Halakhah sa Genesis 28:11: Mishneh Torah, Foundations, Kitzur Shulchan Arukh, Shulchan Arukh, Yoreh De'ah & Shulchan Arukh, Orach Chayim

The matters concerning which a prophet is informed by vision of prophecy, are imparted to him allegorically, but the interpretation thereof is engraved upon his heart simultaneously with the vision and he knows what it means, as the vision of the ladder which Jacob our father saw: "The angels of God were ascending and descending upon it" (Gen. 28.12); which was a parable, the interpretation of which is the rise and fall of kingdoms, or as the Living Creatures which Ezekiel saw (Ezek. 1. 1–27), or the Seething Pot and the Almond Rod which Jeremiah saw (Jer. 1.12–13), or the Scroll of Parchment which Ezekiel saw (Ezek. 2.9), or the Measure which Zechariah saw (Zech. 2.5). And so with the rest of the prophets; some of them relate the parable and its interpretation as these; others relate the interpretation alone; and still others relate the parable only without the interpretation, as parts of the prophecies of Ezekiel and Zechariah, but all of them are prophesying in parables and metaphors.

You should express grief in the manner of your sleeping. For example, if you are accustomed to sleep on two pillows, you should sleep only on one. Some people have the custom to sleep on the floor during the night of Tishah beAv, and to put a stone underneath their head as a reminder of what was said, "And he took some of the stones of the place etc.," (Genesis 28:11). Our Sages comment that Jacob foresaw the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash and said, "How frightful" etc. (verse 17). It all depends on the person's attitude.²A pregnant woman or any weak (or sick) person is not obligated to do any of these things. (Ibid. 555:7)

If money was collected to ransom a captive, and the captive in question died before he could be ransomed, some hold that the money should go to the heirs, and others say it should not.¹But should be returned to the contributors. To-day we incline towards this latter view, for we presume the donors did not intend that their money should thus be disposed of. The same law holds in case one captured by heathens becomes thoroughly assimilated and lost among them before ransoming is attempted.