Thoughts from Rabbi Wolpe's Torah study class today. Genesis 28:10: Jacob's dream and the ladder. Whatever is creative and original in what I have to say please attribute to Rabbi Wolpe. I take responsibility for whatever is confusing or incorrect in what follows.
In the ancient world, people perhaps believed in angels much more than today. There may have also been a belief that angels could operate in only certain geographical areas...perhaps an angel could operate in Canaan, but not cross the border to Haran. Why are angels going up and going down the ladder? If Jacob had guardian angels, then perhaps those who had come this far with him on his journey were done, and a new shift is coming to work, to go on with him as he journeys on to Haran.
Another interpretation is that Jacob was already known as a celebrity; he had indeed inherited the blessing originally given to Abraham. His person may have already been known about in heaven. When the angels in heaven heard that he had been "sighted" at Bethel, where the dream occurs, they came down to get a look at him in person...a "celebrity sighting".
Another interpretation: the ladder, with angels going up and down, is a foretelling of Jacob's life, and indeed all our lives, which will have periods where things are going "up" for us, and periods which are "downers" for us. Sort of an ancient version of a roller coaster.
( For more on angels, see Psalms 91:11 and John 1:51 )
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