Unpacking Mefarshim

Using the exegetical approach of allusions we can interpret the entire episode as hinting to mankind. As our Sages say (Zohar 1,147), ויצא יעקב -- this refers to the departure of the soul from the higher world (i.e. in order to descend into a body). And this body is called יעקב on account of the evil urge which is tied to its heels (i.e. impossible to part from it).

and the words מבאר שבע allude to the place from which all souls depart, known as "the well of living waters." The word שבע refers to the oath G-d makes every soul swear when it departs from Heaven, that it will not transgress Torah laws while on Earth (see Niddah 30).

The statement וילך חרנה should be understood along the lines of what our Sages say (Sanhedrin 91) that the evil urge enters a person from the moment he emerges from his mother's womb; as it says (ibid. 4:7) "sin crouches at the entrance, etc."

The words ויפגע במקום indicate that a person has to daven to Hashem, because he is מקומו של עולם, the Omnipresent.

The words וילן שם כי בא השמש indicate that this struggle against the Yetzer HaRa is one in which a person must engage until he departs from this world, when his sun sets. This is why our Sages said (Avot 2:4) "Do not be certain of your righteousness until the day you die."

As for the statement, "He took from the stones of that site;" we can understand them as in line with the statement of our Sages (Berachos 5): "Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said, "A person should constantly incite his Yetzer HaTov, etc., (i.e. against the Yetzer HaRa). If this does not succeed, he should busy himself with Torah study, as is stated (Tehillim 4:5), "say in your heart". This is indicated by the verse, מאבני המקום, that Yaakov took from the stones of that site. The meaning is, בנינו של עולם - the building blocks of the world, i.e. words of Torah. We can also say that המקום אבני - the stones of the place -- or the stones of Hashem -- that one can stone and kill the evil urge and its supporters. This is what the Talmud means (Sotah 21) "Torah saves one from the Yetzer HaRa, whether actively engaged in its study or not."

The Torah goes on, וישם מראשותיו, "he placed these stones under his head," to allude to the statement of Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish that when one fails to vanquish the evil urge one should resort to reciting the קריאת שמע which is recited at night, seeing David speaks of על משכבכם, on your bed (Psalms 4:5).

The words וישכב במקום ההוא - he lay down in that place, alludes to Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish's final statement: "If he did not overcome his Yetzer HaRa, he should ponder his mortality."This is why the Torah used the word וישכב (instead of ויישן - he slept), since it implies "that lying down" in "that place," as is the way of all mortals, in the "Beit moed lechol chai."

Following all these conditions, one who has accomplished these steps, is assured that he will triumph over his Yetzer HaRa. Thus the Torah informs him that he will become worthy of rising aloft on the wings of prophecy: that Hashem will appear to him and speak to him in a dream having a prophetic revelation in a dream. Take note of the dreams of Rabbi Eleazar ben Arach which are recorded in the Zohar (1,139 and in the Zohar Chadash לך לך section 25).

The ladder represents the mystical aspect of the human soul. This is reflected in the fact that when the soul leaves the body while a person sleeps, it's not entirely uprooted from the body; rather, part of it remains within the body. This is what's meant by the description of the ladder as being rooted in the ground, while part reaches the Heavens. Proof of this is that when a person is asleep, he can be awoken by the movements of his sleeping body. If the entire soul had completely departed from the body, the sleeping person would sense these motions. Thus, this image of "being rooted in the ground, with her head reaching the Heavens," that there is no separation between the soul and Heaven. Therefore, a sleeping person is in contact with both Heaven and Earth. This is because while a person sleeps, his Yetzer Hara is nullified, and therefore his soul is able to have contact with Heaven.

The מלאכים עולים ויורדים - the angels ascending and descending etc., hint to the good deeds a person exerts himself to perform in this world and by means of which his soul is able to to transmit light of the other dimensions (atzilus, briah...) to their soul-roots. These are called, in the worlds of Chazal, מיין נוקבים, "feminine waters" (Zohar 1:18). Another name for these lights is מלאכי אלוקים, "angels of G-d." And such is stated in Mishnas Chassidim (i.e. Avot 4:11) "One who does a single good deed acquires for himself a single פרקליט, advocate." When these advocates ascend, they stir up the "masculine waters" to descend. Because the "hisorerus hatachtonim" arouse the upper waters to pour down lights upon the depths of man's soul. This is what is indicated in the words ויורדים בו, "they descend upon him."

The words והנה ה׳ נצב עליו tell us that from this lofty level, man can even rise to the level of nevuah itself, not in a dream, but that the Shechinah will reveal itself to him. (The experience of Yaakov then, is what makes it possible) for our Sages say (Rambam, Hilchos Teshuvah 5), that no Jew is excluded from the potential for prophecy, that all of them are fitting for this experience.