Let’s talk about dreams. This week we learn about Yaakov’s dream of a ladder reaching from the earth all the way up to the heavens. Yaakov sees angels ascending and descending the ladder, up and down, up and down. 

I’ve always been told that life is like an escalator; if you are not going up, you are going down. Something tells me that idiom was born from this dream of Yaakovs’. As human beings we are always moving. If not up, then down. We are perpetually perched on the path of our choosing; will we use the decisions before us to help us climb up or step down the ladder reaching to the ultimate truth? 

Azi moved up. Always. In his choices, in his relationships, in his goals. The steps on his ladder were simple; to ignore someone on the street, thereby stepping down a rung on the ladder, or to stop and say hello, ask a fellow man how he’s doing…to step up. Azi stepped up. 

We are learning in the aftermath of his passing how very short Azi’s ladder was, and yet how high it reached. You and I don’t know how tall our ladders are. We don’t know where they end. But if we choose to constantly climb up, our summit will be breathtaking no matter when it’s all over.