[Yakov] saw in his dream a ladder standing on the ground with its head in the sky, and he saw angels ascending and descending it.

(Bereishit 28:12)

Yakov saw the patron-angel of Babylon ascend and descend, the angel of Mede ascend and descend, the angel of Greece ascend and descend and the angel of Rome ascend and descend. Hashem then said to Yakov, "Now you, too, climb the ladder!" Yakov was suddenly fearful. "Perhaps," he said, "just like these angels descended after climbing the ladder, I too will, G-d forbid, have to descend if I climb it." Hashem reassured him, "Do not fear, for if you climb the ladder you will never descend from it." But Yakov did not trust in Hashem and he did not ascend the ladder.

"Nevertheless, they sinned again and they did not have faith in Hashem's wonders" (Tehilim 78:32)... -- this verse refers to our forefather Yakov, who did not have faith in Hashem and did not ascend the ladder. Hashem told Yakov... now that you did not have faith in Me, your children will have to undergo four exiles in this world, during which they will be subject to many forms of taxation.

(Midrash Raba Vayikra 29:2; Tanchuma Vayetze #2)

The words of the Midrash require further elucidation:

(1) How can a person sin in a dream?

(2) Why was Yakov afraid to ascend, and why were the consequences of his refusal so extensive?

(3) The verse quoted in the second half of the Midrash clearly states, "*they* sinned... *they* did not trust...." How can it be referring to Yakov? In fact, it seems quite obvious from the context of the verse that it is referring to the Jewish People at the time of the Egyptian Exodus, and not to Yakov!

Our Midrash undoubtedly contains within it numerous teachings. It was meant to be understood in many different ways, each consistent with a different Masoretic approach to the Torah. Let us try to understand it at least on a simple level.

When was that point? It would appear that it involved the period when Yakov returned to the land of Israel after 20 years of service in the house of his uncle Lavan. Hashem was warning Yakov to return proudly to the land that "leads to the sky." The word "ascend" is appropriate, since traveling towards Eretz Yisrael is called "ascending" ("Aliyah"), in the words of our Sages -- Zevachim 54b).

(2) When the Midrash continues, "Yakov did not trust in Hashem and he did not ascend the ladder," it is not referring to events that took place on the night of Yakov's dream. Rather, it is allegorically referring to the events that transpired when Yakov eventually did return to Israel. "He was afraid," says the Midrash. As the Torah tells us, upon approaching the land of Israel, Yakov saw his brother Esav coming to attack him, 400 strong. "Yakov was very frightened, and he was troubled" (Bereishit 32:8).

Hashem had warned him in his dream, "Do not be afraid! I will be with you!" But Yakov did not realize the meaning of his dream until too late. Instead of unabashedly returning to his homeland, he makes elaborate plans to flatter Esav and to appease his anger. His strategies include bowing down to Esav and sending him a large gift with hundreds of heads of cattle. As Rashi explains (Bereishit 32:11), Yakov feared that although Hashem had previously promised him protection, he had since become tainted by sin and would not be deserving of Hashem's protection.

His punishment is an appropriate one. For bowing down to Esav, Esav will be made his superior. Yakov will be *subjugated* to him during long years of exile. For showering his wealth on Esav needlessly, he will be *taxed* mercilessly during those years.

Our strength as a nation is deeply rooted in the faultlessness of our great ancestors, the three Patriarchs. It was they who laid the foundation upon which the nation was built by imbuing in their offspring their love for and fear of Hashem. Even the tiniest fault in the foundation of a large structure can cause an enormous instability in its upper stories.

Yakov's fear of Esav reflected an otherwise insignificant flaw in his fear of Hashem since, as the Chovas ha'Levavos writes, true fear of Hashem leaves no room for any other fears. This flaw was amplified in his descendants, and it eventually brought them to sin in such a way that many years of exile were required to rectify their sin. Thus, the Midrash is justified in suggesting that the verse, "*they* sinned... *they* did not have faith...," referring to a lack of faith among the Jews who had fled Egypt, at the same time reflects a flaw in our forefather Yakov.

The Jews, already standing on the border of the Holy Land, suddenly got cold feet. They asked Moshe to send spies into the land to determine their chances for a successful conquest. Instead of encouraging the people that the land was as beautiful as had been promised, the returning spies cause the people's hearts to sink with their tales of the might of the fearsome natives. And just as Yakov had been thrown off by the fear of his brother Esav, the last straw in the spies' argument was that the infamous nation of Amalek, Esav's grandchild, was waiting in the South to attack the Jews as they enter the land of Israel (Bamidbar 13:29). "Why did Hashem bring us to this land," they wept, "to fall by our enemy's sword!" (ibid. 14:3).

We indeed find that the eventual exile of the Jewish People was related to this sin. As the Mishnah tells us (Ta'anis 26b), on the very same day of the year that the Jews cried over the discouraging reports of the spies, both the first and the second Temples were destroyed by the enemy. Any Jews who survived the enemy's merciless onslaught were exiled.

However, along with the key to our defeat, Yakov's dream contains the key to our redemption. As the Midrash tells us, "We find that when the Jews are in exile, they will only return to their land in the merit of their *faith* in Hashem" (Yalkut Shimoni 2:519). May Hashem grant us the strength to merit the final return to Zion, speedily, in our days!