"He had a dream; a ladder was set on the ground and its top reached the sky, and angels of God were going up and down on it. And the Lord was standing beside him [or 'upon it']" (Gen. 28:12-13). As we all know, Yaakov's dream leaves us with a lot of questions and confusion. As I was reading these pessukim, I found it weird that the Torah seemed to emphasize that the ladder was set in the ground and reached the sky. Now, I could be reading way too much into this and perhaps this isn't even a legitimate question, but I came up with an interesting answer!
As we all know Yaakov was naturally a spiritual person. He connected with G-d and, according to the midrash, was very learned. My thought is that maybe the ladder was trying to show him his place in the world. He is living on earth, not in the heavens. Maybe this is a message for Yaakov to 'stick to the ground' and become a more worldly person, like a leader. This is why Yaakov builds the Beit Elokim because, as Aviva's blog says, he was becoming a leader and spreading the word of G-d. No matter how spiritual Yaakov may be, he needs to remember that he is still living on the earth not in the heavens. If this interpretation makes any sense, than I think the ladder serves as an important symbol for Yaakov and also is tied to Yaakov's turning point where he starts to become a leader.
P.S.- I'm not sure why this has a weird background. I can't figure out how to fix it!
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