In 1971 Cat Stevens released the song “Moonshadow”. I have no idea if Cat Stevens has studied Talmud or not. In 1977 he converted to Islam and changed his name to Yusuf Islam. He is now a very devout Muslim and has generated some controversy for his anti-Israel stances. I will not express an opinion on whether he is or is not antisemitic or his alleged ties to Hamas or radical Islam. I only point out his conversion because on the one hand he is a deeply religious person and has studied religious texts of various religions. On the other hand, I have no idea of his level of engagement with Talmud. Nevertheless, the song “Moonshadow” could have been taken from today’s Daf:

And if I ever lose my hands, lose my plough, lose my land,

Of if I ever lose my hands, Of If . . . I won’t have to work no more.”

The song continues with similar positive spins on losing his eyes (he won’t have to cry no more), losing his legs (he won’t have to walk no more) and his mouth (he won’t have to talk). Almost the same sentiment is expressed by Rabbi Yehuda HaNassi (Rebbi) when he is approached by Bar Kappara about a troubling sense of dreams, including losing his hands and legs. Rebbi replies that Bar Kappara is lucky because he won’t have to work and he won’t have to walk. Rebbi has a completely different interpretation of what it means that Bar Kappara will lose his mouth, but we will get to that later.

Today we spend the entire Daf discussing the interpretations of dreams. Yesterday, the Rabbis grappled with the theological significance of dreams. The Rabbis wanted to know if they were signs from God or if they had no theological significance. In yesterday’s Daf, we learned that dreams “follow the mouth” – meaning dreams mean what we say they mean. Today, the implications of that view get explored in numerous situations.

We start with some international relations. By the time of the Amoraim (the Rabbis of the Talmud), Jews had been caught in the spaces between much larger empires who fought over the Middle East. Sometimes these empires persecuted the Jews, sometimes they were allied with the Jews. Sometimes an empire that persecuted the Jews became allied with the Jews and vice versa. We begin with Rabbi Yehoshua the son of Rabbi Chananya (a Tanna – the Rabbis of the Mishnah) interpreting dreams for Caesar. According to the notes in the Schottenstein Edition, this is Hadrian and Rabbi Yehoshua the son of Rabbi Chananya has several encounters with Hadiran throughout the Talmud. Hadrian asks Rabbi Yehoshua what Hadrian will see in his dream that night. Rabbi Yehoshua said that Hadrian will dream that the Persians will capture Hadrian and force Hadiran to care for their flocks of pigs with a staff of gold. Indeed, this is what Hadrian dreamed that very night. Not to be outdone, the Sassanid King Shapur I wanted his dream predicted by a Rabbi. The Sassanids were inheritors of the Persian Empire in the Third Century. Shapur I consulted Shmuel and asked what he would dream that night. Shmuel told Shapur I that the Romans would capture him and force him to grind date pits with a golden mill. These stories illustrate the position of the Jews caught between warring empires trying to play one of against the other.

Continuing the discussion that the interpretation of dreams “follows the mouth”, we turn to Bar Hedya who gave different interpretations to the same exact dream depending on whether he was paid for the interpretation or not. We get a long series of stories of Abaye and Rava approaching Bar Hedya and asking him to interpret the exact same dream. Abaye always paid Bar Hedya for this service. Rava did not. Bar Hedya always reported that Abaye’s dream signified something very positive for Abaye, but the exact same dream foretold calamity for Rava. For instance, both Rava and Abaye dream about the verse in Deuteronomy 28:10 (“Then all the peoples of the earth will see that the Name of the Lord is proclaimed over you, and they will hold you in awe”). Bar Hedya tells Abaye (who paid for the interpretation) that this dream means that Abaye will be the head of a great academy and the world will hold Abaye in awe. Rava had the exact same dream, but he did not pay for the interpretation. Bar Hedya tells Rava that his dream means that the royal treasury will be robbed and Rava will be blamed. His treatment by the authorities will cause everyone to fear similar treatment. Both interpretations came true. There are many examples of these different interpretations of the exact same dream.

