This week’s parasha brings us Jacob’s dream – “a stairway was set on the ground and its top reached to the sky, and messengers of God were going up and down on it” (Gen. 28:11). The scene is captivating in itself, portraying God standing immediately next to Jacob and blessing Jacob with land, descendants and protection. But a close read of the Hebrew enables more possibilities. The messengers of God were going up and down – but because the pronoun used can apply to the ladder or to Jacob himself, it is not clear whether the angels traveled on the ladder or through Jacob himself.
This idea that Jacob not only experienced a divine encounter but he himself became a conduit of connection with the Divine, receiving blessing and new understanding, became an important interpretation in Hasidic and later in modern Jewish thought. Further, if Jacob is the ladder, perhaps through spiritual practice, we too can become such a conduit, grounded in our physical world and also accessing spiritual insight and understanding from beyond where we sit.
This past week, several TBH members and I heard Rabbi Hanan Schlesinger and Khaled Abu Awwad share stories from their lives and work with Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank, through their organization Roots. They are deeply grounded in their communities there, and they hold a profoundly hopeful perspective that through learning about each other, these communities can eventually transcend the conflicts between them. It was an honor to hear them both speak, and to be reminded that both ends of the ladder are vital.
Wishing everyone a holiday of gratitude and sharing, particularly one in which we take note of the land we live on and the people who have stewarded this land for centuries,
Rabbi Julie
Vayetzei (Genesis 28:10-32:3) Nov. 29, 2025: The Ladder Within
December 6, 2025 by Rabbi Julie Saxe-Taller • D'var Torah
This week’s parasha brings us Jacob’s dream – “a stairway was set on the ground and its top reached to the sky, and messengers of God were going up and down on it” (Gen. 28:11). The scene is captivating in itself, portraying God standing immediately next to Jacob and blessing Jacob with land, descendants and protection. But a close read of the Hebrew enables more possibilities. The messengers of God were going up and down – but because the pronoun used can apply to the ladder or to Jacob himself, it is not clear whether the angels traveled on the ladder or through Jacob himself.
This idea that Jacob not only experienced a divine encounter but he himself became a conduit of connection with the Divine, receiving blessing and new understanding, became an important interpretation in Hasidic and later in modern Jewish thought. Further, if Jacob is the ladder, perhaps through spiritual practice, we too can become such a conduit, grounded in our physical world and also accessing spiritual insight and understanding from beyond where we sit.
This past week, several TBH members and I heard Rabbi Hanan Schlesinger and Khaled Abu Awwad share stories from their lives and work with Israelis and Palestinians in the West Bank, through their organization Roots. They are deeply grounded in their communities there, and they hold a profoundly hopeful perspective that through learning about each other, these communities can eventually transcend the conflicts between them. It was an honor to hear them both speak, and to be reminded that both ends of the ladder are vital.
Wishing everyone a holiday of gratitude and sharing, particularly one in which we take note of the land we live on and the people who have stewarded this land for centuries,
Rabbi Julie