Dedicated in memory of Yaakov ben Avraham and Sarah Aharonov z"l
Rabbi Mordechai Torczyneris Moreh d'asra of Congregation Eitz Chayim of Dogwood Park, Founder & former Rosh Beit Midrash Zichron Dov in Toronto, in affiliation with Torah MiTzion
At three separate times, Hashem pledged something to Yaakov:
At the start of our parshah (Bereishit 28:15), Hashem promised to protect Yaakov on his journey: “Behold, I am with you, and I will protect you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land.”
In Parshat Vayishlach (ibid. 35:9-12), Hashem promised that Yaakov would produce kings, and that he would receive the land of Israel.
In parshat Vayigash (ibid. 46:2-4), Hashem promised to make Yaakov a great nation in Egypt, and to bring Yaakov back to Israel.
The first promise came with something unique: A vision of angels, malachim, ascending and descending a ladder. Why did Hashem send this vision now? Here are three approaches, emphasizing different parts of Hashem’s promise to Yaakov.
Ramban emphasizes the opening of Hashem’s promise, “Behold, I am with you,” and sees here a message about Hashem’s personal protection for Yaakov. Normally, Hashem instructs malachim with their missions; malachim “ascend the ladder” to receive Divine instruction, and then “descend” to carry out their tasks. But for Yaakov, Hashem would provide direct care; not the malachim of the ladder, but Hashem’s direct supervision. Perhaps Yaakov, away from home for the first time and fleeing for his life, feared that Hashem had found him unworthy and abandoned him; therefore Hashem reassured him of His special protection.
Rashi picks up on the middle part of the promise, “I will protect you wherever you go.” He contends that the ladder appeared here because Yaakov was leaving Israel for the first time, and Hashem wished to teach him that he would be protected even outside the promised land. The malachim providing protection within Israel would remain in the land, but new malachim would descend the ladder to escort him on his path.
But Ramban also quotes a midrash (Pirkei d’Rabbi Eliezer 35) which accentuates “I will bring you back to this land.” Hashem showed Yaakov malachim representing the nations which would torture the Jewish people in the future. Each representative would ascend a certain number of steps, but would then descend the ladder, vanquished. This message was not only for Yaakov, but for his descendants, consistent with Ramban’s principle that the events of our ancestors’ lives foreshadow our own.
As we learned in Parshat Lech Lecha: Hashem wanted us to receive certain blessings, and so He began to implement them in the lives of our meritorious ancestors, at the first opportunity, so that the positive Divine decree should already begin to come true. That which Yaakov saw in a dream in his exile portended good things for his descendants in their own.
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