Awakening from Below
The depiction of the angels as first ascending and then descending alludes to yet another concept, referred to by Kabbalists and Chassidut as “Awakening from Below.” In this process a human being “arouses” him or herself, taking the initiative and mustering the strength and spirit to draw closer to God. Optimally, we reach God in this way; however, sometimes we run out of steam, fall into the rut of complacency and boredom, or worse, into depression and a sense of utter futility. At this point, if God did not lend a hand, we might be stuck in the status quo for a long time or even become mired in self-pity and self-destructive behavior. Precisely, at these moments in our lives, God often shows his mercy by jump-starting our spiritual cables, granting us an “Awakening from Above.” In Jacob’s dream, the angels ascend first to indicate the ideal way to approach God: by arousing ourselves from below. If we feel that we are unable to motivate ourselves sufficiently, it behooves us to pray to God to arouse us, at least initially. However, sometimes, God, in His great mercy, does not wait for us to make the first move; rather, He sends us unmistakable signs or messages that arouse us to new levels of spiritual awareness.
The angels Jacob envisioned also symbolized the protective angels assigned to each and every person and nation. Jacob’s dream portrayed the broad expanse of Jewish history as evidenced by the movement of the protective angels. Parenthetically, it should be noted, that angels are spiritual energy forces existing in all the created worlds. They help direct different aspects of creation and are intrinsically bound up with the material world, as the Sages declared in Bereishit Rabbah 10: “No blade of grass grows until its [guiding] angel above strikes it and says: ‘Grow!'” Not only does each individual aspect of creation have a guiding spiritual force, all the specific and collective forms, orders, and species of creation have corresponding spiritual forces. These animating root forces direct and sustain physical development. This incredibly complex hierarchy of spiritual energy forces, called angels, exists in all the various worlds.
However, according to Jewish tradition the soul’s source is rooted in a higher world (that of Creation) than the angels’ source (that of Formation) because angels lack free will. Without free will there can be no ultimate spiritual advancement. In fact, free will is perhaps the most important characteristic distinguishing human beings from angels and establishing humanity’s creation in the “image of God.” The Torah’s focus on the angels’ ascent also symbolizes two other remarkable ideas that pervade Jewish tradition (particularly Kabbalah and Chassidut): (1) Human thought and action actually create angels; (2) Human actions affect the higher worlds. Thus, in addition to the heavenly angels who perform their tasks as God’s loyal agents, there is another class of angels created by humanity’s earthly doings. Just as no action below occurs without evoking a corresponding action above, so too no action below occurs without creating spiritual energy that subsequently affects the upper worlds.
The Sages therefore taught that human actions create angels: energy forces that depending on the moral and ethical standing of the particular actions, either become defending or prosecuting angels. In this vein, Rabbi Eliezer ben Jacob’s utterance in Pirkei Avot (4:13) can be understood quite literally: “He who fulfills even a single mitzvah gains himself a single advocate and he who commits even a single sin gains himself a single accuser.” We are effected by spiritual forces from above, yet perhaps more profoundly, we affect the essential fabric of all the spiritual worlds above us. The intrinsic link between the physical and spiritual worlds creates a complex web of interactions and mutual influences.
As Jacob lay and dreamt that awesome night he was simultaneously creating angels and receiving Divine instruction from the “angels of God” on multiple levels. His dream was a projection from below of his hopes and fears, his thoughts and anxieties, as he faced the future. From above, God was sending messages of comfort and revelation. Their entire communication was translated into a vision of angels ascending and descending on a ladder set firmly in the earth with its top reaching the heavens.
