Torah Study Blog

An ancient rabbi, Rav Ḥisda, who lived about 300 CE, is claimed to have said, “A dream not interpreted is like a letter not read.” In the Bible there are numerous examples of people, both Jewish and gentile, receiving messages from God through their dreams.

In Genesis 28, the patriarch Jacob had a dream where he saw angels of God going up and down on a staircase – this is known as the Jacob’s Ladder dream. In the dream, God spoke directly to Jacob, promising him protection and land to come.

In Genesis 37, Jacob’s favorite son, Joseph, dreamed that sheaves of wheat stood up straight and bowed to another sheave of wheat, which Joseph interpreted to symbolize himself. And Joseph dreamed that the sun, moon and stars all bowed down before Joseph. In this Bible story, Joseph does not come to any conclusions about what the dreams mean. But his brothers interpret the dreams to indicate that they, the brothers, will bow down before Joseph. The brothers are NOT happy with this concept.

In Genesis 40 Joseph heard the dreams of the royal cupbearer and baker and said that God will interpret the dreams through Joseph. God’s voice is not heard, only Joseph’s. But Joseph gives the credit for the interpretation to God. And, similarly, in Genesis 41 Joseph interprets Pharaoh’s dream and gives the credit to God.

The story in Numbers 12 is that Moses’s siblings, Miriam and Aaron, complained to each other that Moses should not be considered more special then they are, since all three siblings speak directly with God. However, God hears their complaint and says, “When a prophet of the Lord arises among you, I make Myself know to him in a vision, I speak with him in a dream. Not so with my servant Moses; he is trusted throughout My household. With him I speak mouth to mouth, plainly and not in riddles” (Numbers 12:6-8).

God states that the prophets have the job of interpreting the dreams. The dreams are like riddles to be solved through interpretation, and

interpretation leaves room for mistakes. And, no two interpreters, or prophets, will interpret exactly the same.

The fact that the practice of going to a prophet to interpret a dream tells us that this was something that was happening in biblical times. The Talmud is a collection of rabbinic wisdom from the ancient sages. But, just because one sage, or Rabbi, said something, does not mean that all Rabbis agreed.

The passage that opened this Torah Study session bears repeating now: “A dream not interpreted is like a letter not read.” Who is supposed to do the interpreting? According to one Talmudic passage, “There were 24 interpreters of dreams in Jerusalem. One time, I dreamed a dream and went to each of them to interpret it. What one interpreted for me the other did not interpret for me.”

When the Bible was canonized, around the 3rd century CE, the Rabbis took the position that the time of prophesy was over. If you needed someone to interpret something for you, from this point forward, you were supposed to go to your rabbi.

The Rabbis were not trying to get rid of dream interpretation, they were simply saying don’t go to a false prophet. Go to the Rabbi!

Let’s go back to the Talmudic passage we just looked at: “There were 24 interpreters of dreams in Jerusalem. One time, I dreamed a dream and went to each of them to interpret it. What one interpreted for me the other did not interpret for me.” And the passage continues: “Nevertheless, all of the interpretations were realized in me, to fulfill that which is stated: All dreams follow the mouth of the interpreter.”

This passage questions the depth of the interpretation. Do things happen to you because God is making it so? Or because God is giving you a message? Or, maybe the dream itself does not have any intrinsic value from God, and WE are the ones that give the dreams meaning. Perhaps you changed your behavior, thereby impacting the outcome?

Even today, people use dream interpretation to try to glean information about their future. In some cases, even by dabbling in hallucinogenic drugs in an effort to gain insight!

Rabbi Jaech does not, personally, put a lot of stock into dreams. And she points to passages in the Talmud that quote ancient Rabbis who also sought to minimize the significance attached to dreams. She shared with us a Talmudic passage where two people sought interpretation: One paid handsomely for interpretation, and one did not. The passage notes that the person who paid more got favorable interpretations. The person who paid less did not. Attacking the problem head-on, the second person decided to solve his problem by paying a higher fee.

Wishing everyone a dreamy 2020!

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misquotes or misunderstandings in what Rabbi Jaech taught us are the responsibility of Tara Keiter