Machshavot HaLev - Yeshivat Lev HaTorah

48
would like to focus on the remarkable, and instructive, peirush that the Rambam
provides at the beginning of Moreh Nevuchim, and to which he hints in numerous
chapters elsewhere in that work.
בלה תובשחמ
In Part I, chapter 15 of this work, the Rambam explains that the ladder reaching
from the earth heavenward is symbolic of the path toward attaining knowledge
of Hashem: As we read in pasuk 13, the Torah portrays Hashem as “standing” at
the head of the ladder; the Rambam instructs us that anyone with the will and the
motivation to do so, may climb up this ladder and attain knowledge of Hashem.
In this vein, the Rambam introduces his remarkable peirush that the “Angels of
G-d” portrayed in the dream do not refer to heavenly beings at all; rather, they
“refer to the prophets”. In this light, the Rambam goes on, the seeming curiosity
of the “angels” ascending prior to descending is not, in fact, curious at all:
How suggestive, too, is the expression ‘ascending and descending on
it’! The ascent is mentioned before the descent since the ‘ascending’,
and arriving at the height of the ladder, must necessarily precede the
‘descending’.
True, then, if the “angels” in the image really refer to human beings, who dwell
on earth, it makes sense that they would have to ascend before descending. But
why is it that they descend at all?!! If the ladder symbolizes the path to knowledge
of Hashem, why would someone who has attained the level of prophecy ever
choose to descend the ladder, leaving the heights he has reached in order to
return earthward? In our own pursuit of knowledge of Hashem and His Torah,
would we ever choose willingly to “descend” from the level that we worked so
hard to reach?
The Rambam goes on to explain that this is in fact the central message of Ya’akov’s
dream: “The descent,” explains the Rambam, “refers to the application of the
knowledge which was acquired in the ascent to the training and instruction of
mankind.”
What does this mean? And why does Hashem choose to convey this message to
Yaakov as he travels to Charan to begin his family?