c 1805, The British Museum, London Wikimedia Commons
He had a dream; a stairway was set on the ground and its top ascended to the sky and the angels of God were going up and down on it. – Genesis 28:13
Like angels ascending and descending Jacob’s ladder, dreams link heaven and earth, the physical and the cosmic. Dreams, the language of the soul, open a sacred space to connect with the Divine..
Dreams and dream allusions fill prayerbooks, Torah, Talmud, and Kabbalah, but in modern Judaism, dreams are a neglected part of our heritage. Prayer and deeds of loving kindness are established practices, and meditation is a rediscovered tradition of Jewish spirituality. Yet, our religious institutions have lost appreciation of dreams as an entrance to holiness.
The Torah illumines the importance of dreams. Throughout, God appears in dreams and visions to prophets and kings: to Abimelech (king of Gerar) in “a dream of the night,” to Israel “in visions of the night,” to Moses in “a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush.”
Joseph translates Pharaoh’s dreams of plenty and famine, leading to a public policy that saves the Egyptians from starvation. King Nebuchadnezzar suffers the physical and emotional toil of defying the will of God as imparted to him in a dream. God, in dreams, grants King Solomon the gift of wisdom. In Numbers, “If there is a prophet among you, I, God, do make Myself known unto him in a vision, I do speak with him in a dream.”
The Talmud, rabbinic teachings of Jewish law, contains a dream manual (Brakhot 55a-57b).
Readings in Gates of Prayer: The New Union Prayer Book crystallize facets of dreams:
“I find You in the marvels of Your creative might. In visions in Your Temple/In dreams that bless the night.”
“Grant, O Eternal God, that we may lie down in peace, and raise us up, O Sovereign, to life renewed. Spread over us the shelter of Your peace, guide us with Your good counsel, and for Your name’s sake, be our Help.”
“Trust in God* with all thy heart and lean not unto thine own understanding; in all thy ways acknowledge God and (God) will direct thy paths.”
God, Source, Guide, Presence, Spirit, Divine – there are many names for the universal force. Regardless, dreams are the conduit.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF SACRED DREAMS
Dreams are integral to ancient religions. Dreams are found in the holy books of the major monotheistic faiths—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
Some assert the supreme writings of the three Abrahamic creeds are literal truths. Another perspective: the Bible and the Qur’an, along with their dream narratives, are metaphorical manuals for the growth of the soul and expanded awareness. read more