I Had a Bad Dream: Priestly Blessings Explained on five Levels ברכת כהנים

What’s said in this shiur

The opening of this shiur, in Rabbi Aaron L Raskin’s own words — taken from the captions, so names and Hebrew terms may be approximate.

At the beginning of the parsha Vayeishev, at the end of the parsha Vayeishev, at the beginning of parshas Mikeitz, we talk about dreams. And so this morning, I would like to dedicate the class to dreams. What should you do if you have a bad dream? The Gemara in Brachot says, on page 55b, Haiman d'chaze cholma v'lo yada machaze, if a person had a dream and they don't know what they dreamt, what should they do? Let them go to the synagogue where the Kohanim are making the priestly blessings, when they are stretching forth their hands, and then their dream will be healed. And the Gemara goes on to say they should say this blessing. Now, this blessing is brought down in the Kodesh Chumash, is brought down in the ArtScroll Chumash, and it's taken from the Gemara nun hei amud beis, 55b. And you are to recite these words, Ribono shel Olam, master of the universe, anishlach, v'chalomosi sh'lach, I am yours, my dreams are yours. May be the will of God that all my dreams should be for good. And then it goes on to say, if my dreams are like Yosef the tzaddik, Joseph, who dreamt that one day he would be the viceroy of Egypt, let it be fulfilled. But v'im tzrichim refuah, but if my dreams need to be healed, refa'eim, you shall heal those dreams. K'Chizkiyahu, Hezekiah, the king of Judah, that was sick. And the prophet told him he would die right there and then. And he prayed to God, he turned to the wall, and he cried. And God gave him 15 more years. He was healed from his illness. And he was given an additional 15 more years. Or Miriam or like Miriam had a vision of the prophetess. Misora'at, from her sickness, she became a misora'at, a leper.

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1. 2:36Or like the non-Jewish general. The Syrian general, Naaman, misora'at, from his illness, he too was…
2. 5:40Yet God says, I want to make your quality of life better. Not only for Miriam…
3. 8:18walk to the shul." The Rebbe said, "You get to the shul. You walk to the…
4. 11:22And this brings about strength and healing. And therefore, when Messiah will come, we will realize…
5. 13:56which is peace. The word vessel, kli, stands for cohen, levi, Israel. When all the Jews…
6. 17:01puts all the money in the bank account, but every day we have to access the…
7. 19:34has the power to change sickness into healing. It has the power to change curse into…
8. 22:41an emptiness in their life. It's like the Jew who comes in once a year, not…
9. 25:14It was the the middle Rebbe of Anash the Shluchim. Another chossid. And they said to…

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