{"id":70053,"date":"2022-10-21T00:00:30","date_gmt":"2022-10-21T05:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=70053"},"modified":"2022-10-21T17:16:20","modified_gmt":"2022-10-21T22:16:20","slug":"off-the-pulpit-ladders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/off-the-pulpit-ladders\/","title":{"rendered":"Off the Pulpit: Ladders"},"content":{"rendered":"

By RABBI DAVID WOLPE<\/p>\n

In Jacob\u2019s dream<\/a>, why do the angels<\/a> who ascend and descend need ladders? Aren\u2019t angels supposed to be able to fly?<\/p>\n

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Ladders point in both directions. Rabbi Jose ben Halafta was once asked what God has been doing since the completion of creation. His answer was that God has been building ladders for some to ascend and others to descend.<\/p>\n

Yeats wrote: \u201cNow that my ladder\u2019s gone, I must lie down where all the ladders start, In the foul rag and bone shop of the heart.\u201d Jacob lay down and found a ladder. It began in the foul rag and bone shop of the heart, but it also stretched to the heavens. Between heaven and the human heart, God has offered us a ladder.<\/p>\n

Rabbi David Wolpe is the senior rabbi of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles.<\/em><\/p>\n

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