Jacob’s dream in Jewish tradition

The ladder of history?

Definitely, there have been many interpretations of Jacob’s dream in Jewish tradition. For instance, in Midrash Tanhuma the ladder is taken to imply the ladder of history. The ascent of one nation on it implies the descent of its predecessor. The ladder is not an endless one, but the Lord stands at its top, as the master of history, assuring us that pride and despotism will be brought low, until His sovereignty alone is recognized.
 

Mount Sinai?

Interesting interpretations are based on Gematria. This is a Jewish interpretive method that calculates the numerical value of a word and then matches it with another word with the same value. The numerical value of the word ladder in Hebrew- Sulam - סֻלָּם is 130 ( ס=60, ל=30 ם=40). Amazingly, 130 is also the value of the word Sinai (סיני-: ס=60, י=10, נ=50 י=10). Jacob’s ladder might represent the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai. This is another crucial moment in the Jewish history when Heaven and Earth met.
   

Rediscover the most famous biblical stories 

We explore a few more intriguing Jewish interpretations of Jacob’s dream in our course: “Discovering the Hebrew Bible”. All of them are based on the original Hebrew text of the Torah. In this unique live online course we read the most famous biblical stories and reinterpret the important Hebrew names and verses. Enroll today, and together we will discover these fascinating nuggets of meaning.