Babylonian Talmud: Tractate Berakoth

Folio 56a

The Emperor [of Rome]¹  said to R. Joshua b. R. Hananyah: You [Jews] profess to be very clever. Tell me what I shall see in my dream. He said to him: You will see the Persians²  making you do forced labour, and despoiling you and making you feed unclean animals with a golden crook. He thought about it all day, and in the night he saw it in his dream.³  King Shapor [I] once said to Samuel: You [Jews] profess to be very clever. Tell me what I shall see in my dream. He said to him: You will see the Romans coming and taking you captive and making you grind date-stones in a golden mill. He thought about it the whole day and in the night saw it in a dream.

Bar Hedya was an interpreter of dreams. To one who paid him he used to give a favourable interpretation and to one who did not pay him he gave an unfavourable interpretation. Abaye and Raba each had a dream. Abaye gave him a zuz, and Rab did not give him anything, They said to him: In our dream we had to read the verse, Thine ox shall be slain before thine eyes,⁴  etc. To Raba he said: Your business will be a failure, and you will be so grieved that you will have no appetite to eat. To Abaye he said: Your business will prosper, and you will not be able to eat from sheer joy. They then said to him: We had to read in our dream the verse, Thou shalt beget sons and daughters but they shall not be thine,⁵  etc. To Raba he interpreted it in its [literal] unfavourable sense. To Abaye he said: You have numerous sons and daughters, and your daughters will be married and go away, and it will seem to you as if they have gone into captivity. [They said to him:] We were made to read the verse: Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given unto another people.⁶  To Abaye he said: You have numerous sons and daughters; you will want your daughters to marry your relatives, and your wife will want them to marry her relatives, and she will force you to marry them to her relatives, which will be like giving them to another people. To Raba he said: Your wife will die, and her sons and daughters will come under the sway of another wife. (For Raba said in the name of R. Jeremiah b. Abba, reporting Rab: What is the meaning of the verse: 'Thy sons and thy daughters shall be given to another people'? This refers to a step-mother.) [They further said]: We were made to read in our dream the verse, Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, etc.⁷  To Abaye he said: Your business will prosper, and you will eat and drink, and recite this verse out of the joy of your heart. To Raba he said: Your business will fail, you will slaughter [cattle] and not eat or drink and you will read Scripture to allay your anxiety. [They said to him]: We were made to read the verse, Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, [and shalt gather little in, for the locusts will consume it].⁸  To Abaye he interpreted from the first half of the verse; to Raba from the second half. [They said to him:] We were made to read the verse, Thou shalt have olive trees throughout all thy borders, [but thou shalt not anoint thyself, etc.]⁹  To Abaye he interpreted from the first half of the verse; to Raba from the second half. [They said to him:] We were made to read the verse: And all the peoples of the earth shall see that the name of the Lord is called upon thee, etc.¹⁰  To Abaye he said: Your name will become famous as head of the college, and you will be generally feared. To Raba he said: The King's treasury¹¹  will be broken into, and you will be arrested as a thief, and everyone will draw an inference from you.¹²  The next day the King's treasury was broken into and they came and arrested Raba: They said to him: We saw a lettuce on the mouth of a jar. To Abaye he said: Your business will be doubled like a lettuce. To Raba he said: Your business will be bitter like a lettuce. They said to him: We saw some meat on the mouth of a jar. To Abaye he said: Your wine will be sweet, and everyone will come to buy meat and wine from you. To Raba, he said: Your wine will turn sour, and everyone will come to buy meat to eat with it.¹³  They said: We saw a cask hanging on a palm tree. To Abaye he said: Your business will spring up like a palm tree. To Raba he said: Your goods will be sweet like dates.¹⁴  They said to him: We saw a pomegranate sprouting on the mouth of a jar. To Abaye he said: Your goods will be high-priced like a pomegranate. To Raba he said: Your goods will be stale like a [dry] pomegranate. They said to him: We saw a cask fall into a pit. To Abaye he said: Your goods will be in demand according to the saying: The pu'ah¹⁵  has fallen into a well and cannot be found.¹⁶  To Raba he said: Your goods will be spoilt and they will be thrown into a pit. They said to him: We saw a young ass standing by our pillow and braying. To Abaye he said: You will become a king,¹⁷  and an Amora¹⁸  will stand by you. To Raba he said: The words 'The first-born of an ass'¹⁹  have been erased from your tefillin. Raba said to him: I have looked at them and they are there. He replied to him: Certainly the waw of the word hamor [ass] has been erased from your tefillin.²⁰

