The Vast Ladder of Jacob's Dream and the Land Folded Beneath Him

(Genesis 28:12-13) "And he dreamed, and behold a ladder." It was taught: the width of the ladder was eight thousand parsangs, as it is written "ascending and descending on it" - ascending, two, and descending, two; and when they meet one another they are four. And it is written of the angel, "and his body was like beryl [tarshish]" (Daniel 10:6), and it is a tradition that a tarshish is two thousand parsangs. It was taught: those who ascended gazed upon the image above, and those who descended gazed upon the likeness of the image below, and wished to harm him. Immediately, "and behold, the LORD stood over him" (Genesis 28:13). Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said: were it not written in Scripture, it would be impossible to say it - like a man who fans his son [to protect him]. "The land on which you lie, to you I will give it and to your seed" (Genesis 28:13). What is the greatness of this? Rabbi Yitzchak said: this teaches that the Holy One, blessed be He, folded up all the land of Israel and placed it beneath our father Jacob, so that it would be easy for his children to conquer. (The rest of this section is written in Parashah 70, at Remez 151.)