Jewish Magic and Superstition, by Joshua Trachtenberg, [1939], at sacred-texts.com

CHAPTER XV

DREAMS

1. Cf. Thorndike, I, 123; Güd. I, 81-2; Semag, Introd.; Gross, Gallia Judaica, 20; Nishmat Ḥayim, Introd.; see JE, IV, 654 ff. and A. Kristianpoller, "Traum und Traumdeutung," Monumenta Talmudica, IV, for the Biblical and Talmudic data on dreams; Bischoff, 63 ff., 158 ff.

2. Or Zarua, IV, 27d, §200; Tashbeẓ, §352; Mordecai, B.K. §2, P. 40c and Introd. to Krakau ed. of She’elot Uteshubot min HaShamayim (see also Shelah, II, 201a); ibid., Livorno 1818 and Krakau 1895; HB, XIV (1874), 131; Malter, Dreams, 201-2; Güd. I, 81, n. 5; Löwinger, Der Traum, 20; Simon Duran (d. 1444) defended at length the reliability of dreams even in questions of strict science, as medicine and mathematics. Many questions in the science of medicine, he asserted, have been solved in dreams by the famous physicians Galen, Ibn Zohr, and others (Malter, op. cit., 203); cf. also Isidore Epstein, The Responsa of Rabbi Simon b. Zemah Duran, London 1930, 23 f., 39, 99.

3. Löwinger, op. cit., 6; the provision that a dream ban can be loosed only

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by ten men is found in the Talmud, Ned. 8a; cf. Leket Yosher, II, 80; Pitron Ḥalomot, III, 3, p. lot; Löwinger, 34. The same provision affecting a dream vow was ascribed to the Geonim: Kol Bo, 109d; Yore Deah, 210:2.

4. Thorndike, II, 605; Ber. 57b; S. Ḥas. 382, 1138; Leket Yosher, I, 41; Pitron Ḥalomot, Introd., p. 3, and I, 2, pp. 14 ff.; cf. also S. Ḥas. 634, 1522, etc.; Nishmat Ḥayim, III, 5.

5. S. Ḥas. 382; Ẓiyuni, 20a; Nishmat Ḥayim, loc. cit.; cf. also Löwinger, op. cit., 8, for a similar opinion of Saadia. The spirit us theory of dreams was popular in Europe, cf. Thorndike, II, 298.

6. Ẓiyuni, loc. cit.

7. Ibid., 19d; Ḥochmat HaNefesh, 4a-b, 6b; S. Ḥas. B 1131;—Raben, 26; Responsa of Ḥayim b. Isaac Or Zarua, §164; Löwinger, op. cit., 20; Ma‘aseh Book, II, 517, cf. Shab. 152a, b; Ta‘anit 24b; S. Ḥas. 591, etc.

8. Ḥag. 5b; Nishmat Ḥayim, loc. cit.

9. Rashi, San. 30a and Yeb. 24b; S. Ḥas. 382, 1550; Ḥochmat HaNefesh, 4a-b, 66; Orḥot Ẓadikim, 63a; cf. Hai Gaon's remark (Ta‘am Zekenim, 58): "Concerning what you have said, that every man has his own genius of dreams who appears as an old man to one, as a youth to another, we have heard that this is so, but we have not ourself beheld such an apparition, nor have we spoken with anyone who has."

10. S. Ḥas. 382; Ma‘aseh Rokeaḥ, §130, p. 31; Nishmat Ḥayim, III, 27. Similar explanations of the causes of dreams are to be found in medieval Christian works; see Thorndike, II, 412, where the theories of Bartholomew of England (13th century) are given; he believed that dreams are produced by divine inspiration, by angelic administration, by diabolic illusion, or by natural and bodily causes. See also Löwinger, op. cit., 8, and Pitron Ḥalamot, I, 1:1, pp. 6-7, for slightly different analyses of the causes of dreams, and Thorndike, I, 358, for the view of Philo Judæus.

11. S. Ḥas. 382, 383; J. Maaser Sheni, 55c; Ber. 55b (cf. Bacher, "Une Ancienne Altération de Texte dans le Talmud," REJ, XXVII [1893], 141 ff.), Ber. 55a; S. Ḥas. 1189, 1522; Maḥ. Vit., 48.

12. Pitron Ḥalomot, I, 7, pp. 43 ff.; Tos. Ber. 55b; She’elot Uteshubot min HaShamayim, §22; S. Ḥas. 389; B 440. According to Tyrnau, Minhagim, 22a, § 133, Meir of Rothenburg was "expert in interpreting dreams."

