"And he dreamed and behold a ladder standing on the ground and its summit reaching the heavens and behold the angels of the Lord were ascending and descending it. And behold Hashem was standing above him and said "I am HaShem the Lord of your father Avraham and the Lord of Itzchak. The land which you are laying upon – I will give it to you and to your offspring. And your progeny will be like the dust of the earth and you shall spread out west and east and north and south and all the families of the earth will be blessed in you and in your offspring. And behold I am with you and I will guard over you in all that you will go, and I will return you to this land, as I shall not forsake you until I will do that which I have spoken to you." (Bereshis 28: 12-15)
 

In these verses, the Torah describes Jacob's dream. Chazal, and in their footsteps the Rishonim, attributed great importance to this vision, to the point that the Ramban compared it to the vision Avraham saw in Brit Bein haBetarim.

Indeed, just like all the other stories about the Avot, we must see the events from two perspectives – the personal perspective and the general perspective. From a personal perspective, we read about Yaakov fleeing to the diaspora from his brother Esav at the behest of his mother, and he receives a unique promise for eternal safeguarding: "As I shall not forsake you until I have done that which I have spoken to you" – a promise unlike any which was given to the other Avot. And according to this, the significance of the ladder and the angels who descend and ascend it is a sign of the angels coming to safeguard him, as Chazal say (and are quoted by Rashi) that the angels of Eretz Israel are replaced by the angels of diaspora who come to safeguard the Tzaddik.

In contrast, from a general perspective, this dream holds a lesson for the generations in the spirit of "the action of the fathers is a sign for the sons" and the vision contains great messages for the individual as well as for the entire nation of Israel. The Rambam writes in the preface of Moreh Nevuchim that there are two types of prophetic allegories: one kind emphasizes a specific general point, and not every single detail is important. In contrast, there are those in which every word has great importance. As an example of the second type the Rambam cites Yaakov's dream. I would like to focus on the significance of the ladder and the lessons to be learned from the manner in which we should ascend it.

First of all, the ladder illustrates that the proper way to come close to Hashem is gradually – stage by stage and without drastic or extreme jumps. The Ramchal teaches us in his book Messilat Yesharim that one must walk the path step by step, and deliberately named his book Messilat (The Path) Yesharim (of the Righteous). The path to the top of the ladder must pass through the lower rungs. As simple as this seems, unfortunately, we bear witness to a phenomenon in our generation where people, including G-d fearing ones, are rigorous about minute details of p'rishut (asceticism) and Hassidut, whereas they haven't yet come to grips with the most basic rungs of the ladder (controlling their basest inclinations).

We can see the special rigor of Yaakov Avinu himself regarding this. At the end of the parsha, Hashem reveals Himself to Lavan and warns him not to touch Yaakov: "And the Lord came to Lavan the Aramean in a dream of the night and said to him: beware lest you speak with Yaakov for good or bad" (Bereshis 31:24).

Chazal asked: by virtue of what was Yaakov saved from Lavan? Apparently, the answer is given in the Torah – that Zechut Avot stood for him: "Lest the Lord of my father, the Lord of Avraham and the Fear of Itzchak had stood for me, now you would have sent me away empty (handed). The Lord saw my affliction and the labor of my hands and He reproved (you) yesterday" (ibid 31:32).

However, the Midrash says otherwise: "Beware lest you speak with Yaakov for good or bad" – from here we learn that the merit of labor stands where the merit of the Fathers cannot stand, as it says "Lest the Lord of my father, the Lord of Avraham" etc. – therefore the merit of his Fathers stood only to safeguard his possessions. "The Lord saw my affliction and the labor of my hands and He reproved (you) yesterday" – we see that HaShem warned him not to harm Yaakov by virtue of the toil of his hands. Learn (from this) that one cannot say: I will eat and drink and enjoy life and will not trouble myself and from the Heavens will come mercy. Therefore it says "And You have blessed the work of his hands" (Iyov 1:10) – one must toil and produce with his two hands and HaShem sends His blessing. (Tanhuma Vayeitze, 13)
 

The Midrash reveals that Zechut Avot was had the power to save his possessions, but what saved Yaakov himself was his honest labor and his integrity.

