And he (Jacob) dreamed: Behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to the heavens, and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.  And behold, the Lord stood beside him….

And Jacob awoke and said “Surely, God is in this place and I did not know.” [Bereshit 28: 12, 16]

The story of Jacob’s dream is an interesting one.  And the rabbis of our tradition spend much time interpreting the meaning of the ladder and attempting to explain the strange language that describes the angels first ascending and then descending.  There are many clever explanations that both inspires and bring clarity to this enigmatic episode.

But this week I’ve been thinking quite a bit about Jacob’s actions directly following this dramatic dream.  The text tells us that first Jacob got up in the morning and took the stone that he had slept on during the night and anoints it.  Then he bestows a new name on the location: Bet El (later Bethel) which means “House of God”.  And finally, Jacob makes a conditional vow:  IF God will with him and keep him safe, giving sustenance and clothing and allowing him to return to his father’s house in peace THEN the Lord will be his God, the pillar will be God’s and Jacob will give a tenth of all he has to God.

Now it seems to me that this is outrageous behavior for our ancestor Jacob.  You may recall that he has just recently escaped the wrath of his brother for appropriating his brother’s identity in order to gain their father’s birthright blessing.  And now, he has had this vivid dream of God’s presence assuring him of his future blessings.  In return, he makes a CONDITIONAL vow?  

Despite the rabbinic interpretation to the contrary, perhaps we are learning here that Jacob still has a long road toward spiritual maturation.  Oh, he has a great deal of desire to ascend to the level of his grandfather, Abraham - his vow to dedicate one-tenth of his wealth to God mirrors the vow made earlier by Abraham (Bereshit 14:20).  In fact, the entire dream can be seen as a hint that Jacob has much room for growth.  After all, he dreams of a sulam - a ladder.  And it is precisely a ladder that will take us from the lower levels of spiritual desire to spiritual knowledge.  Perhaps his vision of the angels ascending is a message that he too can ascend if he desires.  And, after he awakes Jacob tells us that he did not know that God was present.  Jacob is AWARE that he must find his own ladder to be able to ascend toward God.  

When we hear the vow we hear this Jacob who is aware but not yet developed.  In time, Jacob will have plenty of time to spend working for Lavan and will grow tremendously as he pursues the love of his life.  It will be this more mature Jacob who will finally have his name changed to Yisrael and who will eventually earn his right to stand alongside his father and grandfather as a patriarch of our people.  

Perhaps we can discern that Jacob is taking a first step on the ladder toward God.  In the first few steps he has good intention but falls just short when he makes this conditional vow.  

In our own lives it is very easy for us to imagine that we are much farther up on the holy ladder than we actually are.  We posture around and we make promises and vows that sound magnificent and so full of good intention.  But, in fact, when we really are able to ascend to that higher level of spirituality our words and intentions will be anything but verbal.  It will be our actions that speak volumes - our actions of tzedakah, kindness and goodness; actions that are wholly without personal gain or attribution; actions that take place in the world anonymously but bring relief to pain and suffering in a broken world.

Jacob will grow.  He will become Israel.  We, too, can grow.  We, too, aspire to become Israel.