Berakhot 56
"All dreams follow the mouth.”
When I was a young girl I poured over Freud and Jung hoping to find some meaning in the scraps of dreams that I could remember. I was certain that there were fixed, predetermined messages in my dreams and if I could only figure out the precise meaning I would have some insight into my life to come. I felt stuck in my suburban New Jersey adolescent life and was certain there was a much more fabulous life waiting for me. In addition to interpreting my dreams through the psychoanalytic texts I was reading, I taught myself astrology. I was desperate to see my future through a positive lens.
Today we learn in the Talmud that there are no fixed meanings to our dreams. You can buy a good dream from Bar Haddaya, who was a professional interpreter. He is a bit of a rascal who interprets dreams according to the fee he is paid. If you pay his fee, he will give you a positive interpretation and if you do not, he will give you an unfavorable one. This suggests that we believe what we want to believe in our dreams; they are open to interpretation because a rogue like Bar Haddaya can tailor the description of a dream for alternate meanings.
We are introduced to Abaye and Rava who have appeared together elsewhere in the Talmud and speak in unison. The two sages are great pals and travel together. They are so connected to each other that they dream the same dreams. They shared a series of identical dreams with Bar Haddaya and were given opposite interpretations. Abaye pays Bar Haddaya’s fee and is told he will prosper in business, his sons and daughters will be numerous, his name will be well-known, and his wine will be sweet. Rava, who does not initially pay the fee, is told that the very same dream means that his wife will die, his business will be lost, and he will be incarcerated for a burglary he did not commit. He experiences a lot of misery in his life as result of Bar Haddaya’s interpretation because he believes what he is told. The same dreams are interpreted in very different ways through a twisting of words and what we believe can influence the course of our lives. Words and their interpretation have meaning.
Rava relents and pays the fee and is given positive interpretations of his dream. Finally, he calls out Bar Haddaya’s scam after a book hits the dream interpreter on the head and elucidates the truth that “all dreams follow the mouth.” Rava places a curse on Haddaya which the text tells us is a very serious punishment coming from a sage. Bar Haddaya exiles himself and heads off to Rome. But he appears to have not truly atoned because he starts his scam all over again with a guard who is the designated keeper of the king’s wardrobe (maybe a butler?) Bar Haddaya refuses to interpret the guy’s dreams unless his fee is paid.
This does not end well for Bar Haddaya. His ultimate demise is horrendous: he is blamed for the ruin of the king’s silks and his body is pulled apart by two cedar trees. This appears to be a cautionary tale against greed, and misusing one’s talents and influence over others.
The long litany of dreams and their alternate interpretations suggests that there is no absolute meaning to our dreams, contrary to my longings as a young girl to uncover their absolute truth. Their meaning is relative and there is more than one truth that can be applied to any given dream. We have control over how our dreams are interpreted and as a result, can influence not just the positive interpretation of our dreams, but of our lives.
The story of Abaya and Rava is very profound. I found a wonderful article that provides background:
http://thegemara.com/all-dreams-follow-the-interpretation-even-for-the-rabbis/