13. Lea, III, 447; Thorndike, II, 162, 290 ff.; Steinschneider, "Das Traumbuch Daniels und die Oneirokritische Litteratur des Mittelalters," Serapeum, XXIV (1863), 193-201, 209-16; JE, I, 433; Pitron Ḥalomot, Introd. to Part II, p. 56.

14. Pitron Ḥalomot, pp. 6, 57-8, 82.

15. Löwinger, op. cit., 29 ff.; Ber. 56b-57b. See Pitron Ḥalomot, Part II; for Christian parallels see De Givry, 324; Thorndike, II, 290 ff., IV, 303, etc.; Grimm, II, 958 f.

16. Ms. Eẓ Ḥayim, 264-6 (141-2 of original); Ḥochmat HaNefesh, 8b-c; cf. S. Ḥas. 180, 1550, 1563, etc.

17. On this and the following paragraphs see Pitron Ḥalomot, I, 3, 5, 6, 8; Ḥochmat HaNefesh, loc. cit.; HaḤayim, II, 6; as to the determination of the reliability of dreams according to the time of night, see Ber. 55b; S. Ḥas. 390, 958; Ḥochmat HaNefesh, 4b; Löwinger, op. cit., 8-9; Thorndike, II, 330, III, 554.

18. I Sam. 28:6; Löwinger, op. cit., 22; Ta‘am Zekenim, 57-8 and Introd. to Krakau ed. of She’elot Uteshubot min HaShamayim, p. 3;—S. Ḥas. 211, 80; Güd. I, 207, n. 4; She’elot, etc., §9; Maharil, 63b; cf. also S. Ḥas. B 949; A. Neubauer, REJ, XII (1886), 92.

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19. S. Ḥas. 1723; Testament of Judah, §9; Rokeaḥ, §316, p. 83a; Yereim, §90; Yore Deah, 179:14; S. Ḥas. 324; Grimm, III, 425, 11. 237 ff.

20. S. Ḥas. 1556.

21. Ibid., 1456.

22. A. Marx, Proceedings Amer. Acad. for Jewish Research, IV (1932-3), 153; She’elot, etc., §5, 3, etc.; Shimmush Tehillim, passim; ms. S. Gematriaot, 68a, 75a; Nishmat Ḥayim, III, 6; Löwinger, op. cit., 23 f.

23. Responsa of Meir of Rothenburg, §5 (ed. Berlin 1881); Grunwald, MGJV, V (1900), 82; Raziel, 40a-b; ibid., 33b, 40a, 3a-b; cf. also Grunwald MJV, XIX (1906), 106, 108.

24. Siddur Rashi §429, p. 214; Maḥ. Vit., §78, p. 47; Mateh Moshe, 397, 401; Kiẓur Shelah, Inyane Shabbat, p. 130; see also S. Ḥas. 1522.

25. S. Ḥas. 1523; Ḥochmat HaNefesh, 8b; ms. Eẓ Ḥayim, 264 (141 of original) .

26. Shab. Ira; Pitron Ḥalomot, III, 1:1, pp. 82-3; Issarles, Oraḥ Ḥayim 429:2; Leket Yosher, I, 41, 42; S. Ḥas. 1521; cf. also Tashbeẓ, 3; Raben, 179; S. Ḥas. 281; Oraḥ Ḥayim 220:2; JE, V, 348; Löwinger, op. cit., 32 f.

27. Pitron Ḥalomot, III, 1:2, pp. 83-4.

28. Mordecai, Shab. §318, 321, p. 8b; Maharil, 37a;—Tyrnau, Minhagim, 15a, 32a; Leket Yosher, I, 41; Mateh Moshe, 760; Joseph Omeẓ, 944, p. 210; Shelah, II, p. 7b (Mas. Shabbat); cf. Oraḥ Ḥayim 288:5; S. Ḥas. 1776.

29. Ber. 31b; Maharil, 2b, 27b, 36a, b; Responsa of Marahil, §168, p. 72a; Leket Yosher, I, 42, 104, 124; Tyrnau, Minhagim, 23a, 25b, 32a; Oraḥ Ḥayim 288:4, 418:1, 5, 597:3; cf. S. Ḥas. 281, 287.

30. Ber. 55a; Löwinger, loc. cit.; ms. Eẓ Ḥayim, 263 (140 of original) cites the three-fold repetition attributed to R. Isaac, which is also found in Tos. Ber. 55a and Maḥ. Vit. 48; Leket Yosher I, 24, 42; Toledot Adam veḤavah 13:2, p. 83c; Pitron Ḥalomot, III, 2:1, pp. 93-5; cf. also Mateh Moshe, 368.