Current Text
Commentary synthesized by the editor from various sources will be added regularly to the current topic text until it is complete. After that a new topic or story will begin. The completed topic or story will then move to the Archives. Our current selection is the story of Jacob's Ladder.

Text - - Genesis 28
Commentary
 28:1
And Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, and said unto him, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan.
 28:2
Arise, go to Padanaram, to the house of Bethuel thy mother's father; and take thee a wife from thence of the daughers of Laban thy mother's brother.
 28:3
And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people;
 28:4
And give thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee, and to thy seed with thee; that thou mayest inherit the land wherein thou art a stranger, which God gave unto Abraham.
 28:5
And Isaac sent away Jacob: and he went to Padanaram unto Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob's and Esau's mother.
 28:6
When Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob, and sent him away to Padanaram, to take him a wife from thence; and that as he blessed him he gave him a charge, saying, Thou shalt not take a wife of the daughers of Canaan;
 28:7
And that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother, and was gone to Padanaram;
 28:8
And Esau seeing that the daughters of Canaan pleased not Isaac his father;
 28:9
Then went Esau unto Ishmael, and took unto the wives which he had Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael Abraham's son, the sister of Nebajoth, to be his wife.



28:1 Though in the previous chapter Jacob had deceived Isaac and taken the blessing meant for Esau, Isaac again blesses Jacob. This indicates that there were separate blessings for Jacob and Esau. The fact that Jacob has taken a blessing meant for Esau does not negate the blessings meant for him, Jacob.

28:3 In some translations it is indicated that Jacob will be a "great congregation." This can then be compared to the promises made to Abraham and Isaac that they would be a great people. Jacob gives birth to the twelve tribes who become the Jewish people. SEE Special Studies below on "Almighty."

In Gen 28:4 we again see that this blessing was meant for Jacob because the land of Israel was always meant for Jacob.


28:5 We are told something that we already know, that Rebekah is the mother of Esau and Jacob. We are told this do that we remain aware that in spite of everything she still thinks of Esau as her son.

According to Nachmanides, Jacob's being sent back to the family in Haran to find a wife tells us that Jacob is considered to be the heir of Abraham, not Esau.

28:6 When Esau sees that Jacob gets blessed for going to take a wife from outside of Canaan, Esau thinks that it will be much better for him if he marries one of Uncle Ishmael's daughters. In fact, in verse 9 he even takes another wife. All, apparently, in the hopes of regaining the blessing.

28:9 Esau now learns that marrying his cousins of Uncle Ishmael does not make Isaac proud, decides to become more recalcitrant and marry another one.
Parashas Vayeitzei
[This verse begins the portion of the yearly Torah reading cycle known as Parashas Vayeitzei.]
 28:10
And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran.
 28:11
And he lighted upon a certain place, and tarried there all night, because the sun was set; and he took of the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep.
 28:12
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.
 28:13
And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed;
 28:14
And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
 28:15
And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.
 28:16
And Jacob awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not.
 28:17
And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.
 28:18
And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it.
 28:19
And he called the name of that place Bethel: but the name of that city was called Luz at the first.
 28:20
And Jacob vowed a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on,
 28:21
So that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall the LORD be my God:
 28:22
And this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house: and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee.
28:10 The great Torah scholar Rashi says that the reason we are told that Jacob leaves Beersheba is to let us, the reader, know that whenever a city says goodbye to a righteous person - - a Tzaddik, that city loses something special.

In Judaism, the family is considered the holiest place in the world. The religious life of the Jew is centered on family and not the synagogue. This is typified by the Sabbath which is celebrated in the home. Jacob is the father of the twelve tribes and thus the starter of the Jewish family and he is going to begin such by first leaving a city known for its peace and traveling to a hostile place - outside the Holy Land in Haran, the city that Abraham was told to leave. But since Jacob is Jacob, Haran gets a holy person.

According to the Midrash, when Jacob leaves Beersheba for Haran he doesn't go directly there. The Midrash says that he first goes to the famous yeshiva (school) run by his famous great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather Eber and his great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather Shem, Noah's son and fellow shipmate in the Ark.