Subsequently Raba went to him by himself and said to him: I dreamt that the outer door fell. He said to him: Your wife will die. He said to him: I dreamt that my front and back teeth fell out. He said to him: Your sons and your daughters will die. He said: I saw two pigeons flying. He replied: You will divorce two wives.²¹  He said to him: I saw two turnip-tops.²²  He replied: You will receive two blows with a cudgel. On that day Raba went and sat all day in the Beth ha-Midrash. He found two blind men quarrelling with one another. Raba went to separate them and they gave him two blows. They wanted to give him another blow but he said, Enough! I saw in my dream only two.

Finally Raba went and gave him a fee. He said to him: I saw a wall fall down. He replied: You will acquire wealth without end. He said: I dreamt that Abaye's villa fell in and the dust of it covered me. He replied to him: Abaye will die and [the presidency of] his College will be offered to you. He said to him: I saw my own villa fall in, and everyone came and took a brick. He said to him: Your teachings will be disseminated throughout the world. He said to him: I dreamt that my head was split open and my brains fell out. He replied: The stuffing will fall out of your pillow. He said to him: In my dream I was made to read the Hallel of Egypt.²³  He replied: Miracles will happen to you.

Bar Hedya was once travelling with Raba in a boat. He said to himself: Why should I accompany a man to whom a miracle will happen?²⁴  As he was disembarking, he let fall a book. Raba found it, and saw written in it: All dreams follow the mouth. He exclaimed: Wretch! It all depended on you and you gave me all this pain! I forgive you everything except [what you said about] the daughter of R. Hisda.²⁵  May it be God's will that this fellow be delivered up to the Government, and that they have no mercy on him! Bar Hedya said to himself: What am I to do? We have been taught that a curse uttered by a sage, even when undeserved, comes to pass; how much more this of Raba, which was deserved! He said: I will rise up and go into exile. For a Master has said: Exile makes atonement for iniquity. He rose and fled to the Romans. He went and sat at the door of the keeper of the King's wardrobe. The keeper of the wardrobe had a dream, and said to him: I dreamt that a needle pierced my finger. He said to him: Give me a zuz! He refused to give him one, and he would not say a word to him. He again said to him: I dreamt that a worm²⁶  fell between two of my fingers. He said to him: Give me a zuz. He refused to give him one, and he would not say a word to him. I dreamt that a worm filled the whole of my hand. He said to him: Worms have been spoiling all the silk garments. This became known in the palace, and they brought the keeper of the wardrobe in order to put him to death. He said to them: Why execute me? Bring the man who knew and would not tell. So they brought Bar Hedya, and they said to him: Because of your zuz, the king's silken garments have been ruined.

