Tell me more ×
Mi Yodeya is a question and answer site for those who base their lives on Jewish law and tradition and anyone interested in learning more. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 8 down vote favorite
1

I don't know how many sects actually do this, but some people have the custom to say a tehfillah which is all about dreams. In it we ask Hashem to make all our good dreams come true whether "...I have dreamed about others, or myself, or that others have dreamed about me...".

This Tehfillah is said during Birchas Kohanim on Yom Tov (not during a regular Shabboss in Eretz Yisroel). My question is, why do we ask about dreams of all things when the Kohanim are blessing us?

share|improve this question
re: on Yom Tov: judaism.stackexchange.com/a/14801/759 – Double AA♦ Aug 14 '12 at 18:36
@DoubleAA all he says is why some people say it on yom tov. Not at that point in davening? – shachna Aug 14 '12 at 22:00
Yes. You distinguished between Yom Tov in Chu"l and Shabbat in E"Y. I was just linking to more discussion regarding that distinction. – Double AA♦ Aug 14 '12 at 22:01
@DoubleAA thanks it was informative. – shachna Aug 14 '12 at 23:46

1 Answer

up vote 2 down vote

Yalkut Shim'oni, parashat Naso, remez taf shin yud, expounds Song of Songs verses 3:7-8 in relation to birkat cohanim:

Behold, it is the bed of Solomon; sixty mighty men are about it, of the mighty men of Israel. They all handle the sword, and are expert in war; every man hath his sword upon his thigh, because of dread in the night.

The sixty mighty men are the sixty letters that make up birkat cohanim. The words have the power, like mighty men, to protect us from, among other things, 'dread in the night', i.e, something frightening seen in a dream of the night.

(I saw this Yalkut Shim'oni quoted in relation to birkat cohanim in the siddur Sha'ar HaRachamim, edited by Eliezer Weisfisch.)

The directive to pray concerning a dream during birkat cohanim is in the Gemara, Berachot 55b, http://e-daf.com/index.asp?ID=108&size=1.

share|improve this answer
Great insight above as to the why then...ie.. Why did the amoraim in Brachot daf 55b advise us to say it then. – user2797 May 16 at 12:17

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.