Crazy Dreams and their interpretations.

Many of us have dreams and at times we wonder whether they deserve any of our serious attention. The subject is pretty involved. I will share with you however a story I heard recently from a Rabbi in Israel, and a note from Rabbi M.M Schneerson, recently publicized on this subject.

This lady in Israel took it upon herself to pay for the special Kaddish prayer to be recited for those who passed away, and had no descendants. After a while, her husband happened to pass away, and his business went bankrupt. She decided, come what may she would not abandon “her souls”.

As she made those arrangements, under new terms, since she wasn’t as wealthy anymore, and came out of the Talmud study center, a man came up to her and made small talk with her. She mentioned she had two daughters to marry, and he offered to help with their weddings.

He asked for two students to come out and witness him signing the check, “just in case”. The next day she went to the bank, and was sent to the manager since it was a large check. The manager saw the check and fainted.

When he came back to himself, the manager asked how she got the check, and she shared her story. The manager said he would show her an album and she should identify the man, which she did. The manager said, “That was my father who passed away some time ago.”

The manager continued. My father told me in a dream last night, that because this lady was doing what I as a son was neglecting (to say the prayer for a deceased parent), he would be sending a reward and that it should be honored, and, “you, walked in.”

The two boys who witnessed this story were, Rabbi YH Zonnenfeld and Rabbi Greenvald.

Someone wrote to Rabbi MM Schneerson that he has these recurring dreams (which is many times, a sign to take seriously) where he repeatedly gets angry over the injustices of the world and as a result, would like to in his dream, “get up and out”.

Rabbi Schneerson responds. “In general it is not necessary to look for guidance from dreams. For this, (guidance in life) G-d granted the Torah - Bible to the world, which is a Torah (an instruction) of light, and a Torah of life, which illuminates the way in one’s life.  At times, if a person does not follow these instructions from G-d in his Torah, (then, infrequently) messages can be suggested in dreams etc.

It is pretty obvious that there are no hints here regarding the crookedness and deception of the world at large, since it is not in your realm to improve. (the world). On the other hand, it is obvious that your dream is showing you that you should become angry over the fact that your own personal world, which is dependent ONLY on you, is being conducted with injustice, not according to the rules of G-d and you must ascend from this descent, by living daily, according to the instructions and rules of G-d, in actual practice.”

Rabbi Schneerson mostly told people to disregard any attention to dreams, and that they were a result of a person’s own thoughts of the day. A person should be careful who they share their dreams with, because, “all dreams follow their interpretations”. If a dream really bothered someone, giving charity to a G-dly cause was a remedy.

There were times when Rabbi Schneerson recommended the person be careful with the prayers said before going to sleep. There are stories when a deceased family member kept on coming in a dream, and Rabbi Schneerson recommended that the family review the procedures done at the funeral, and at the burial, and the follow up, that they were all done properly.