1. Probably Trajan, when he passed through Palestine during his expedition to Persia.
2. I.e., the Parthians.
3. Trajan was defeated by the Parthians in 116 C.E.
4. Deut. XXVIII, 31.
5. Ibid. 41.
6. Deut. XXVIII, 32.
7. Eccl. IX, 7.
8. Deut. XXVIII, 38.
9. Ibid. 40.
10. Ibid. 10.
11. Where the tax payments were received.
12. Saying: If Raba is suspect, how much more so are we.
13. I.e., to dip in it.
14. Rashi explains this to mean: Sweet to the customer because of its cheapness.
15. A vegetable dyer's madder, a prophylactic.
16. I.e., it is a useless remedy, v. Shab. 66b. MS.M. reads: Your goods will be in demand like something which has fallen into a pit.
17. I.e., president of a college.
18. An interpreter.
19. Ex. XIII, 13. This passage is one of the four contained in the tefillin.
20. BaH adds: 'Raba examined and found that the waw of hamor had been erased etc.'.
21. A wife is compared to a dove in Cant. V, 2.
22. Looking like sticks.
23. I.e., the Hallel as said on Passover Eve to celebrate the going forth from Egypt, v. Glos. s.v. Hallel.
24. As much as to say, he will be saved but I will not.
25. Raba's wife, whose death Bar Hedya had foretold.
26. Aliter: 'decay'.

They tied two cedars together with a rope, tied one leg to one cedar and the other to the other, and released the rope, so that even his head was split.¹  Each tree rebounded to its place and he was decapitated and his body fell in two.

Ben Dama, the son of R. Ishmael's sister, asked R. Ishmael: I dreamt that both my jaws fell out; [what does it mean]? — He replied to him: Two Roman counsellors²  have made a plot against you, but they have died.

Bar Kappara said to Rabbi: I dreamt that my nose fell off. He replied to him: Fierce anger³  has been removed from you. He said to him: I dreamt that both my hands were cut off. He replied: You will not require the labour of your hands. He said to him: I dreamt that both my legs were cut off. He replied: You will ride on horseback.¹  dreamt that they said to me: You will die in Adar and not see Nisan. He replied: You will die in all honour [adrutha], and not be brought into temptation [nisayon].

A certain Min said to R. Ishmael: I saw myself [in a dream] pouring oil on olives. He replied: [This man]⁴  has outraged his mother. He said to him: I dreamt I plucked a star. He replied: You have stolen an Israelite.⁵  He said to him: I dreamt that I swallowed the star. He replied: You have sold an Israelite and consumed the proceeds. He said to him: I dreamt that my eyes were kissing one another. He replied: (This man] has outraged his sister. He said to him: I dreamt that I kissed the moon. He replied: He has outraged the wife of an Israelite. He said to him: I dreamt that I was walking in the shade of a myrtle. He replied: He has outraged a betrothed damsel.⁶  He said to him: I dreamt that there was a shade above me, and yet it was beneath me. He replied: It means unnatural intercourse. He said to him: I saw ravens keep on coming to my bed. He replied: Your wife has misconducted herself with many men. He said to him: I saw pigeons keep on coming to my bed. He replied: You have defiled many women. He said to him: I dreamt that I took two doves and they flew away. He replied: You have married two wives and dismissed them without a bill of divorce. He said to him: I dreamt that I was shelling eggs. He replied: You have been stripping the dead. He then said to him: You are right in all of these, except the last! of which I am not guilty. Just then a woman came and said to him: This cloak which you are wearing belonged to So-and-so who is dead, and you have stripped it from him. He said to him: I dreamt that people told me: Your father has left you money in Cappadocia. He said to him: Have you money in Cappadocia? No, he replied. Did your father ever go to Cappadocia? No. In that case, he said, kappa means a beam and dika means ten.⁷  Go and examine the beam which is at the head of ten, for it is full of coins. He went, and found it full of coins.

R. Hanina said: If one sees a well in a dream, he will behold peace, since it says: And Isaac's servants digged in the valley, and found there a well of living water.⁸  R. Nathan said: He will find Torah, since it says, Whoso findeth me findeth life⁹  and it is written here, a well of living water.¹⁰  Raba said: It means life literally.