Rava appears to get wise because he decides to have Bar Hedya interpret his dreams without Abaye being present. Rava relates a series of dream and Bar Hedya interprets them as coming calamities. For instance, Bar Hedya tells Rava that his dreams indicate that his wife will die, his children will die, he will be struck by clubs, etc. Rava then decides to pay Bar Hedya for further dream interpretations and suddenly all of Rava’s dreams portend great fortune, particularly in business. One day, Rava picks up a scroll that Bar Hedya dropped. That scroll said that dreams “follow the mouth”. Rava immediately understands that his dreams mean whatever Bar Hedya says they mean and that Bar Hedya said the meant unbelievable tragedy when Rava did not pay and great fortune when Rava did pay. Rava calls him a “Rasha” a wicked person and tells Bar Hedya that he will be handed over to a regime that has no pity on him. Bar Hedya knows that the curse of a sage will be fulfilled and fears for himself. He decides to go into exile to Rome because exile atones for sin. However, as Bar Hedya is himself and when the Master of the Royal Treasury asks Bar Hedya to interpret a dream, Bar Hedya asks for payment. The Master of the Royal Treasury does not feel obliged to pay for the service, so Bar Hedya tells the Master that the dreams mean that the royal clothes for which the Master is responsible have been eaten by worms. The Master of the Royal Treasury is executed for failing to protect the property entrusted to him. Before being executed, the Master says that Bar Hedya should be punished because he could have warned everyone, but decided not to do so because he was not paid for his services. The emperor is not happy with Bar Hedya and BAr Hedya is executed in a particularly gruesome, painful and slow manner.

In contrast to Bar Hedya, Rebbi interprets even apparently bad dreams in a very positive manner. Here is where we learn that Bar Kappra losing his hands and legs is actually something to be celebrated (see Cat Stevens). Interestingly, Bar Kappra also dreamt that he lost both of his jaws. Rebbi tells him that this means that two Roman legions were looking for Bar Kappra, but they both died (not very Cat Stevens).

We then turn to the story of a Sadducee who approaches Rabbi Yishmael to interpret a series of dreams. A Sadducee was a Jew of the late Second Temple period who only recognized the authority of the written law, not the authority of the Talmud and oral law. Of course, they are especially hated by the Rabbis of the Talmud. According to Josephus, the Sadduccess were part of the aristocratic class and the Rabbis of the Talmud were not, so there may also be some class antagonism. This Sadduccee relates a series of dreams which Rabbi Yishmael does not interpret to predict a future event, but rather interprets as a statement of existing facts about the wickedness of the Sadducee. In particular, Rabbi Yishmael interprets the dream to mean that the Sadducee has committed a whole variety of sexual transgressions. For instance, the Sadducee relates that he dreamed that he was pouring oil into olives. Rabbi Yishmael tells hims that this means he had sex with his mother. The interpretations only go downhill from there. Interestingly, despite all of the horrible sexual sins that Rabbi Yishmael accuses the Sadducee of committing, gay sex is not included. Homosexual relations are prohibited in the Hebrew bible, but this is not one of the illicit sexual acts that the Sadducee is accused. Eventually, the Sadducee admits that everything Rabbi Yishmael said is true. Still, he comes back another time for further dream interpretation.

We then turn to a whole discussion about what various things mean in dreams. This section seems to contradict the whole idea that dreams “follow the mouth” because apparently certain things have concrete meanings in dreams. For instance, wells symbolize peace, Torah scholarship or life. Rivers, birds and kettles all portend peace. When we wake, if a dream brings to mind a positive bible verse, then the dream portends good. If the dream brings to mind a negative bible verse, then it portends evil. Accordingly, we should always try to think of a good bible verse when we wake. Interestingly, a dream can mean something based on similarly sounding words. For instance, dreaming of a reed can mean wisdom because the Hebrew words for reed and wisdom are very similar. The most interesting of this catalog to me is dreaming of a “personage of Ishmael” will have his prayers answered. The name “Ishmael” means that God answered prayers. The Rabbis are troubled by this connection because of the hostility Jews had with their neighbors, including Arabs. The Rabbis therefore conclude that if we dream of Ishmael, Abraham’s son from Genesis, then God will answer our prayers, but if we dream of an ordinary Arab (a “Tai“), then we will have no such luck.