Siman 220

Regarding the matter of dreams, words have multiplied, and there are those of our teachers, of blessed memory, who advised not to recount a bad dream and not to interpret it, and then it has no substance. And so they said in the chapter "HaRo'eh" (Berakhot 55a): "A dream that is not interpreted is like a letter that is not read." Rashi explained: A dream that they did not interpret is like a letter that they did not read, neither good nor bad; it is because all dreams follow the mouth. Thus far his words. And they learned this from that which is written: "And it came to pass, as he interpreted to us, so it was," see there. And they said there: "Rava raised a contradiction: It is written: 'In a dream I will speak with him,' and it is written: 'And dreams speak vanity.' It is not difficult: here it is by means of an angel, here it is by means of a demon." Which is to say, a man who is pure and his thoughts are on Torah and fear [of Heaven], and who sleeps without a full stomach, the dream of such a man certainly has substance, for they show him from Heaven by means of the angels who guard the perfect man, as it is written: "For He shall give His angels charge over thee, etc." But simple people who are immersed in the vanities of the world, which are the absolute demons that rob a person of true success—and the created demons are made for this, to harm and to rob true success—their dreams speak vanity and have no substance. And all the more so those who eat much before sleep, for the vapors that rise within him will confuse the imaginative faculty and there is no truth in them at all. Likewise, if he dreamed of ideas he thought about during the day, it is obvious that the imaginative faculty shows him the likeness of his thoughts, and in all such cases there is no substance in such dreams. And Shmuel, when he would see a good dream, would say: Do dreams speak vanity? Is it not written: "In a dream I will speak with him"? And when he would see a bad dream, he would say: "Dreams speak vanity" (ibid.). And they said there that for the most part, a good man is shown good, but upon his rising, he forgets, see there.

If one arose and a verse fell into his mouth—this is a minor prophecy (ibid.). And three dreams are fulfilled: a dream of the morning, a dream that a fellow dreamed about him, and a dream that was interpreted within a dream; and some say even a dream that was repeated, as it is said: "And for that the dream was doubled... because the thing is established etc." And one who sees in a dream a river, a bird, or a pot should anticipate peace (56b), and all types of drinks are good for a dream except for wine: there is one who drinks it (in a dream) and it is good for him, and there is one who drinks it and it is bad for him, but for a Torah scholar it is always good for him. And one who sees David in a dream, or the book of Psalms, or the Song of Songs, should anticipate piety; and one who sees the book of Kings should anticipate greatness; and one who sees Solomon, or Ezekiel, or the book of Proverbs, should anticipate wisdom, and likewise the book of Ecclesiastes. And one who sees the Scroll of Esther, a miracle will be performed for him; and one who sees Isaiah should anticipate consolation; and one who sees Jeremiah, or Ahab, or Job, or the book of Lamentations, should worry about tribulations (ibid. 57b), and he should increase in prayer and good deeds, and "charity saves from death," and all the more so from other tribulations.

One who sees a river in a dream should rise early and say: "Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river" (56:). One who sees a bird in a dream should rise early and say: "As birds hovering, so will Hashem protect, etc." One who sees a pot in a dream should rise early and say: "Hashem, You will establish peace for us." One who sees grapes in a dream should rise early and say: "I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness." One who sees a mountain in a dream should rise early and say: "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger, etc." One who sees a shofar in a dream should rise early and say: "And it shall come to pass on that day, that a great shofar shall be blown, etc." One who sees a dog in a dream should rise early and say: "But against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog whet his tongue." One who sees a lion in a dream should rise early and say: "The lion has roared, who will not fear?" One who sees that he is shaving in a dream should rise early and say: "And he shaved and changed his garments." One who sees a well in a dream should rise early and say: "A well of living waters." One who sees a reed in a dream should rise early and say: "A bruised reed he shall not break." One who sees an ox in a dream should rise early and say: "His firstling bullock, majesty is his" (ibid.). And all of these are because a sign is a significant matter, and all dreams follow the mouth; therefore, one should interpret for the good. And if one goes to sleep out of the joy of a mitzvah, he is shown a good dream (Shabbat 30:).

Our sages, of blessed memory, said in Berakhot there: One who sees a dream and his soul is aggrieved by it, let him improve it before three friends and say before them: "I have seen a good dream." This means that it is better for a person to accustom himself not to look at dreams, for most of them have no substance, as it is written in Kohelet (5): "For a dream comes through much concern," and Rashi explained: For it is the way of a dream to come through the many reflections that one contemplates and reflects upon during the day, see there. And it is said (ibid.): "For in a multitude of dreams and vanities and many words, rather fear God," and it equated dreams to vanities. The essence of everything is to fear God, and then he will not fear the dream. However, if his soul is aggrieved by it, such that he has grief of the soul from the dream and worries over it, the remedy for this is that three friends shall interpret it for good. And perhaps because of this, the custom in many places is that one who dreamed an unfavorable dream comes before the rav of the city to request that he interpret the dream for him, and the rav devises for him an interpretation for good; for regarding matters of monetary laws, a single expert is judged like three laymen, and presumably the rav is a friend to the whole city, and it is like the command of our sages, of blessed memory, to improve it before three friends, and the rav says that it shall be for good.