Rab Hanan said: There are three (kinds of dreams which signify] peace, namely, about a river, a bird, and a pot. 'A river', for it is written: Behold I will extend peace to her like a river.¹¹  'A bird', for it is written: As birds hovering so will the Lord of Hosts protect Jerusalem.¹²  'A Pot' for it is written, Lord, thou wilt establish¹³  peace for us.¹⁴  Said R. Hanina: But this has been said of a pot in which there is no meat, [for it says]:¹⁵  They chop them in pieces, as that which is in the pot and as flesh within the cauldron.¹⁶

R. Joshua b. Levi said: If one sees a river in his dreams, he should rise early and say: Behold I will extend peace to her like a river,¹¹  before another verse occurs to him, viz., for distress will come in like a river.¹⁷  If one dreams of a bird he should rise early and say: As birds hovering, so will the Lord of Hosts protect,¹²  before another verse occurs to him, viz., As a bird that wandereth from her nest, so is a man that wandereth from his place.¹⁸  If one sees a pot in his dreams, he should rise early and say, Lord thou will establish [tishpoth] peace for us,¹⁴  before another verse occurs to him, viz., Set [shefoth] on the pot, set it on.¹⁹  If one sees grapes in his dream, he should rise early and say: I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness,²⁰  before another verse occurs to him, viz., their grapes are grapes of gall.²¹  If one dreams of a mountain, he should rise early and say: How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger of good tidings,²²  before another verse occurs to him, viz., for the mountains will I take up a weeping and wailing.²³  If one dreams of a horn he should rise early and say: And it shall come to pass in that day that a great horn shall be blown,²⁴  before another verse occurs to him, viz., Blow ye the horn of Gibeah.²⁵  If one sees a dog in his dream, he should rise early and say: But against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog whet his tongue,²⁶  before another verse occurs to him, viz., Yea, the dogs are greedy.²⁷  If one sees a lion in his dream he should rise early and say: The lion hath roared, who will not fear?²⁸  before another verse occurs to him, viz., A lion is gone up from his thicket.²⁹  If one dreams of shaving, he should rise early and say: And Joseph shaved himself and changed his raiment,³⁰  before another verse occurs to him, viz., If I be shaven, then my strength will go from me.³¹  If one sees a well in his dream, he should rise early and say: A well of living waters,³²  before another verse occurs to him, viz., As a cistern welleth with her waters, so she welleth with her wickedness.³³  If one sees a reed, he should rise early and say, A bruised reed shall he not break,³⁴  before another verse occurs to him, viz., Behold thou trusteth upon the staff of this bruised reed.³⁵

Our Rabbis taught: If one sees a reed [kaneh] in a dream, he may hope for wisdom, for it says: Get [keneh] wisdom.³⁶  If he sees several reeds, he may hope for understanding, since it says: With all thy getting [kinyaneka] get understanding.³⁷  R. Zera said: A pumpkin [kara], a palm-heart [kora] wax [kira], and a reed [kanya] are all auspicious in a dream.³⁸  It has been taught: Pumpkins are shown in a dream only to one who fears heaven with all his might.³⁹  If one sees an ox in a dream, he should rise early and say: His firstling bullock, majesty is his,⁴⁰  before another verse occurs to him, viz., If an ox gore a man.⁴¹

Our Rabbis taught: There are five sayings in connexion with an ox in a dream. If one [dreams that he] eats of its flesh, he will become rich; if that an ox has gored him, he will have sons who will contend together⁴²  in the study of the Torah; if that an ox bit him, sufferings will come upon him; if that it kicked him, he will have to go on a long journey; if that he rode upon one, he will rise to greatness. But it has been taught: If he dreamt that he rode upon one,⁴³  he will die? — There is no contradiction. In the one case the dream is that he rides on the ox, in the other that the ox rode upon him.