It is an interesting fact that here there is a complete contrast between the employer and the employee. While the employer is the ultimate swindler, the employee is the perfect model of reliability – a worker who never neglected or belittled his work. We can certainly assume that Yaakov wanted to learn Torah and apply himself to spiritual matters, and possibly could have found a variety of justifications for this, but his actions were guided by his integrity and purity of mind. Yaakov understands that the ladder must be grounded on basic mussar (ethics) and that the additional levels are on top of that. From Yaakov's dream and from his character we learn that this is the path of the Avot, and in the famous words of the Natziv in his introduction to the Torah, the reason the Book of Bereshis is called "Sefer HaYashar" (the truthful, straightforward book) is because the Avot were first and foremost yesharim.

The Rambam concludes Hilchot Sechirut (13, 7) with these words: "Just as the employer is cautioned not to steal the wages of the poor man and not to delay paying them, so is the poor man (the laborer) warned not to steal the labor of the employer by taking off a little here and a little there, and as a result ending every day fraudulently. But he must be stringent on himself regarding the time (he is being paid for), for we see that the Rabbanim were stringent regarding the fourth blessing of Birkat HaMazon, that the laborer should not say it, and likewise that he is required to work with all his strength, as Yaakov the Tzaddik said: "as I labored for your father with all my strength" and therefor he received reward for this in this world, as it says: 'and the man became extremely prosperous.'" And exactly here the Rambam chose to call Yaakov "the Tzaddik" in order to teach us that only through integrity of character does one merit the level of Tzaddik.

 

This characteristic, if it is deeply engrained in the father, influences the sons, as in the continuation of the parsha is said: "And Reuven went in the days of the wheat harvest" (30:14). And the Midrash expounds on this: "Teach the young man according to his way (and) also when he will get old he will not stray from it", "Let this land be given to your servants, etc." (Midrash Rabbah 30, 14). The intention of the Midrash is to teach us that Reuven went specifically in the days of the wheat harvest and avoided any possibility of stealing (Rashi explains that Reuven brought dudaim [mandrakes] which are hefker and not wheat which belongs to the owner). Reuven learned this behavior from his father, and he also passed it on to his progeny. Therefore it is no surprise that in the division of the land, B'nei Reuven asked for the east side of the Jordan River, as this was grazing land, and therefore they would avoid theft, since this region was uninhabited. And this is what the Midrash means by bringing the verse: "Teach the young man according to his way (and) also when he will get old he will not stray from it."

An additional factor of Yaakov's dream is the emphasis on the location of the ladder – "standing on the ground and its summit reaching the heavens." A man must know his value: on one hand he was created from earth, and it is known that "adam" (man) is derived from "adamah" (earth) and that earthliness and materialism bring him down. Everyone knows that there are times when he aspires to reach high levels in Avodat HaShem, but one or more of the worldly forces of jealousy, pride, competitiveness, physical pleasure and greed pull him down. The moment one is aware of the reality that he is "standing on the ground" he can combat his negative inclinations and build himself up. However, one who thinks that his head is in the Heavens is liable to experience a painful fall.

On the other hand, in the words of the Maharal "adam" is from the expression "adamah l'elyon" – (from the) ground to the heights. Man has the ability to reach the heavens, an ability which was not given to any other creation. And he must be aware of this, since one who is occupied all his life only with combatting his evil inclinations and does not aspire to ascend, will remain standing on the ground.

There are schools of thought in Am Israel which primarily emphasize man's insignificance. In contrast, there are others which emphasize man's greatness and loftiness. And the truth is that a fusion of both is needed – the integration of man who is aware of his shortcomings as well as his abilities.

The secret is for a man to be planted upon the earth, however his goal and aspiration must be to reach the heavens. Only this way can he ascend the ladder with stability and safety.

One last point which we can learn from the ladder is Rabbi Dessler's famous "point of choice." He explains that every man has free choice, nevertheless every man's choice changes according to his situation – his character, his social environment and all the other factors which influenced and influence him. For one person the battle with the Yetzer is over nullifying moments of Torah study, for another the battle is whether to observe Shabbat.

Every person is on a different rung of his own ladder, and everyone has his personal battles. The true test is how far he has progressed and how many rungs he has ascended, not only which rung he has reached, because one person may be on a higher level than another, but the conditions of his life and other factors - and not his own efforts - enabled this. It is important to be aware of this, and one must not consider himself a Tzaddik only because he performs many Mitzvot if he didn't succeed in his personal battles.

The further one ascends in Avodat HaShem, the more he elevates his point of choice, and his battles evolve to be over higher things.

May we merit to learn the lesson of Yaakov's ladder, and ascend higher and higher on the rungs of the ladder.