A careful look at the ages of people mentioned in the book of Genesis will show that Shem and Eber were still alive when Jacob was alive. It is interesting to note that when Abraham was alive, Noah was too!

According to the Midrash, Shem and Eber opened a school to teach people the way of the one true God. This school, or academy, was famous.

In Chassidic teaching the verse is said to indicate the journey of the soul. The Soul leaves its place 'above' and descends into the world. The world here is denoted as Haran, a word that denotes anger. The idea simply is that the soul travels to a place where it is to inspire anger against the evil inclination that resides in us all.

28:11 It is said that he place Jacob comes to is the place where his father Isaac bound himself and allowed his father Abraham to offer him as a sacrifice.

In the Hebrew a word used in the phrase "And he spent the night there" is v'yalon and the word yalon is a word indicating 'complaints.' Again, in Chassidic teaching this indicates that the soul has complaints about being sent from above to this world.

Chassidic teaching also says that by mentioning that the sun had set we are being told that basically Jacob is in the world because the light of God does not shine as bright here as it does in Heaven. The cure for the soul's pain is to take from 'the stones of the place.' According to the Sefer Yetzirah ( a mystical or kabbalistic document), the word 'stones' represents the letters of the Torah; while the commentators of the Talmud say that the 'place' is indicative of GOD, who is called  "The place of the world."  The stones are therefore the words of the Torah.

28:12 Since the text states first that angels were going up and then that other angels were coming down some say that the angels escorting Jacob throughout Israel were finished with their job and the angels who were to escort him in Haran were coming down to take their place. Other commentators such as Nachmanides and Ibn Ezra show that this is how angels work, they travel up to receive commands form God and then come back down to carry them out.

On another level the ladder represents the connection of Heaven to earth. The ladder shows the need to use the intellect and take a step by step approach to God. The angels represent the emotion involved, Jacob feeling the presence of angels. God, though, is right there. You don't need the ladder and you don't need the emotion - He is simply there. According to the Midrash the ladder had 4 steps. The Kabbalists teach that - The Shacharith,  the Jewish morning service, is divided, according to the Kabbalistic teachers, into 4 steps - The Introductory Readings, the Verses of Praise, the Shema and its blessings, and the Amidah. Some of the great Jewish mystics interpret these steps as the steps one must climb to reach the highest levels of spirituality. The four levels of meditation are action (God created us in His image and through the body we receive blessings), speech (bridging the gap between the spiritual and the physical - we can speak to God, thus transcending our animal nature, thought (the only means we have to 'think' about God) and the level above that which is the experience of "nothingness" (a quiet state where all thought and distraction has ceased and your spirit is ready for a pure encounter with the Divine).

28:13 This expression the "Lord was standing over..." can also be expressed as 'standing on.' In this latter case we can think of Jacob as a Chariot of the Lord. In simple terms, God can use Jacob as a vehicle.
 In this verse God also states that the lineage of His Chosen is through Abraham, then Isaac, and now Jacob. He states that Abraham is his father as Abraham is the spiritual father of the nation. Interestingly, in the Torah this is the only instance where God says that He is the God of someone living, in this case Isaac. Usually, it is not until someone has completed their journey on earth that God will say that He is the God of that person since it is conceivable, like in the case of Solomon, that someone can turn away from Him before their death. It is probable that Isaac merits this distinction since he was consecrated as a sacrifice to God on that day where he voluntarily had himself bound and placed on the altar under his father Abraham's knife.

28:14 God makes a promise to Jacob that his descendants will literally spread out over the world and that their influence will spread, as well. The various exiles alone have fulfilled this promise. God also says that the families of the earth will be blessed by their seed. Interestingly, aside from the probable intent that God is referring to the messiah, it is interesting to make an arguable note that countries that have taken the Jews into their borders have also prospered economically by their presence. As an editorial comment It may be that when Christians embrace Jews, everyone benefits.

