Our Parasha relates ( :28:10-18 ), that after Yaakov departed from Beer-Sheva, to escape the wrath of Esav, ‘he encountered the place and spent the night there..And he dreamt, and behold! A ladder was set earthward and its top reached heavenward, and behold! angels of G-d were ascending and descending on it.
‘And behold! Hashem was standing over him, and He said:’I am Hashem, G-d of Abraham your father, and G-d of Yitzchak; the ground upon which you are lying, to you I will give it and to your descendants. Your offspring shall be as the dust of the earth, and you shall spread out powerfully’ in all four directions, ‘and the families of the earth shall bless themselves by you and by your offspring.
‘Behold, I am with you; I will guard you wherever you go, and I will not forsake you until I have done what I have spoken about you’.
Rashi comments: ‘Ascending first and afterwards descending’ : The angels who escorted him in the Land do not go outside the Land, and they ascended to heaven, and the angels of outside the Holy Land descended to escort him.’
Rav David Pardo, on this Rashi, adds:’Should you ask: why did the angels of outside the Land descend first, and afterwards the angels of the Land ascend, so that at no time should Yaakov be left without protection, and there would not be a need for what is related afterwards:’Behold! Hashem was standing over him’,
‘I would answer: As the angels of outside the Land are of a lower standing than those of the Land, they do not have permission to display ממשלה: governance; should they descend first, it would appear that they are ‘in charge’ to escort and protect him.
‘Therefore the angels of the Land ascended first, so that the true situation is clarified.’
Ramban offers a different understanding:’Yaakov was shown in this prophetic dream, that all that is done on earth, is done by the hands of angels, as decreed by their Master, as the angels of Hashem that He sends to this world do not do anything - big or little - until they return to consult the Lord of All the earth, saying to him: ‘We have traversed the earth, and it is sitting in tranquility, or it is filled with battle and blood, and He then commands them to return to earth to perform His command.
‘Further, Hashem ‘stands on the ladder’, and promised Yaakov with a solemn promise, to inform him that he will not be in the hands of the angels, but will at all times be under Hashem, as He said:’I am with you, and I will guard you wherever you go’, because you are at a more exalted level than the rest of the righteous people, of whom it is said: ( Ps’ 91:11 ‘’For He shall give his angels charge over you to guard you in all your ways’.
Rav Yitzchak Karo adds:’The intention in showing Yitzchak this dream, was to inform him that, in regard to angels, it is not ‘enough’ for them that with which they are endowed when Hashem created them, but at every moment they need to receive direction from Hashem, and armed with this guidance, they descend.
‘This is why it says:’Behold! angels of G-d were ascending’, to receive guidance from Hashem, and then descending.
‘Second, the dream was to inform him that every angel is distinct from all others, and has his own role.
‘This is why the Torah states:’Behold! Angels of G-d’: these were ascending and these were descending - each one being at a different level from all other angels’
Rabbeinu Nissim - the Ran - expounds:’The vision of the angels ascending and descending, was to make known to Yaakov the superiority of the Land of Israel, as it is the foot of the ladder from which there is ascent to the Heavens.
‘The righteous are called ‘the angels of G-d’, it ‘, as all that is done on earth is through them, the matter being that the angels traverse the earth, and report to Hashem as to the actions of men.
‘By the Torah stating ‘ascending’ before ‘descending’ - and not ‘descending’ then ‘ascending’, as would be the case if they were angels from Above - we can perceive that it alludes to the Tzaddikim, who are elevated through the merits of the Land.
‘It is for this reason that it states: ‘ascending and descending’, as it is not possible that the ascent of even Tzaddikim should be without some descents, as the soul of man os attracted in two opposing directions- upwards and downwards, as it inevitably has to also turn its attention to the physical needs of human beings.
‘Hashem showed this to Yaakov, in Hashem’s words:’ascending and descending’.
‘At the same time, Hashem showed Yaakov the preciousness of the Land in His eyes, that his yearning should be to it, once he has found his wives.’
The Alshich Hakadosh comments:’ Hashem’s promise:’Behold! I am with you’, was to tell Yaakov: See how I cleave to you, for though the angels that I sent - ‘angels ascending and angels descending’ - I did not leave you to their care, but I myself ‘stand over you’ - even though they are holy angels of the heavenly chariot, I do not want them to guard you, but I myself guard you.
‘Though you are going outside the Land, ‘I Myself will guard you wherever you go’, and you will not be among those concerning whom our Sages ( Ketuvot 110 ) say:’ Those who dwell outside the Land are as if they have no G-d’, since you will not be apart from Me, as I will not leave you under the rule of the gods of those places.’
