084 Eight Thousand

Eight Thousand.

Tradition records that the ladder (mentioned Genesis 28:12) was eight thousand miles wide, for it is written, "And behold the angels of God ascending and descending upon it." Angels ascending, being in the plural, cannot be fewer than two at a time, and so likewise must those descending, so that when they passed they were four abreast at least. In Daniel 10:6 it is said of the angel, "His body was like Tarshish," and there is a story that Tarshish extended two thousand miles.

Chullin, fol. 91, col. 2.