And the explanation of "I saw a good dream" is, meaning, the dream that I saw should be for good, just as they say during the Birkat Kohanim: "And just as You transformed... so may You transform all my dreams regarding me for good." And it is customary to say it three times in the manner of all incantations, and the three answer him: "You saw a good dream, it is good and let it be good, may the Merciful One make it for good, seven times may they decree upon it from Heaven that it should be good, it is good and let it be good," such is the text of the incantation. And it is not that one must say it seven times, but rather three times, but the Tur wrote that it is customary to say it seven times, see there. And they shall say three verses of transformation: "You have turned my mourning into dancing for me etc.," "Then shall the virgin rejoice... for I will turn their mourning into joy etc.," and "The Lord your God would not... and the Lord your God turned the curse into a blessing for you." And three verses of the language of redemption: "He has redeemed my soul in peace etc.," "And the ransomed of the Lord shall return etc.," and "And the people said to Saul... so the people redeemed Jonathan etc." And three verses of peace: "Creating the fruit of the lips; Peace etc.," "Then the spirit clothed Amasai... Peace be unto you etc.," and "And thus shall you say to him that lives in prosperity: Peace be both to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be unto all that you have," and afterward they say to him: "Go your way, eat your bread with joy etc." And there are those who reverse it to say: "Go with joy eat your bread" because of the initial letters forming "avel" (mourner), and there are those whose minds are not at ease with this to reverse the language of the verse, and the final letters are the word "kallah" (destruction) (She'elat Teshuvah in the name of the Kabbalist Mahari Tzemach), and the text has already been printed in the siddurim, and he should perform the hatavat chalom after the Shacharit prayer or before the prayer. And it has already been explained in siman 130 that there is a rectification for a dream to say: "Master of the Universe, I am Yours etc." during the lifting of the hands or during the time the chazzan says "Sim Shalom," see there. And the general rule of the matter: a person should not make a habit of such things, and he who is good before God shall escape from it, and when they perform the hatavat chalom for him, he should remember the dream in his thought during the time of the hatavah (Magen Avraham, subsection 1).

There is one who wrote with this wording: "And if two perform the hatavah at one gathering, the third must also perform the hatavah for him even though he did not dream at that time" (ibid.), and there is no understanding of this at all, and many have already toiled over this. And there is one who explained that it refers to those performing the hatavah, that when there are two who want to perform the hatavah for the dreamer, it is a mitzvah for the third to join them even though he did not dream for the dreamer on that night (Machatzit HaShekel, and it is understood that this has no relevance at all, and the Pri Megadim wrote that he does not know its explanation, see there). And there is one who explained that if two perform the hatavah, the three should also answer them: 'Your dream' in the singular and not in the plural, and it refers to each one. And regarding this he says that three are required, and we do not say that two and one of those performing the hatavah are sufficient to answer one of them, and afterward the second will respond with the two to the first, for we require that all those performing the hatavah be from those who are not the dreamers, even though he did not dream at that time (Magen HaElef at the end), and this certainly has no taste or smell, as is understood.

And it appears to me that this is the explanation: For behold, this is certain, that the amelioration of a dream is only on the day following the night in which he dreamed, and not when several days have already passed since the dream, just as a fast for a dream is only on that same day. And according to this, when one comes who did not dream on that night to request those who ameliorate, they are not obligated to attend to him; and even though it is possible that it would be effective, nevertheless, since this is not found explicitly, one does not need to attend to him. And this is when there is no amelioration of a dream before them at all, or even if there is an amelioration of a dream before them but only one person is ameliorating a dream and they answer him in the singular: "Your dream is good," and consequently it would not be effective for the other. And if we were to say that they should actually answer them: "Your dreams [plural]" in the plural tongue, and behold this is no burden to them, it could be said that perhaps it is not effective for this one, and consequently it would also not be effective for the one who dreamed on that night, since they were spoken in a single utterance. And regarding this it says that if there are two who need to ameliorate a dream, in which case perforce the ameliorators of the dream must say to them: "Your dreams are good" in the plural tongue, if so, consequently even the third who did not dream at that time can ameliorate with them; and whichever way you look at it, if it is effective for him too, it is good, and if not, the intention is not upon him, since even without him they must ameliorate in the plural tongue, and the phrase "Your dreams" will apply to the two.

Our sages, of blessed memory, said in Shabbat (11a): Fasting is as effective for nullifying a bad dream as fire is for flax tow, specifically on that same day and even on Shabbat, and it will be explained in siman 288, see there. And there it will be explained that they say that for three dreams one fasts on Shabbat: one who sees a Sefer Torah that was burned or tefillin that were burned, or Yom Kippur during the hour of Ne'ilah, or one who sees the beams of his house or his teeth that fell out, see there. And it is proper not to fast on Shabbat (Magen Avraham ibid. subsection 7), and even on a weekday one should not make a habit of it, for this was only said regarding a pure person and not with a full stomach, and other than these there is no substance to them. And in Midrash Kohelet it is brought that they interpreted for a woman who saw in a dream that the beams of her house fell and they told her she would give birth to a male child, and so it was for her, see there, and this is a metaphor for the fetus falling from her body, and so we are accustomed to interpret the essence of the dream for good and thus is our obligation and thus is better for us, and all dreams follow the mouth as has been written.