The Shem miShmuel poses the following sweet question:’Why was there a need for Yaakov to have angels escort and guard him? Do we not learn from the Torah ( Parashat Vayishlach ) that Yaakov was greater than the angels, as it is written: (32:29)’You have commanding power with ( an angel of ) G-d, and you have prevailed ‘?’
Answers the Rav :’Yaakoov did not achieve this level until his return from the house of Laban - till then he needed the escort and guarding by angels.’
Sforno sees the dream as alluding to the future of the Jewish nation:’Whilst it will come to be, that the ministers of the nations, after their ascent, will descend, and Hashem, הנצב לעד: who stands over him, will never abandon His people.
‘’The land upon which you are lying’, the Land of Canaan, ‘to you will I give’: you will be ‘נשיא אלקים: a prince of G-d in the eyes of the local inhabitants, as were Avraham and Yitzchak.’
The Netziv proffers another message to Yaakov, from the dream:’From the angels first ascending and then descending, he was to understand that the Shechina dwells on earth, surrounded by His angels, who ascend to fulfill their mission , and descend afterwards.
‘This alludes to the hashgacha pratit on all that concerns Yaakov.
‘The word הנה: ‘Behold’, denotes a new knowledge, signifying here, that Yaakov did not previously know that the Shechina was down here specifically for him; and, ‘behold’, he saw that ‘Hashem was standing over him’ - Hashem’s G-dship on earth only ‘on him’.
‘’The ground upon which you lay’: Hashem informed him, as a general statement, that the Land which He, Hashem, promised to Avraham and Yitzchak, was his, and not Esav’s.’.
Rav Shimshon Raphael Hirsch notes that, in His revelation, Hashem refers to Himself as ‘G-d of Avraham your father G-d of Yitzchak’, commenting:’Nowhere else do we find the reference without attribution, as we do concerning .Yitzchak.
‘We are compelled to understand from this, that in a real sense of attribution, Yaakov was ‘the son of Avraham’, Yitzchak being, as it were, an intermediate link.
‘In a spiritual sense, Avraham was the father of Yaakov, as Yaakov was the one in whom the destiny of Avraham was fulfilled - he was the one who had the zechut to build the first Jewish household.’
Let us enrich our souls, by concluding with the exposition of the Netivot Shalom, as to the message to all of us, in the prophetic dream of Yaakov Avinu.
Expounds the Rav: ’Our Sages note that the gematriya of סולם: ladder - which Yaakov saw in his dream - is the same as Sinai, to teach that the Torah, which, as it were, ‘descended’ from Sinai and was given to us, down on earth, its ‘head’ reaches skywards, as Hashem gave the power of the Torah to a Jew, so that he could ascend upwards.
‘Yaakov was shown, in this dream, that the Torah is like a ladder, by which he can ascend skywards, even in the mundane weekdays, towards Hashem.
‘This was necessary, because Yaakov, at this time, saw the world he was entering as an impenetrable wall; till then, he had been totally immersed in learning Torah and the service of Hashem, first in his father’s house, and then in the Yeshiva of Shem, at the level of holiness of the angels.
‘Now, he had to lower himself - so he thought - to be engaged in the matters of this world, to work for a living, and to build his household - and this in the house of Laban.
‘In this dream, he was shown from Above, that it was Hashem’s Will, that a Jew should be engaged in the affairs of the mundane world, yet continue to remain sanctified to Hashem.
‘This, by ensuring that, in all his mundane activities, he did not go out of the framework of sanctity - that he made for himself a ‘ladder’, a framework, so that in all his mundane activities, he drew nearer to Hashem.
‘Just like the ladder in his dream, the bottom of which was set on the earth, and then ascended, so too man is required, step by step to elevate his earthly activities, upwards, till its head reaches upwards, till the level of ‘Hashem standing over him’.
‘Yaakov Avinu perceived this, as shown by his words: ‘There is indeed G-d in this place’, in the new world he was about to enter.’
A parting thought: Our Sages teach that from every Mitzvah a Jew performs, an angel is created.
Might we not see the vision of the angels first ascending, then descending, as alluding to this::the ascending angels report to the Creator, the good deeds that we have performed; as a reward, angels - carrying Hashem’s blessings - descend, to confer these further blessings on us.
לרפואת פצועי צהל וכן לרפואת נועם עליזה בת זהבה רבקה ונחום אלימלך רפאל בן זהבה רבקה, בתוך שאר חולי עמנו.