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Orchard of Delights
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the Land of Israel, so too we can envision our angels trading places
every week as Shabbat enters.
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Rebecca was told that “Two nations are in your womb, two peoples
from your insides will be separated; and the one people shall be stronger
than the other people and the older shall serve the younger” (Genesis
25:23). Jewish tradition characterizes Jacob and Esau’s relationship
as a classic love-hate relationship. Predictably the spiritual energies
fuelling this relationship have energized their descendants throughout
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history. Thus Esau’s descendants, the Romans and the Christian
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Church they institutionalized, conducted a fierce ongoing battle with
the Jewish people. The Roman conquest of the Land of Israel and
the tortuous relationship between Judaism and Christianity over the
last two millennia reveal how very true this prophecy was.
From the words “the one people shall be stronger than the
other,” the Sages derived the following message: when one of these
nations is strong and on the ascent, the other will surely fall; they
will never be strong at the same time (Megillah 6a). Fulfilling the
Rabbis’ understanding of the verse, when the Christian Church was
ascendant the Jewish people were not. This outcome is also fulfilled
by the relationship between Haman (a descendant of Esau by way of
Amalek) and Mordecai in the Purim story. When one is ascendant the
other is not. Zeresh, the wife of Haman, upon hearing that the tide
had begun to turn against her husband even tells him: “If Mordecai
before whom you have begun to fall is of the seed of the Jews, then
you will not prevail against him, but you will surely fall before him”
(Esther 6:13).
Jacob’s vision of the angels ascending and descending provided
him with insight into multiple layers of meaning: from the macro
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become entrenched in the material world but sink deep into the mire
of ever-increasing economic peer pressure and the desire to keep up
appearances. Others tend to live in a fantasy world, disassociated
from practical reality. Escapism and the pursuit of short-lived
spiritual or physical stimuli govern their spiritual lives.
realities of the human body and the physical world but simultaneously
encouraging the soul to strive upwards. However, balance is not only
the goal but also the means; the ladder symbolizes a unique worldview
wherein spiritual ascent is a consequence of deep involvement in and
rectification of the physical world. Not only does a Jew infuse the
physical plane with holiness, but by rectifying the physical allows it
to catapult him or her onto a higher spiritual plane.
Jacob’s ladder also symbolizes the belief that wherever one finds
one’s self on the ladder of life, God’s presence is all-encompassing.
King David, who like Jacob lived a turbulent life made up of highs
and lows expressed this sentiment in the following way: “If I ascend
to the heavens there you are; if I make my bed in hell, behold you are
there” (Psalms 139:8). No place is devoid of God’s love and support,
a message that was crucial for Jacob to internalize as he fled alone
into the unknown.
In his classic work Netivot Shalom, the Slonimer Rebbe explains
that a Jew needs to be involved in both the physical and spiritual
worlds (the latter as expressed by the service of God described in the
Torah). Jacob’s ladder represents the Torah’s path, which is broad
enough to include both types of activities. The Slonimer Rebbe
quotes the Midrash relating that some time before the dream, Jacob
envisioned the whole world in front of him like a wall. After spending
his entire life secluded in the tents of Torah, the world seemed like
an impossibly high wall for Jacob to scale. Through the dream, God
showed him that heaven and earth are not exclusive of each other;
rather, they are intrinsically connected. One can maintain a Torah
lifestyle, full of values and holiness, wherever one ends up on the
ladder of life. The most important thing is to stay on the ladder and
maintain one’s attachment to holiness no matter how strongly the
wind blows.
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