In the beginning of the Torah portion of Vayetzei, Yaakov has a “realistic” dream of angels going up and down a ladder from the ground to heaven. The Medrish Tanchuma (2) says that those angels were the ministering angels for each empire that subjugated the Jews and exiled them: Babylonia, Madai/Persia, Greece, and Edom/Rome+.
The Medrish relates, “Rebbe Brechia says in the name of Rebbe Chelbo and Rebbe Shmuel ben Yoseina we learn that Hashem showed Yaakov Avinu the ministering angels of Bavel go up and down, and of Madai go up and down, and of Greece go up and down, and of Edom (Rome+) go up and down. Hashem said to Yaakov, ‘Why don’t you go up?’ At that moment Yaakov Avinu got scared and said, “Just as they have a going down I also will have a going down.’ Hashem said back to him, ‘If you go up you won’t come down.’ He didn’t believe Him and didn’t go up. Rebbe Shmuel ben Yoseina extrapolated this from the pasuk, “Nevertheless, they sinned further and did not believe in His wonders” (Tehillim 78:32). Hashem said to Yaakov, ‘If you would have gone up and you would have had faith, you would never had gone down, but since you didn’t have faith, then your children will be subjugated to these four kingdoms in this world through all types of taxes.’ Yaakov asked Him, ‘Will it last forever?’ He said back to him, ‘”Do not fear my servant Yaakov, the word of Hashem, and don’t be afraid, Israel; for behold, I am saving you from distant places, and your descendants from the land of their captivity” (Yirmiyahu 30:10). From the land of Magelia, from Aspamia, and their neighboring countries. And Yaakov will return from Bavel, and have quiet from Madai, tranquility from Greece and no trembling from Edom. For I will decimate all the nations you will wind up in who clear out their fields, but you Israel who leave a corner of your field, I will not decimate, rather I will cause you to suffer in this world in order to cleanse you from your sins, to be ready for the future to come.’” (Click here for Hebrew text.)
The Etz Yosef explains the conversation Hashem had with Yaakov. Yaakov thought that there are no guarantees for the righteous in this world, since he might come to sin. Normally when a guarantee by Hashem does not come through a prophet it is usually on condition that the one being promised to, does not sin. So, because this guarantee was directly from the mouth of Hashem to Yaakov, Yaakov was afraid that transgressions would cause him to lose Hashem’s guarantee. When the medrish says that Yaakov didn’t trust, it means that he didn’t trust in himself, just like Chaza”l say: “Don’t trust in yourself until the day of your death.” However, Hashem said back to Yaakov that even though he or his descendants might sin, He will not bring them down from their greatness. Rather, they would take from the Hand of Hashem punishment through other forms of suffering. Yaakov was still hesitant and didn’t go up, so the Etz Yosef explains that Hashem’s response to that was that since you didn’t believe in yourself and didn’t trust in My kindness to fulfill My promise that even though they will sin against Him, still He plainly said, ‘And you shall not fear’. Accordingly it’s written by Avraham Avinu that “he believed in Hashem,” and the Ramban there says that Avraham believed in this guarantee in the righteousness of Hashem and His Kindness and not in His reward that he gives out. Therefore Avraham was not scared lest sin might make him and his descendants undeserving; but Yaakov, since he didn’t trust that Hashem would protect him even when they sin, and he thought the guarantee was on condition that they wouldn’t sin, he was therefore punished, and it was decreed that his children would be subjugated for their sins, and would not merit Hashem by Himself handling the accounting of their sins.
Yaakov Avinu is one of our forefathers, he was the grandson of Avraham Avinu, and overlapped with him for the first 17 years of his life. (Avraham died in 2123 and Yaakov was born in 2108 from Creation). Hashem testifies in the Torah that he was yoshev b’ohel, sitting in the Tent learning the Torah his father learned from his father, with diligence and sincerity. So how could he have missed this lesson, that Avraham lived by that we must have trust in Hashem and His righteousness and kindness, and not out of expectations of reward?
We must say that in truth Yaakov did believe intellectually that Hashem has the ability to treat him with righteousness and kindness even if he or his descendants will have sinned. However, we must say that on some miniscule level he had a negia, an emotional bias of a guilty conscience, which made him ashamed if he would sin. This bias, though based on a Torah teaching that one should not trust himself until the day of his death, seemed to have stemmed from a focus on his belief in Hashem’s system of reward and punishment, as opposed to Hashem’s kindness and righteousness. It would seem on some level Yaakov was focused on, hope for, and expected reward for his actions, albeit a spiritual reward in Olam Haba. He therefore got caught up, presumably subconsciously, because of his guilty conscience, in the idea that he might not be deserving of Hashem’s kindness and he couldn’t come to terms with the fact that Hashem would act with him and his descendants with righteousness and kindness. Even after Hashem reiterated His guarantee to act in a kind fashion with them.
This is the power of the evil inclination’s weapon of a negia, bias, to focus us on one concept, in this case the Torah concept of strict judgement of reward and punishment of Hashem and overlook or ignore the correct Torah concept applicable to that specific situation, in this case being Hashem’s mercy and kindness.
The way to get rid of a negia is to uproot it from its core. In this case getting rid of the drive for reward, and in fact if Yaakov would have used the concept of “not trusting yourself until you die” to evaluate himself to see why he was not listening to Hashem to go up the ladder, then he might have realized he was being driven by a negia and would have changed course, to choose the proper decision. For not passing this difficult test in his prophetic dream, he was punished.
Good Shabbos,
Rabbi Dovid Shmuel Milder