If one sees an ass in a dream, he may hope for salvation, as it says, Behold thy king cometh unto thee; he is triumphant and victorious, lowly and riding upon an ass.⁴⁴  If one sees a cat in a dream, if in a place where they call it shunara, a beautiful song [shirah na'ah] will be composed for him; if in a place where they call it shinra, he will undergo a change for the worse [shinnui ra'].⁴⁵  If one sees grapes in a dream, if they are white, whether in their season or not in their season, they are a good sign; if black, in their season they are a good sign, not in their season a bad sign.⁴⁶  If one sees a white horse in a dream, whether walking gently or galloping, it is a good sign, if a red horse, if walking gently it is a good sign, if galloping it is a bad sign. If one sees Ishmael in a dream, his prayer will be heard.⁴⁷  And it must be Ishmael, the son of Abraham, but not an ordinary Arab.⁴⁸  If one sees a camel in a dream, death has been decreed for him from heaven and he has been delivered from it. R. Hama b. Hanina said: What is the Scriptural text for this? — I will go down with thee into Egypt, and I will also surely bring thee up again.⁴⁹  R. Nahman b. Isaac derives it from here: The Lord also hath put away thy sin, thou shalt not die.⁵⁰  If one sees Phineas in a dream, a miracle will be wrought for him. If one sees an elephant [pil] in a dream, wonders [pela'oth] will be wrought for him; if several elephants, wonders of wonders will be wrought for him. But it has been taught: All kinds of beasts are of good omen in a dream except the elephant and the ape? — There is no contradiction.

1. Another reading is: 'released the rope till he was split in two. Said Raba: I will not forgive him till his head is split. Each tree, etc.'.
2. Signified by 'jaws' because of their powers of speech.
3. The word for 'nose' (af) means also 'anger'.
4. In attributing to him such a crime he would not address him in the second person.
5. The Israelites being compared to stars. Gen. XV, 5.
6. For whom it is usual to make a canopy of myrtle.
7. Kappa in the sense of 'beam' is an Aramaic word (Kofa), while dika in the sense of ten is the Greek [G] The Jer. more plausibly explains kappa as the Greek letter equivalent to twenty, and dokia as representing the Greek [G], a beam.
8. Gen. XXVI, 19.
9. Prov. VIII, 35.
10. Lit. 'water of life'.
11. Isa. LXVI, 12.
12. Ibid. XXXI, 5.
13. Heb. tishpoth, which is also used for placing a pot on a fire.
14. Ibid. XXVI, 12.
15. V. Marginal Gloss.
16. Micah III, 3.
17. Isa. LIX, 19.
18. Prov. XXVII, 8.
19. Ezek. XXIV, 3.
20. Hos. IX, 10.
21. Deut. XXXII, 32.
22. Isa. LII, 7.
23. Jer. IX, 9.
24. Isa. XXVII, 13.
25. Hos. V, 8. This introduces a denunciation.
26. Ex. XI, 7.
27. Isa. LVI, 11.
28. Amos III, 8.
29. Jer. IV, 7.
30. Gen. XLI, 24.
31. Judg. XVI, 17. Spoken by Samson.
32. Cant. IV, 15.
33. Jer. VI, 7.
34. Isa. XLII, 3.
35. Ibid. XXXVI, 6.
36. Prov. IV, 5.
37. Ibid. 7.
38. They all resemble in sound the word 'reed' and hence have a favourable significance.
39. Despite their large size they do not grow high above the ground, and are plants symbolic of the Godfearing man who, despite his worth, remains lowly and humble. (R. Nissim, Gaon.)
40. Deut. XXXIII, 17.
41. Ex. XXI, 28.
42. Lit., 'gore' (one another).
43. The original can equally mean 'it rides upon him'.
44. Zech. IX, 9.
45. MS.M. reads: If in a place … shunara he will undergo a change for the worse; if shunara a beautiful song, etc.
46. MS.M. adds: He should offer supplication. If (he dreamt) that he had eaten these, he can be assured that he is a son of the world to come.
47. Cf. Gen. XXI, 17.
48. Who is also called Ishmael.
49. Gen. XLVI, 4. The last words in the Hebrew are gam 'aloh, which resemble gamal, 'a camel'.
50. II Sam. XII, 13. The derivation in this case is not clear; perhaps it is from the word gam 'also' which resembles gamal.