Heaven on Your Mind

Jacob, our father, dreamed of a ladder that stood firmly on the ground while "…its head reached up to the Heavens…" (Genesis 28:12).

Our great rabbis compare a human being to a ladder that connects Heaven and earth. Although our feet stand on the physical earth, our heads reach to the highest Heavens.

When we forget about Hashem, our heads fall to a very low rung on the ladder. When we subsequently remember Hashem and do teshuva, our heads fill with wisdom and are lifted beyond the twinkly stars. When we become arrogant and angry once again our heads swell up, we become top-heavy and topple over onto the dirt at the bottom of the ladder.  When we speak the truth, for example, “I got angry. I’m sorry Hashem. Please forgive and help me to improve,” our heads are suddenly lifted far above whatever silly situation or person got us angry in the first place.

We don’t always feel ourselves going up and down Jacob’s ladder but it’s happening every second of the day.

Jacob is likened to “truth” so whenever we call to Hashem in truth He lifts us up and brings us closer to Him. Our call to Hashem could even come from the coldest ground beneath the ladder – it doesn’t matter – the moment Hashem hears our honest authentic desire to grow, He reaches down and gently lifts us up again to an even higher level than we were on before.  Hashem’s Glory fills the whole ladder from top to bottom. We don’t think He is with us when we’re lying in mud at the bottom of the ladder, but He’s just as much with us there as He is in the highest Heavens.

Are you standing in a difficult place right now? Is your faith being tested? Know that Hashem is certainly “standing” with you in whatever place you are in no matter how low and filled with despair you might be.  This is exactly what Jacob, our father discovered when he awoke from his sleep and exclaimed: “G-d is in this place and I didn’t [even] know it!”

With your eyes open or closed, take a few deep refreshing breaths and exhale slowly. Think about the ladder that stands firmly on the ground and reaches up to the highest Heavens. When you are walking to the Synagogue or to do a good deed imagine yourself climbing higher on the ladder with each step that you take toward your goal. When you slow down and thank G-d for each heavenly breath of air that He sends you imagine yourself ascending the rungs of the ladder with every breath that you take. When you are praying on your own or from a siddur, imagine yourself climbing higher and higher on the ladder with every word that you say. When you are learning about emuna you are climbing higher up the ladder with every holy word that you learn. When you read a holy book you are skipping up the ladder’s rungs with every word that you read.

When you put someone before yourself, your feet are on the ground but you mind is in Heaven. When you stay calm when your child doesn’t listen to you, your heavenly influenced head is helping your body to fulfill an important mitzvah (commandment) of the Torah. Every time that you thank Hashem, even for something simple like a chair or a plain box you are illuminating that object from the upper rungs of the ladder.

When you thank Hashem for your troubles and show Him how happy you are even when he gives you trials and tribulations, you have achieved the highest height that there is. You have transcended this world and are millions of rungs above the physical world with your feet on the practical ground. You have joined with the ultimate purpose. You are the ladder that unites body and soul and you are the ladder that brings Heaven to earth.