The Kabbalah Of Dreams
We all have dreams, we all have nightmares, but do they mean anything? There are many stories in the Bible of dreams carrying vital messages (Joseph, Pharaoh, Jacob, Nebuchadnezzar, and others), and experts of human psychology from Sigmund Freud to Carl Jung explored this very question. In Judaism there is considerable amount of literature on dreams, which seem to reflect a totally different view. In Jewish thought dreams not only have significance but they can be even out-of-body experiences receiving important messages to the person. The book of Genesis is scattered with dreams of the Patriarchs and others. The first dream is (28:12), Jacob dreamt of a ladder standing on the ground with its head in the heaven and angels ascending and descending. This was a message to Jacob that there will be new angels accompanying him during his journey to Charan replacing the angels who accompanied him in Israel (Rashi). Similarly, the dream of Joseph and the eleven stars (37:5) were a message tha