28:16 Jacob is astonished to find God here. Perhaps he thought that God lived in Heaven only and not also on the earth! Jacob may have not realized fully that "all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD." (Num 14:21) It is also said that when one is busy with worldly affairs that he is on the level of Jacob and that when he has repented and pursued the spiritual that he is on the level of Israel (Jacob's two names were Jacob and Israel). In the former state he is considered to be asleep. When Jacob wakes up from his sleep he realizes that he was and is and always will be standing near the King, since God is everywhere.

28:17 Jacob realizes that right here, where he is standing is the Gate of Heaven and appears shocked that he did not recognize it as such. At the same time, Jacob may also be saying that wherever you are - you standing at the Gate of Heaven.

28:18 And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put for his pillows, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it.

Note that throughout the Bible whenever the righteous are going to undertake a task for God that they always wake up early in the morning. On this morning though something strange apparently happened. Back in Verse Gen 28:11 Jacob placed stones around his head, but when he awoke the "stones" had become a single "stone." Jacob anoints the stone with oil. In the Torah oil is associated with thanking God for Holiness. Wine is associated with the joy of food and water with thanking God for nature.

28:19 The word Bethel means "House of God." An interesting note concerning Luz, which is Jerusalem, is that this is the term for that portion of the body that always remains. The Luz is located in the base of the spine and neither decays nor can it be destroyed by burning. It is thought that since this part of the physical body always remains that it will be used in the resurrection. In context, the city of Jerusalem may be buried under, but it will always come back.
28:20 Jacob seems to fear that he will commit some error that will cause him to lose God's protection. He has faith in God, but not himself. There is in Chassidic thought significance that Jacob prays for food to eat and clothes to wear, since after all it appears redundant. Why else would you want food except to eat it and clothes except to wear them? Through comparing the usage of the word "wear" in Hebrew (lilvosh) used here in relationship to wearing clothes and later in the torah in reference to the priests being commanded to "dress up" (lilvosh) in 8 types of clothes on Yom Kippur it is inferred that performing actions, mitzvoth, brings blessing. Placing the show bread on the table in front of the altar brings bread, sacrifices bring meat, and so on. [It is not an example of being 'legalistic', it is simply that performing God's laws and commandments lines us up in proper stance to be able to receive blessings.] Furthermore, it is said that when a righteous person performs various actions he is able to bless the world through those actions. While Jacob lived with Isaac his actions brought blessings, but because he is now leaving Israel and returning to a land of idolatry in Haran he is concerned that his actions won't have effect. Jacob therefore prays that not only will his needs be met but that in turn he will still have the power to bring blessing on the world - - food for eating and clothing for wearing.
Special Studies (as linked to the text above)
 The phrase "God Almighty" here in Genesis 28:3 is translated in the Hebrew as El Shaddai - - Shin Daled Yud. This Name literally depicts God as He "Who is Sufficient." God has sufficient power to give whatever is necessary and is always sufficient in his granting of mercies. Shaddai represents Divine power that has been harnessed for sacred purposes.

There is also a connotation of "it's enough" - - Sha Omen Dai. God has enough for every creature. God says "it's enough" and can stop pain and suffering. The Name also denotes strength. God has created everything in the perfect amounts to make the universe work. In a midrashic statement attributed to R. Yitzhak in Bereshit Rabbah 46:2 ". . . I am He who said to My universe - to the heavens dai (enough) and to the earth dai (enough). If I had not said to them dai, they would have continued to expand until today."  (quoted in The History and Varieties of Jewish Meditation by Mark Verman.)

The concept of "enough" also extends to life. When the Jews accept a life under the Torah they need to learn about borders and know when it is enough. The Jews can eat and enjoy food - -but only certain kinds. The Torah is filled with laws concerning trade and money. You ca earn money, but you must be honest. Humans need to know the limits, their boundaries. There is a word in the Hebrew for sin that denotes "crossing." You need to know what is acceptable and when you are "crossing the line." God gave us the Torah so that we can learn and implement the right restriction in our life so that we can become a people He can use.