Sex, Dreams and Mystical Revelations: A Hasidic Dream Diary from the Turn of the Twentieth Century

• In Event: Magic, Dreams, and Occultism in East European Jewish Culture

Abstract

A fascination with dreams and dreaming is common across cultures and the Jewish tradition is no exception. Dreams have been valued in Jewish culture in a variety of ways including as a vehicle for divine communication, a source of supernatural knowledge or a means of foretelling the future. Given the interest in cultivating mystical experiences and personal communion with the divine in Hasidism, it is not surprising that we find a particular interest in the significance of dreams in the Hasidic movement. This interest is reflected in theoretical discussions of the nature of dreams as well as in the frequent recounting or recording of dreams by Hasidic figures, sometimes in dedicated dream diaries, some of which still survive. One such extant dream diary was kept by the Polish Hasidic figure Akiva Meir of Lukow for a period of nearly forty years, from 1879 until his death in 1918. In addition to dreams, Akiva Meir recorded verses or phrases that occurred to him in the hypnopompic state as well as, and most uniquely, those that occurred during sexual intercourse. This paper will present this dream diary against the background of earlier Hasidic views on the revelatory significance of dreams and other forms of spontaneous thought and argue that it represents a rare and vivid testimony to the implementation of these Hasidic teachings in a personal spiritual practice.

Author

• Elly Moseson, YIVO Institute for Jewish Research