Dreams of Improvement
Often, a person is given Heavenly signals in the form of dreams. Their purpose is to strengthen his Avodat Hashem. He must listen to his messages and reinforce his Torah and mitzvah observance. A woman once told me that she dreamed that all her teeth had fallen out.
Since this type of dream portends bad tidings (see Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 288:5) for which one is required to fast in atonement, the woman asked what she should do. I instructed her to study the halachot of taharat hamishpachah and improve her observance of these laws. She did as I told her. But the story does not end here.
Her dream repeated itself. She returned to me, agitated to the core. What should she do now? She wondered. I tried giving her various pieces of advice. But nothing helped. Her dream returned, as frightening as ever.
Finally, I told her the matter lay in her hands. She had to do some serious introspection and find the area which demanded improvement. This would surely cause her frightening dreams to cease.
That was what happened. After some time, the woman came back to tell me, “Honored Rav, my awful dream is long gone. Since the Rav advised me to improve, and I followed his instructions, I am no longer disturbed by my frightful dream.”
“And in what area did you choose to improve?” I asked, curiously.
“I undertook to improve my love for Torah. Likewise, I encouraged my husband to set fixed times for Torah study. Every evening, I joyfully send him off to learn.”
Chazal teach (Berachot 5a): If a person is met with suffering, he should search his deeds, as the pasuk says (Eichah 3:40), “Let us search and examine our ways and return to Hashem.” If a person searched, but found nothing wrong, he should attribute his suffering to bitul Torah, as the pasuk says (Tehillim 94:12), “Praiseworthy is the man whom G-d disciplines, and whom You teach from Your Torah.”
