Bereishit 28:12

And he dreamed, and behold! a ladder set up on the ground and its top reached to heaven; and behold, angels of God were ascending and descending upon it.

The Commentary

Jacob isn’t the only one in the Torah to have a dream—but he is in a select group. Only six other people in the Torah have dreams. What makes Jacob’s dream unique is that his dream is the only one whose interpretation is not given explicitly in the Torah. And perhaps because we are not told the meaning behind his dream, many, many of our commentaries offer their interpretation. I believe this suggests or underscores that each of us has her/his own dream.

Rav Chisda, Berachot 55a, says, “A dream that has not been interpreted is like a letter that has not been read.” Continuing onto 55b, Rav Levi teaches that one can hope that a positive dream comes true for as long as 22 years.

Jacob’s ladder went from earth to heaven. Metaphorically, our feet should be on the ground; but our dreams must be big! Dream—all the way to the heavens. From earth to heaven connects the two worlds. Everything we do in this world has an impression in heaven. We stand in both worlds, our bodies and our souls. If we were only in this world we would be no different from the animals. We are supposed to have morals and ethics—all divinely inspired. A ladder leans against a house—it is supported by the building in the same way that God supports us. The more we rely on Hashem, the more he supports us. Everything we do on earth is focused on serving God above. The leaning of the ladder also shows that each rung occupies its own space. Each rung is in its own horizontal plane as well as being at its own level. Similarly, we change with every step. We grow and move on. We are always being challenged—to reach our own individual potential—but as long as we are on the ladder we do not stand in one place. And no matter how tough things appear at the moment we know it just the moment—you are standing on one step.

Exercise

You don’t need to dream about fitness, but as with any endeavor you do need to set goals. In my last article I wrote about cardio, strength and flexibility. Those are the means to the ends, the categories of tools. In order to reach your potential you need to set goals.

Goals need to be specific. Simply wanting to lose weight, lose inches, improve cardio is not sufficient. Quantify your goals, for example: 20 pounds in six months, three inches in six weeks, 15 mm Hg in 8 weeks. Without specific goals, you’ll never know if you’ve achieved your goal.

It helps if you write them down. Dream big, but make sure your goals are achievable.

Once you’ve set your goals, you’ll be able to figure out what type of exercise program you should be on. Really specific goals may sound too granular, especially if you’re just starting out, but there are differences among them. Is your goal to lose 20 pounds of fat or do you want to lose the fat and also gain some muscle? High-intensity cardio versus moderate-paced long duration. Functional training versus weight training. Heavy weight, low number of repetitions or light weight for many quick repetitions. (If some of these terms are not familiar to you—relax. As with anything that’s new, you will learn and get comfortable.)

Turn your dreams into reality.

By Jay Hirschhorn