The Jewish take on dreams

[ZVBM]

Hi! The Jewish take on dreams varies. (You've heard the old saw: "Two Jews, three opinions"? ) Rabbi Jonathan is recorded in the Talmud as saying that, "A person is shown in a dream only what is suggested by his own thoughts." However, the Talmud also records Rabbi Hanina ben Isaac as saying that, "Dreams are a form of prophecy." The Talmud also records a middle view. Rabbi Yohanan quotes Rabbi Shimon Bar Yohai as saying that, "Just as there can be no grain without straw, so can there be no dream without meaningless matters." Our Sages also differentiate between meaningless dreams & meaningful ones. Fasting (from sunup to sundown) after a really troubling dream was/is not unknown. If one has had a troubling dream, there is the following prayer: "Oh Lord, I am Yours and my dreams are Yours. I have dreamt a dream and do not know what it is. Whether I have dreamt about myself, or my companions have dreamt about me, or I have dreamt about others, if they are good dreams, confirm and reinforce them like the dreams of Joseph, and if they require healing, heal them as the waters of Marah were healed by Moses our Teacher, and as Miriam was healed of her tzra'at [not the same thing as leprosy!] and Hezekiah of his sickness and the waters of Jericho by Elisha. As You did turn the curses of the wicked Balaam to blessings, so turn all my dreams into blessings for me." Look at the account in Genesis 41 of Joseph interpreting Pharaoh's dreams. 41:8 tells us, none of Pharaoh’s wise men could interpret his dreams. Yet after Joseph's longish interpretation of Pharaoh’s dream (41:25-36), it says "and the thing was good in the eyes of Pharaoh." Pharaoh instinctively knew that Joseph's interpretation was correct because the correct interpretation was already there in Pharaoh’s subconscious. Joseph merely knew how to draw it out. The wise men did not know this. Pharaoh rejected their proffered interpretations because they didn't jibe with what he sensed, however vaguely, was there in his own subconscious, lurking just beneath the surface. Look further back at Joseph in prison, interpreting the butler's and the baker's dreams. How could Joseph tell that the butler would get his job back while the baker not only would not get his job back but would be executed as well? The butler (Genesis 40:9-11) dreamt that he actually fulfilled his responsibilities, i.e. he pressed juice from grapes into a cup & gave Pharaoh the cup to drink from. The baker (40:16-17) tried to carry out his responsibilities but was prevented, i.e. the birds ate the baked goodies before he could serve them to Pharaoh. That told Joseph that the baker would not be getting his job back. How did Joseph know that the baker would also be executed? It was the birds. Birds are normally afraid of people, of people who are alive; they are not afraid of dead bodies. In his dream, the birds were not afraid of the baker because he was already dead. Joseph understood this. ZVBM