Jacob's Ladder - Stairway to the Father

And Jacob went out from Beer-sheba, and went toward Haran. And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night... and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. Genesis 28:10-12 (KJV)

When I was a girl in Sunday school, we used to sing a popular chorus, "We are climbing Jacob's ladder... soldiers of the cross." The song harkened to a story in the Bible about Jacob. He fell asleep and had a wonderfully mysterious dream -- Jacob saw a ladder stretching from heaven to earth with angels ascending and descending on it. The ladder bridged the yawning gulf between man and God. When he woke up, Jacob realized it was a divine visitation. 

Climbing Jacob’s Ladder

“He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.” — Genesis 28:12

The Torah portion for this week, Vayetze, is from Genesis 28:10–32:3 and Hosea 12:13–14:10.

The Jewish Sages teach that when Jacob was on his journey to the city of Harran, he ended up somewhere that he had not intended to go. But it was late, and so Jacob found a few stones, made a pillow, and went to sleep. As providence would have it, the place There, he had his famous dream in which Jacob saw a vision of a ladder resting on earth, stretching up to heaven. Angels were going up and down on it. When Jacob woke up he said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it” (Genesis 28:16). Jacob had unintentionally, but providentially, stumbled upon a virtual stairway to heaven.