Vayetze: Jacob's Dream

This week’s portion contains a very well-known story, the story of Jacob’s ladder. The sulam, meaning ladder or staircase in Hebrew, extends toward the earth and toward the heavens.

Jacob's Ladder

And he dreamed, and behold! a ladder extended toward the ground and its top reached to heaven; and behold, angels of God were ascending and descending upon it. And behold, the Lord was standing over him, and He said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac; the land upon which you are lying to you I will give it and to your seed (Gen. 28:12-13)."

This week’s portion contains a very well-known story, the story of Jacob’s ladder. The sulam, meaning ladder or staircase in Hebrew, extends toward the earth and toward the heavens. It is important to note the perspective of the story as the passage does not describe the ladder originating on earth and extending upward; but rather, the perspective of the narration is from the middle of the staircase. The Hebrew makes this abundantly clear from the use of the term ארצה, with the directional-heh ending which points the object of focus specifically toward the earth. Thus, it is apparent that Jacob in his dream is seeing his vision from beyond time and space. Understanding that perspective of the vision is beyond time and space is crucial to comprehending the importance of the vision - Jacob sees messengers of God ascending and descending on a staircase. When we consider the perspective beyond our physical realm, what does “ascending and descending” mean? This is not a story of angels moving. Motion requires both time and space. So if Jacob is not talking about motion, what is he trying to convey about the messengers of God in his dream?

There are multiple heavens. Paul makes reference to this concept (2 Cor. 12:2-4). Since Jacob is not talking about motion in time, he must be talking about communication between the different heavens and the earth. The messengers of God convey messages between the different heavens and also the earth.

In the Book of John, Yeshua tells us, “Yes indeed! I tell you that you will see heaven opened and the angels of God going up and coming down on the Son of Man! (Jn. 1:51)” Obviously, Yeshua’s point here is not that he is a staircase, rather, Yeshua is the mechanism of communication between the different heavens and the earth. Yeshua the Messiah is much more than a person on the earth. He is the structure upon which the heavens and the earth rely for their very existence. Without Yeshua, there is no indication between the different heavens and the earth. Existence depends on the Moshiach.