that which is holy. However, ultimately it is the holy experience itself - the memory and dreams, the narratives and beliefs, which sustain a people. I just noticed something interested in Levi's naming. Levi is different. He is different because his tribe will be isolated by their call to the priesthood.