By Rabbi Alan Iser

This week’s Torah portion is Vayetze: Genesis 28:10 – 32:3

The D’var Torah for Parshat Vayetze inadvertently appeared in our Nov. 20 issue, and we are reprinting it here in conjunction with this week’s Torah portion. We sincerely regret the error.

There is a story in the Talmud about a rabbi who had a dream and went to 24 different dream interpreters. Each offered a different interpretation, and he felt each one to be valid. This week’s Torah portion begins with Jacob’s famous dream of a ladder to heaven. It, too, has been subject to multiple explanations.

Jacob’s dream has both visual and verbal content. In the dream, Jacob sees a ladder (sulam, in Hebrew) extending from the ground on which he sleeps to the sky. Angels are going up and down on the ladder.

God is “s

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