B"H
Wednesday, Kislev 9, 5784 / November 22, 2023
“It was only a dream,” is a common expression which indicates that something is not very significant. However, in the Torah we do find that dreams played an important role and foretold important events.
The first mention of a dream in the Torah is in this week’s Parsha, Vayeitzei, when Yaakov was on his way to his uncle’s home. The Torah tells us that on the way, he came upon Mount Moriah and the sun set. He slept there for the night and he had a dream.
In his dream he saw, “A ladder which was set on the ground and the top of it reached into heaven and the angels of G-d were ascending and descending on it. He saw G-d standing over him and G-d tells him, ‘I am the L-rd, the G-d of Abraham and Yitzchak, the land upon which you are lying upon it, to you I will give it and to your children. And your children will be as the dust of the earth and you shall spread to the west, to the east, to the north and to the south. I will be with you and I will watch over you wherever you go and I will bring you back to this land.”
At the end of the Parsha, which took place twenty years later, Yaakov has another dream in which an angel tells him that the time has come for him and his family to return home.
Other famous dreams in the book of Genesis (Breishis) are Joseph’s dreams and Pharaoh’s dreams. All of the above dreams came true and they shaped the history of our people.
There are various opinions about the significance of dreams in the Talmud. On one hand, it states that dreams are one-sixtieth of prophecy, but at the same time the Talmud also writes that no dreams are without nonsense. Rabbi Simon ben Yocḥai says, "Just as there is no grain without chaff, so there is no dream without vain things in it." Thus, dreams are a mixed bag of truth and nonsense.
The Talmudic sage Rabbi Bana’ah says, “There were twenty-four interpreters of dreams residing in Jerusalem. Once I dreamt a dream and I went to each of them to ask for its interpretation. Each one gave me a different interpretation. I received twenty-four interpretations for the same dream. Yet, all of these interpretations came true for me.”
The Talmud also says that dreams are the result of what we think during the day, as the following story in the Talmud illustrates: A Roman emperor asked Rabbi Yehoshua what he (the Emperor) was going to dream that night. Rabbi Yehoshua replied: "You will dream that the Persians will conquer you and ill-treat you." Reflecting on this the entire day, the emperor dreamed exactly that.
There is a special prayer we recite on holidays when the Kohanim bless the congregation, in which we ask G-d to reverse our negative dreams into positive ones.
The Talmud states, “Dreams are influenced by their interpretation. A dream can have either a good or a bad interpretation. Positive thoughts and positive interpretations bring positive results.
HAVE A VERY GOOD, HAPPY, HEALTHY AND SUCCESSFUL DAY
WITH SPECIAL PRAYERS FOR OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN ISRAEL