Jacob’s Dream, a prayer-poem for Shabbat parashat Vayetsei by Alice Montefiore Lucas (1898)

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (transcription) and Alice Montefiore Lucas

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23 February 2026 under the Creative Commons Zero (CC 0) Universal license a Public Domain dedication

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19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, Prayers as poems, פרשת ויצא parashat Vayetsei

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	Surely the Lord is in this place; and I knew it not …. this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. (Genesis 28:16-17)
	Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved. (Psalms 55:22)
	Jacob’s Dream
	“This is no other than the house of God,” He said, “and this the gate of heaven.” He who all day the path to Haran trod, And came to Luz at even.
	He who in dreams beheld a vision there — A ladder reaching to the sky, Whereon ascending and descending were God‘s angels ceaselessly.
	And when he saw Him standing at the head Proclaiming Israel’s chosen lot, “Surely the Lord is in this place ” he said, “Although I knew it not.
	“How awful is this place!” And ere he went His way he raised an altar there, And offered to the Lord Omnipotent The sacrifice of prayer.
	And Beth-El did they call that place, the name Of which was Luz in days of yore, The house of God — thus in a word to frame That vision evermore.
	O golden dream of faith’s primeval days! Symbol to later ages given, Telling that God is everywhere always, And earth the gate to heaven.

“Jacob’s Dream” by Alice Montefiore Lucas was written for “Sabbath—Ⅶ,” (i.e., Shabbat parashat Vayetsei) and first published in her collection of prayers, The Jewish Year (1898), pp. 15-16.

Source(s)

Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Aharon Varady (M.A.J.Ed./JTSA Davidson) is a volunteer transcriber for the Open Siddur Project. If you find any mistakes in his transcriptions, please let him know. Shgiyot mi yavin; Ministarot naqeni שְׁגִיאוֹת מִי־יָבִין; מִנִּסְתָּרוֹת נַקֵּנִי "Who can know all one's flaws? From hidden errors, correct me" (Psalms 19:13). If you'd like to directly support his work, please consider donating via his Patreon account. (Varady also translates prayers and contributes his own original work besides serving as the primary shammes of the Open Siddur Project and its website, opensiddur.org.)

Alice Montefiore Lucas

Alice Julia Lucas (née Montefiore) (2 August 1851 – 25 March 1935) was a British Jewish poet, translator, and communal worker. Alice Julia Montefiore was born in 1851, the elder daughter of Nathaniel M. Montefiore and Emma Goldsmid. Alongside her brother Claude Montefiore, she studied Judaism under Solomon Schechter at the Hochschule in Berlin. On 24 April 1873 she married barrister Henry Lucas, who later served as treasurer and vice-president of the United Synagogue. In 1900 she helped establish the Jewish Study Society, modelled after the Council of Jewish Women, of which she served as the first president. Lucas also sat on the women's committee of the Westminster Jews' Free School and its preparatory nursery, the Jews' Infant School.

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“ladder and sky.” (credit: Mykl Roventine, license: CC By)

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ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו׃ (תהלים צ:יז) · "May the pleasantness of אדֹני our elo’ah be upon us; may our handiwork be established for us — our handiwork, may it be established." (Psalms 90:17)

Jacob’s Dream, a prayer-poem for Shabbat parashat Vayetsei by Alice Montefiore Lucas (1898)

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