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A few weeks ago, we read in the Torah the story of Jacob. He was on his way to reunite with his brother, Esau, with whom he parted under terrible circumstances. Jacob feared Esau and the possible retribution awaiting him. Jacob laid down to sleep using a rock as a pillow. That night he had a fantastic dream of angels ascending and descending a ladder. One interpretation of that dream is that angels begin here on earth. In Hebrew, the word for angel means “messenger.” Jacob’s dream inspires us to look for messengers in our lives who can teach us and reveal to us things about ourselves and the world.

This week we read the story of Joseph, Jacob’s favorite son. Joseph is blessed with the gift of not only being a prophetic dreamer, but one who can interpret the dreams of others. This master of dreams lives out his destiny and, through an archetypical hero’s journey, saves the Jewish people by bringing them forth from the famine-infested Canaan to Egypt where they would live well and prosper.

We are descendants of dreamers. The sages who transformed ancient practice into the Judaism we know today believed the unconscious, hallucinatory state of dreams were avenues for important messages.

Tamar Frankel and Judy Greenfield in their book, Temple of Dreams, describe our souls as moving through five dream levels: Nefesh, the life force that allows the body to survive; Ruach, the passion for self-exploration and relating to the larger world; Neshama, which transcends the concrete world and physical senses; Chayah, the capacity to be part of a collective consciousness; and Yechidah, a total union with the Divine.

Each of us have had dreams that stick out (hopefully not the nightmarish ones). Like Jacob and Joseph our dreams inspire ideas, help us resolve issues, or give us insight into ourselves and the world that we can’t achieve during our waking hours. Some keep a dream journal next to their bedside to transcribe a dream to be explored or analyzed before losing it to consciousness. Whatever your relationship to your dreams, our ancestors of the Torah teach us that our dreams can convey a lot if we pay attention to them.

May your dreams lead you to right action, insight and wisdom.

And, may the best of your dreams come true.

Shabbat shalom,

Beth