Photo: Jolanta Dyr, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The Amelioration of Dreams is a prayer ritual found in the sacred book, the Talmud (Berakhot 55b). The prayer laces the healing power of dreams with biblical accounts.
If a congregant sees a dream but fails to remember it or is disturbed by it, the dreamer stands before the rabbis as they spread their hands and recite the Priestly Benediction. The worshipper with the dream, joined by three friends, prays:
“Sovereign of the Universe, I am Thine and my dreams are Thine. 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 a remedy, heal them, as the waters of Marah were healed by Moses, our teacher, and as Miriam was healed of her leprosy and Hezekiah of his sickness, and the waters of Jericho by Elisha. As Thou didst turn the curse of the wicked Balaam into a blessing, so turn all my dreams into something beneficial for me.”
At the end of the prayer, the dreamer repeats three times, “Thou makest me to know the path of life.”
The Priestly Blessing from Numbers 6:22-27 remains a part of Christian church and Jewish synagogue services, but the Amelioration has faded from mainstream Judaism.
JASD aims to restore dreams, including the Amelioration of Dreams prayer, as a spiritual pillar of Judaism and a spiritual practice for all.
