Dreams

It’s funny that you asked your question now. See R’ Yitzchak Zilberstein on this weeks Parasha: someone had a dream Rosh Hashanah night where his recently deceased father appeared to him, and told him that before he had died he had a sum of money that belonged to someone and he had not paid it back. He told his son where it was located in the house, and who he should return it to. The son checked the place where the father said, and lo and behold it was there.

Still R’ Yitzchak ruled that he didn’t need to give it back as the Gemara says that ‘divrei chalomos ainan malim oi moridin’ (see Sanhedrin 30a, amongst other places), in other words a dream cannot engender a halachic consequence.

Based on this gemara the Shulchan Aruch in Y.D. 255,9 rules that one does not have to comply with things heard in a dream, however convincing they may be.

Listen to your rabbi, but R’ Yaakov Hillel shilta told me that today it is very very difficult to take into account what we see in dreams.

Hatzlocho

I had a dream earlier this week that I made a commitment to wearing R”T tefillin (which I have been thinking of anyways in real life). After that statement in the dream, a chashuv looking Rabbi kissed me warmly.

Maybe you mean the Rashba 1,483??

AYLOR what he makes of the Shulchan Aruch I cited, if there’s room for ‘lifnim m’shuras hadin’ here.

“that I would learn Daf HaYomi Kesuvos, starting the following day. I made a Neder to complete it, Gemara, Rashi & Tosfos.”

If your neder was to do it with the Daf cycle, you have 7.4 years until Ketubot is finished.

“@MDG: Interesting! Are you going to keep the commitment?”

I have not done anything in regards to that dream.

There are differences in sources of dreams. In my case, it was something that was on my mind, so having a dream about it is no Chiddush (see B’rachot, around daf 56, concerning the kings asking what they will see in a dream).

Whereas in the case of the recent Dam Yomi sugya in Nedarim, where a person has a dream of being in Cherem, that person should get out of cherem somehow (by getting 10 learners to absolve). That dream is considered sign from Shamayim. It seems to me that no one thinks about being in Cherem during the day and dreams about it at night. That’s why we can assume it’s min Hashamayim.

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“And don’t be fooled by “choshuv looking”!”

I have a book on dream interpretation which says that the Shadim that bring “bad” dreams can sometimes come in the guise of tsaddikim. That way they befriend and help at first, so that they can lead astray later.

The way to hold off the Shadim is to say Sh’ma Yisrael and Baruch Shem every time you go to sleep. The passuk of “Biyadicha Afkeed…” also works (see B’rachot top 5a). If you wake up in the middle, you lose the Shemira, and you need to say them/it again to regain Shemira.

One should follow one’s Rav’s advice, however, when we Mater Neder Erev Rosh Hashana, doesn’t it include those things that we may have committed to in a dream? I’m not sure, but I think it includes things that occurred during the past year and any things in that realm that may occur in the future.

Sam- I think you misunderstood. I knew the halacha was l’kulah and I immediately confirmed that. However, I used the dream to play a “mind game” on myself . I had been trying to stop for many years and this trick worked. I guess I should have put the word “assumed” in quotes to indicate I basically pretended ( without any new kabbah) that my dream created a neder.