YeshivaThe torah world Gateway
Beit Midrash
- Sections
- Chemdat Yamim
- Ein Ayah
Ein Ayah:
One fasts due to a dream only when his spirit is depressed by it even after he awakes. Rav Chisda was making the following point in regard to one’s reaction to dreams.
All the natural things that happen to a person’s spirit are for his betterment, as everything Hashem does is for the good. Since dreams are a permanent, natural human phenomenon, certainly dreams are good for a person’s body and spirit. However, natural phenomena are good only when they stay within their natural boundaries, for when they extend beyond, they can be damaging. Specifically, dreams are supposed to impact on a person as he sleeps. When they are so powerful as to have such an effect that they depress a person to the point that he wants to fast, it has certainly gone too far. Such an exaggerated feeling is never good and is a sign that something is wrong with the person’s emotional state.
The Impact of the Reaction to a Dream
(condensed from Ein Ayah, Berachot 9:34)
Gemara: Rav Chisda said: It is sufficient for a bad dream [Rashi- to nullify it] that one is sad; it is sufficient for a good dream [Rashi- to nullify it] that one is happy. Rav Yosef said: Even for me, it is sufficient for a good dream that happiness nullifies it.
Ein Ayah: Natural phenomena leave their mark work on the spirit but only while the spirit stays in its natural state. However, when an external stimulus alters the person’s state, then the natural phenomena will cease to have their normal impact. The weaker the natural phenomenon, the easier it is to remove its impact. A dream is a natural stimulus but a weak one, which is easily nullified by small external stimuli.
A normal person is affected by the things that he sees during his waking hours, so that those sights take away the impact of his dream. Rav Yosef was blind, though, and thus the relatively strong stimulus of sight was missing. Despite that fact, the reaction to the dream alone was enough to upset the impact of the dream because the dream’s power is weak. Because he was blind, there is reason to believe that Rav Yosef would be in a sullen state in which his reaction to a bad dream would have more of an impact than his reaction to a happy one. Therefore, he stressed that even his reaction to a happy dream was enough to undo the natural impact of the dream.
Rabbis in Midrash
Lessons
fast navigation
The Land of Israel LGBT'S IN ISRAEL
The question was asked, how can one make Aliyah with the LGBT parades?
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 7 - Five Accumulative Proofs of G-d
As a preparation for the Kuzari's classic proof of G-d from the mass-revelation at Sinai, we start here with 5 other directions to strengthen our belief which also contribute to what the Kuzari will present as well.
Ein Aya Muscle & Meaning: The Dual Nature of Gevurah (Physical Strength)
Is physical strength and fitness a necessity or an ideal? Although it if often totally overlooked among topics of Judaism, Rav Kook writes that it clearly is also a necessity to deter the many enemies of Israel, but even in Y'mot HaMashiach, in the Messianic era, to a certain extent, it's ideal continues even after our enemies will have been finished off.
Chukat "HOW ENTEBBE STOLE THE BICENTENNIAL
The Difference Between Historic & Eternal"
As we approach America's 250th birthday, it's worth remembering her 200th Bicentennial birthday, on Jul. 4th 1976, when Israel "stole the show" by shocking the world & miraculously saving 101 hostages in a foreign continent. As Pres. As Pres. Trump decides which countries get priority in his new Middle-East, it's worth reminding him of the difference between historic events and eternally historic ones. This obviously connects with this week's parsha, as well!
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 6 - The Parable of the King of India
The advantages of testimony over circumstantial evidence or philosophical speculation.
Kuzari -Rabbi Ari Shvat Kuzari class 5- "Proofs of G-d"
This may be the most important class of the entire book, where we finally get to the Jewish proof of the existence of G-d and truth of the Torah. We should follow His own direction where He tells us how to get to Him: through the Nation of Israel: Jewish history, Jewish prophets (and today, prophecies fulfilled), and national reward & punishment towards Am Yisrael.
Ein Aya One Humanity, One Creator, One Jerusalem
Rav Kook innovatively and beautifully explains this aggadeta where our sages say that after Jerusalem was destroyed her cinnamon fragrance is only found locked in a particular kingdom's treasury.
