Dreaming in the “Pocket of the Heart”
Contributed by Rabbi Callie Schulman, a member of At The Well’s “Shechinah counsel,” and spiritual teacher in Portland, Oregon.
Whenever we go unconscious, our bodies and brains benefit from the restorative powers of sleep... and our souls go wild. A dream, reviewed in the light of day, can sound like utter nonsense, like our brains went rogue and ran off with Lewis Carroll for a trip through Wonderland for the night. But Jewish tradition says dreaming is more than that.
One 18th century rabbi from Italy investigated what Judaism says about the purpose of dreaming (Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, Derech HaShem 3:1:6). After all, our biblical ancestors were having wild dreams all over the Torah. Through his studies, this rabbi concluded that while our bodies and brains rest, our souls detach from our bodies and zip around the realms of the spirit - the place they’re most at home. But he doesn’t stop there. The spiritual realm, he suggests, is like a big old dance party filled with spiritual beings and divine messengers. Rubbing elbows with this crowd, our souls might innocently overhear some prophetic hint, what we might call an omen. That bit of information, he says, filters through our consciousness and finds expression inside our dreams, the important messages mingling with the cosmic fluff of our dreamscapes. In this realm, what’s signal and what’s just noise? Tricky distinctions, but it’s our job to decipher them.
The ancients had some inkling about the importance of dreams too. Buried within one book of Talmud (Talmud is a collection of sixth century Jewish musings on everything from legal practices to how to interpret dreams), we find a lengthy discussion on the nature of dreams. Rav Hisda, a fourth century Iraqi rabbi, offers a whimsical and sometimes contradictory list of “To Dos” regarding dreams. The most succinct command among them: interpret. “An uninterpreted dream is like an unopened letter,” Rav Hisda declared (Talmud Bavli, Brachot 55a).
This month, we’ve created a few additional resources to help you dig deeper into the “pocket of the heart” that is Kislev - the place where our hopes and dreams mingle with those of higher realms.
Dream Rituals
What do you do with a bad dream? Regarding this question, our rabbis were particularly concerned. If our souls pick up divine static and a dream turns sour, the rabbis sought to find a way to ease the dreamer’s soul. They advise us to pray that the omen hidden within the dream is a good one. Below is a ritual for your Well Circle (or any homegirl gathering) to put a bad dream to rest.
In the Presence of Three
Rab Huna suggests that when one has a disturbing dream, she should seek out the company and counsel of three friends. Relaying a dream isn’t always direct, given the roundabout ways dreams unfold. Instead, the dreamer should focus on the emotions she felt in the dream state, the feelings that stick around through the waking hours. Not everyone feels comfortable cracking themselves open and sharing every detail of a dream, and not everyone feels comfortable hearing the intimate happenings of another’s dream. Share what works for you.
Three is a stable number. After all, it’s the third leg that keeps a stool from falling. Gather three friends with whom you can share some element of a disturbing dream. To turn the dream “into good” as the Talmud suggests, the dreamer should say aloud “I have seen a good dream,” (even if the dream seems anything but). Relay whatever pieces of the dream you like, and then have your homegirls respond with an affirmation of the goodness hidden within the dream: “Good it is and may it be good. May the Compassionate One turn it to good.” The Talmud then suggests reciting three verses that contain the words “turn,” “redeem,” and “peace.” If you don’t have any of those on the tip of your tongue, come up with your own phrase that reframes the dream for the dreamer, or at least reminds her of her own ability to “turn” away from the disturbing dream, “redeem” it for good, and move forward to “peace” of mind.
Three Types of Dreams
A Prayer for the Dreamer
The deep dark of winter lends itself to Well Circle-style gatherings. We gather together around fires, light candles, and drink cocoa. This month, consider ‘cozifying’ your living and meeting spaces. Incorporate soft light and candles when you can, close out the distractions of the world and let yourself sink into the pocket of the heart that live in those mysterious winter depths. From these places of stillness, we can better engage our dreams. And, lucky for us, the sages of the Talmud offer the following ritual to help us communally witness and hold a sister who “has seen a dream and does not know what [s]he has seen” (Talmud Bavli, Brachot 55a).
The Dreamer should say: “Force for Good in the Universe, I am yours and my dreams are yours. I have dreamt a dream and cannot decipher it. Whether I dreamt about myself, or if I dreamt of others, if they are good dreams, strengthen and fortify them, and may they be fulfilled; but if they aren’t, heal them as Miriam was healed, and turn them from a curse into a blessing, so that all my dreams may be good.”
The listeners should respond with an affirmation. (“Amen” would be the classical suggestion, but go with whatever language feels comfortable to you. “Amen” comes from the Hebrew verb “to believe” - so when we say “Amen” we’re expressing a statement of mutual belief with the speaker.)