Universal Oneness United Faith Canada

Operating as Universal Oneness Spiritual Center

RABBI’S WEEKLY MESSAGE

November 29, 2025

The ladder to heaven

Greetings friends
 
It is turkey and travel time.  Two things that can often bring angst, not joy.  Time with family can also be more stressful than we think.  It doesn’t have to be.  Unlike the two twin festivals of freedom and light—Passover and Easter, Chanukah and Christmas—which have shared but also conflicting views, Thanksgiving contains the best of what we value—gratitude for freedom and independence, abundance, inclusivity around our table, open hands, open arms, open hearts. Thanksgiving is, in many ways, the summation of the heart of both Judaism and Christianity—faith, gratitude, peace, and brotherly love, and took its inspiration from the Thanksgiving fall festival of the harvest—Sukkot, when we still invite the stranger to join us and make strangers friends, and friends family.
 
Maybe that is why it was such an important holiday. There are no exclusions.  All are welcome. Every day should be a day of thanksgiving.
 
It is also a marker date because it tells us that we are now about to enter the season of our search for light, the miracle season of Christmas and Chanukah.
 
A lot of people didn’t know there is a special Thanksgiving prayer recited at Chanukah and at Purim – the al ha’nissim prayer, which means for the miracles—as both those holidays are holidays of miracles.
 
But miracles occur in our lives all the time, and we use the holiday of Chanukah for acknowledging and honoring them.  We use the miracle of the oil and light, and the rededication of faith, to remind us of miracles that occur without our noticing.

Start to think of the miracles in your life and acknowledge them all the time.  You don’t have to wait for a special day.
 
Next to Passover, the most celebrated of all the Jewish holidays is Chanukah, when we gather to light the lights of the Menorah over the eight days.  It’s only a few weeks away, and when you light the Menorah, you will be gathering with others all over the world at the same time, on the same dates, lighting the same number of candles as we all come together.  It is a unification of people the world over, as it should be all the time.
 
We left off last week with the great deception—Rebekah told Jacob to pretend to be Esau to deceive Isaac, his father, into giving him—Jacob—the blessing meant for the firstborn, and Jacob only hesitated out of fear of being caught and cursed, not because it was wrong.
 
What does this tell us—the level of manipulation is great—Rebekah dresses Jacob in Esau’s clothes and covers his arms with fur, so he would smell and feel like Esau to the near blind Isaac, who could not see.  It reminds us of the power and weight of words; the blessing had value just as a curse had reality to it, also.
 
Jacob sets off, and his journey begins with a dream—the one of the most famous dreams in the Bible—that of Jacob’s ladder, the stairway to heaven with angels ascending and descending.  This might have given rise to the maxim— Be nice to those you meet on the way up because you will meet them on the way down—which is, of course, about karma.
 
These stories are about karma and how we set it in motion, and once set, it moves forward, and the length of time it takes for us to pay the fee is unknown.  While the cosmic bible ended, this begins the mystical bible as dreams become dominant for the next several weeks.  Dreams were and are extremely powerful messages. 
 
This week, we read what many consider the most important, and many think is the first dream in the Bible.  It is not the first, and how do you decide what dreams are more important than others? All dreams are messages, and all messages have a reason and a meaning for you, for then.  They are the secrets of your soul.
 
An early interpretation of this dream was by the Hellenistic Jewish philosopher Philo, who wrote in the first century in his book about sleep and dreams, de somniis, that he saw four possibilities –
  • The angels represent souls descending to and ascending from bodies (some consider this to be Philo’s reference to the doctrine of reincarnation).
  • The ladder is the human soul, and the angels are God’s words, pulling the soul up in distress and descending in compassion.
  • In his third view, the dream depicts the ups and downs of the life of the “dreamer.”
  • Finally, the angels represent the continually changing affairs of men
You may have your own interpretation, and I would love to hear them.
There are many interpretations about this most famous dream, but we’ll save our talk of dreams for the story of Joseph, the dream master.
 
We are about to enter a world with the greatest demonstration of karma ever, and we are about to follow a journey of someone who is ruled by fear.  He ran away out of fear, and that is the legacy that he brought and instilled in his family, and which imprisons so many, perhaps even you, still to this day.  In fact, the most important holiday in the Bible was the holiday of freeing yourself from fear.
 
We all face fear at some point in our lives, but you must realize – fear is not real.  Fear is perceived – it is our mind alerting us to what we think might happen. That is, we do not know whether the imagined danger is real or not, and that is why fear is not real.  It is what we make up and often comes from other people telling us we should feel that way.  And what you believe becomes your reality.
 
We project something that might have occurred in the past or has not occurred and might never occur onto our present state, and let the perception guide us and, in some cases, petrify us.
 
Watch as the marriages of Jacob show the unfolding of the fate we create, and as fear, resentment, and hatred twist him to bitterness.  Last week’s emphasis was on brothers, and now it is on sisters.
 
 
Thank you all for allowing me into your homes, electronic devices, and into your hearts as you are all with me in mine.
 
Be well, be happy, be healthy, be free, be kind, be forgiving, be compassionate, be independent of mind and deed, be mindful of your intentions, and be good to yourself.  Continue to celebrate freedom of choice in your life, and do not give in to fear. Enjoy the peace that comes from acceptance. And as always, if you have any questions or suggestions or just want to say “hi,” please send me an email.  I love hearing from you.
 
Remember, anytime you do not want to receive these anymore, please send me an email so I can remove you.  And know that I truly appreciate you sharing your sacred time with me.
 
Enjoy and celebrate your life and the lives of others, and in doing so, be happy. And may you all sow the seeds of, and reap the rewards of, peace, love, and miracles, and make sure you also celebrate your own unique individuality and your incredible awesomeness. 
 
And remember, your world is what you make it.  Just wish upon a star, and continue to be the miracle and angel in someone’s life.
 
Blessings, and share your love
 
 
RD

 

 

www.rabbidavidgellman.com

Respecting our past; Putting faith in your future.

Click to see newsletters and commentaries from the Rabbi:

 

–

www.rabbidavidgellman.com

Respecting our past; Putting faith in your future

 Please email for the link to the weekly Online Shabbat Service

 See the Rabbi David Gellman YouTube Channel