B"H

Friday, Kislev 9, 5777 / December 9, 2016

A few times in the Torah we read about dreams. There is Joseph’s dream, later in the Torah, about how the sun, moon and stars bow down to him. There is Pharaoh’s dream of the seven fat cows that were devoured by the seven skinny cows at the river. 

The first dream mentioned in the Torah is in this week’s Parsha, Vayeitzei - Yaakov’s famous dream.

The Torah tells us that on his way to Charan, Yaakov slept “at that place.” He had a dream in which he saw a ladder of which one end was standing firmly on the ground and the top of the ladder reached into heaven. He saw G-d’s angels going up and down the ladder.”G-d stood beside him, and said 'I am the L-rd, the G-d of Abraham, your father and the G-d of Isaac. The land which you lie on, to you I will give it and to your children. And your children will be as the dust of the earth and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south.  And in you shall be blessed all the families of the earth and in your children.'"

This dream gave Yaakov the strength and courage to withstand the many hardships and tribulations he would have to go through at his father-in-law, Lavan, for the next twenty years.

Q.The Torah says, “He slept at that place.” Which place does the Torah refer to by this?

A. G-d told Abraham many years earlier to bring his son, Yitzchak (Isaac) for a sacrifice on Mount Moriah. It took Abraham three days to get there. The Torah tells us that on the third day, Abraham “sawthe place from afar.” The same words, “The Place,” are used here as there. Thus, Yaakov slept in the city which will many years later be known as Jerusalem, on Mount Moriah, on the same place where his grandfather, Abraham, and his father, Yitzchak, were when they passed their greatest test. On that very same spot, the Holy Temple was built many years later.

Q.What was the significance that the ladder extended from the ground all the way to heaven?

A. According to our sages, the ladder which Jacob saw in his dream represents the ladder on which our prayers ascend to G-d and through which G-d's blessings come down to us.

"Ladder" in Herbrew is "Sulom", which has a numerical value of 136. The numerical value of "Mamon" (money) and "Oni" (poverty) is also 136. This teaches us that everyone, rich and poor alike, have the same access to G-d.

It also teaches us that wealth or poverty is determined from above. We also learn that wealth can make a person go up or go down. It can work for him or against him, It all depends how one uses it.

SHABBAT  SHALOM

Montrealcandle lighting time: 3:52 / Shabbat ends: 5:01