“He had a dream; a ladder was set on the ground and its top reached to the sky, and angels of Elokim were going up and down on it.” (Beraishis 28/12)
The Medrash Rabbah (68/12) comments on this: behold, a ladder was set on the ground- this is referring to the ramp of the mizbayach (alter) in the Bais HaMikdash, its top reached to the sky- this is referring to the sacrifice, and angels of Hashem were going up and down on it- this is referring to the kohanim.
Rabbanin explain this possuk differently; it is referring to Har Sinai at the time that we received the Torah: behold, a ladder- this is referring to Mt. Sinai (Sinai and "sulam" (ladder in Hebrew) have the same numerical value of 130), set on the ground- is referring to the Jewish Nation that stood on the ground underneath the mountain, its top reached to the sky- refers to the mountain that was ablaze with flames to the very skies at the time of the giving of the Torah (Devorim 4/21).
In short, according to one opinion Hashem showed Yaakov his descendants will build a mizbayach in this place where he was and bring korbanos while according to the other opinion Hashem showed Yaakov that his descendants will receive the Torah.
Zera Shimshon asks how are these two ideas related to Yaakov's leaving Yitzchok's house to go to Lavan and why did Hashem show them to him specifically at this time?
Zera Shimshon answers by first asking a question and explaining a different Medrash.
It is written in the end of last week's parsha that right before Yaakov left Yitzchok's house (Braishis 28/1), "And Yitzchok called for Yaakov to come and he blessed him...". The medrash explains that the blessing Yitzchok blessed Yaakov was "the bracha of exile". Zera Shimshon asks what does it mean "the bracha of exile"? Exile is a punishment and not a blessing!
Zera Shimshon explains this question in light of a third medrash (Braishis Rabbah 44/21) at the Bris Bain HaBesarrim Hashem showed to Avraham Gehenom, dominance of the nations of the world over Bnei Yisroel (sheibod malchios), Torah, and korbono .Hashem told Avraham as long as his descendants will be involved in the latter two, Torah and korbonos, they will be spared from the first two. Hashem told Avraham to choose which of the two ways he wants his children to be punished, and Avraham chose bondage which is milder than the punishment of Gehenom.
Since Klal Yisroel will certainly have to be purified before the world will reach its completion, and bondage is milder than Gehenom we can understand why going into exile and being under the rule of other nations is considered a bracha.
Zera Shimshon explains that after Yaakov left Yitzhok and was on his way to Lavan's house he was thinking about this "bracha" he received and became very concerned and distressed about the exile that his future generations will suffer.
Chazal teach us (Berachos 56a) a person is shown in his dream what he thought about in the day, so in order to console Yaakov, Hashem showed him in a dream that his children will not necessarily have to suffer in exile. If they will bring korbonos and keep and learn the Torah they will be spared the suffering of exile.
This idea that Yaakov's dream were based on what he thought about on the way to Charan is the key to understand two other medrashim in the parsha.
The first one; R' Yehoshua ben Levi explained that these pessukim are alluding to the Babylonian exile. The appearance of the angels going up the ladder symbolized Nevuchadnezzar will rule over, and subjugate Bnei Yisroel. This state however will not last forever, as symbolized by the angels coming down the ladder, and Nevuchadnezzar’s suppression will eventually stop. Once again, one may ask, why did Hashem chose specifically this time to show Yaakov that the suffering of Bnei Yisroel in the hands of Nebuchadnezzer will be temporary? The answer is like we wrote before, while Yaakov was on his way to Charan he was thinking of "the blessing of exile" and was troubled about his descendants' suffering and therefore dreamed about it. Hashem showed him that it was only temporary to calm Yaakov.
The second Medrash is on the possuk "'and the angels (plural) of Elokim were going up and going down on it".
The medrash comments; Hashem showed Yaakov o ne and a third worlds. Meaning, there were four angels, two going up and two going down and it is written that every angel has a width of one third of the world. Therefore, Yaakov was shown one and a third worlds (4 x ⅓=1⅓). The obvious questions are what did Yaakov gain by seeing one and a third worlds and why did Hashem show them to him at that time?
Zera Shimshon answers that there are two worlds, this world and Olam Habah and each world can be divided into three parts which is a total of six parts. Yaakov left right after he received the brachos from Yitzchak that were meant to be for Eisav. Yaakov began to doubt the validity of his buying the birthright from Eisav. Since the first born receives a double portion, Hashem showed Yaakov 4/6 which is double the portion of Eisav (Eisav received 2/6), to reassure Yaakov that the sale was valid and that he was the bechor.
HaRav Shimshon Nachmani, author of Zera Shimshon lived in Italy about 300 years ago in the time of the Or HaChaim HaKodesh The Chida writes that he was a great Mekubal and wrote many sefarim including sefarim about “practical kabbolo" and asked that all of his sefarim be buried after he passes away except for Zera Shimshon and Niflaos Shimshon on Avos.
