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Ep. 7 // Vayetze ... what's the deal with Jacob's Ladder?
This week's parsha picks back up with Yaakov (Jacob) who has fled Beer Sheva after tricking his father Yitzchak (Isaac) into giving him the first-born blessing instead of his brother Esav (Esau). Yaakov is going to Charan, where his mother Rivkah's (Rebecca) brother Lavan (Laban) lives. On the way to Charan, Yaakov stops to sleep for the night and has his famous "Jacob's Ladder" dream.
In this dream, Yaakov sees angels of G-d (malachei Elokim) ascending and descending on a ladder to heaven. G-d comes to him and promises Yaakov that the land he sleeps on will be given to his descendants who will be "as the dust of the earth" - כעפר הארץ.
Jacob's Ladder was always a mystery to me. There wasn't enough context for me to see it as anything beyond inspiration for the Jewish art hanging in your Bubbie's living room. Like everything in Torah, the most interesting ideas are a little deeper than surface-level content. I will be sharing an idea by Rabbi YY Jacobson.
The Midrash teaches that the ladder in Yaakov's dream was a ladder with four steps, which embody the 4 worlds of Kabbalah.
The Zohar, the foundational text of Kabbalah, or mystical Judaism, teaches that Jacob's Ladder was a metaphor for the experience of prayer. Prayer is the ladder through which we as humans climb from our earth-bound existence to the higher, more G-dly plane of our souls.
In Kabbalah, there are 4 levels to the world -- the first level is the World of Asiya (Action), the second is the World of Yetzirah (Formation), the third is the World of Beriyah (Creation), and the final highest world is the World of Atzilut (Divine Emanation).
How is this related to the dream? Well, the ladder is rooted in the ground (World of Asiya - Action), and climbing it are 2 types of angels: descending angels (World of Yetzirah - Formation) and ascending angels (World of Beriyah - Creation). When G-d comes to Yaakov, G-d is representing the highest world (World of Atzilut - Divine Emanation)
So how is this metaphysical, complex idea related to anything in our lives? It's not a one-and-done kind of thing, it takes a lifetime to apply this teaching to ourselves. But what better moment to begin than this one?
For full text, email me at [email protected] or join my email list here.
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By Shira Kaplan
5
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This week's parsha picks back up with Yaakov (Jacob) who has fled Beer Sheva after tricking his father Yitzchak (Isaac) into giving him the first-born blessing instead of his brother Esav (Esau). Yaakov is going to Charan, where his mother Rivkah's (Rebecca) brother Lavan (Laban) lives. On the way to Charan, Yaakov stops to sleep for the night and has his famous "Jacob's Ladder" dream.
In this dream, Yaakov sees angels of G-d (malachei Elokim) ascending and descending on a ladder to heaven. G-d comes to him and promises Yaakov that the land he sleeps on will be given to his descendants who will be "as the dust of the earth" - כעפר הארץ.
Jacob's Ladder was always a mystery to me. There wasn't enough context for me to see it as anything beyond inspiration for the Jewish art hanging in your Bubbie's living room. Like everything in Torah, the most interesting ideas are a little deeper than surface-level content. I will be sharing an idea by Rabbi YY Jacobson.
The Midrash teaches that the ladder in Yaakov's dream was a ladder with four steps, which embody the 4 worlds of Kabbalah.
The Zohar, the foundational text of Kabbalah, or mystical Judaism, teaches that Jacob's Ladder was a metaphor for the experience of prayer. Prayer is the ladder through which we as humans climb from our earth-bound existence to the higher, more G-dly plane of our souls.
In Kabbalah, there are 4 levels to the world -- the first level is the World of Asiya (Action), the second is the World of Yetzirah (Formation), the third is the World of Beriyah (Creation), and the final highest world is the World of Atzilut (Divine Emanation).
How is this related to the dream? Well, the ladder is rooted in the ground (World of Asiya - Action), and climbing it are 2 types of angels: descending angels (World of Yetzirah - Formation) and ascending angels (World of Beriyah - Creation). When G-d comes to Yaakov, G-d is representing the highest world (World of Atzilut - Divine Emanation)
So how is this metaphysical, complex idea related to anything in our lives? It's not a one-and-done kind of thing, it takes a lifetime to apply this teaching to ourselves. But what better moment to begin than this one?
For full text, email me at [email protected] or join my email list here.