When Jacob reached Beit El and went to sleep, he dreamed of a ladder, the top of which reached the heavens, and upon which angels were ascending and descending. Then God appeared to him, blessed him, and promised him that his descendants would inherit the land upon which he was resting. The Sages describe the events that transpired on that occasion, which underscore God’s love for Jacob.

[“He came upon the place, and stayed the night there,] because the sun had set” (Genesis 28:11). “Because the sun had set”: This teaches that the Holy One, blessed be He, had the sun set not at its designated time [i.e., it set earlier], in order to speak with Jacob our patriarch in private. This is comparable to the beloved friend of the king who would come to visit him on occasion. The king said: Extinguish the lights, extinguish the lanterns, as I would like to speak with my beloved in private. So, too, the Holy One, blessed be He, had the sun set not at its designated time, in order to speak with Jacob our patriarch in private. It is written concerning Jacob: “He took of the stones of the place” (28:11), in preparing for sleep, and it is then written: “He took the stone that he had placed beneath his head” (28:18). Were there many stones or just one stone? Rabbi Yitzhak said: It teaches that all those stones gathered in one place, and each and every one of them said: Let this righteous person place his head on me. The Sages taught: They were all incorporated into one stone. “He dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set on the earth” (28:12). The Sages taught: How wide was the ladder? Eight thousand parasangs(Bereshit Rabba 68; Ĥullin 91b)