Q. Kvod Ha Rab. I know that we do not put much into dreams. However, this dream has remained with me and it is a bit disturbing as it was very vivid. In this dream, we were sitting at the table ready to start eating a kind of pasta dish with meat and sauce. I was very confident in the bracha to say and said it out loud. However after I said the bracha I realized I said the wrong bracha ( it did not even pertain to an ingredient found in that meal).
Is it possible to say a bracha le batala (in vain) when dreaming or should I just dismiss this as just a dream?
A. Although dreams are often given great importance in our tradition, as we can see from the visions of Yaakov Avinu and Yosef Hatzadik and and even Pharaoh, not all dreams are the same. As mentioned in Koheles (5: 2-6) and in Talmud Brochos 55 a-b and many other sources). There is much written by our sages regarding the meaning and importance of dreams and the differences between them, as well as the value of the interpretations given to them.
However, it seems logical that a brocho said in a dream does not qualify as a blessing in vain, since after all it was said without any intention and the qualifying necessary presence of mind.
Horav Yaakov Hirschman Shlit”a mentioned that even if one recited the correct brocho, it still would be a blessing in vain, since one did not actually eat. From the beginning of Talmud Babba Kama, it seems that what you do while sleeping, you are not usually responsible for.
Horav Shlomo Miller’s Shlit’a opinion is similar.
Rabbi A. Bartfeld as revised by Horav Yaakov Hirschman, Horav Dovid Pam, Horav Aharon Miller, Horav Chanoch Ehrentreu and Horav Kalman Ochs Shlit'a.
Important Numbers
