Wisdom comes from many sources, even from dreams

 I am beginning this book exactly six months short of being 91. During these decades, I found that I could learn what I needed to learn to improve myself and help others do so from multiple sources, indeed from everything in this world and all people. I also found that learning is a never-ending endeavor.

There is a famous rabbinic teaching, “It is not your duty to finish the work, but neither are you at liberty to neglect it.” It appears in Pirkei Avot (“Chapters of the Fathers,” often called the “Ethics of the Fathers”), Chapter 2, Mishnah 16. The Hebrew is: “Lo alecha hamlacha ligmor, v’lo ata ben chorin l’hivatel mimena.” Rabbi Tarfon said it.

The teaching focuses entirely on effort rather than outcome, relieves people of the pressure to solve a massive problem, and demands that they do their part without using the goal’s complexity as an excuse to do nothing.

More importantly, it tells us that people need to use their intelligence to learn and apply that learning to improve themselves and the rest of the world. The task of learning and using it never ends. We never reach the goal of knowing everything. But as Rabbi Tarfon states, we must never neglect to use our intelligence and learn.

In this book. I will stress that we can even learn from fiction. I will give 18 examples from full-length books. But this truth can also be seen in short humorous tales.

For example, I. L. Peretz’s short novel If Not Higher” (Oyb Nisht Nokh Hekher”), first published in January 1900 and republished frequently in many books, is a most beloved and enduring Yiddish short story. It is my favorite story.

Written as a Hasidic folk tale, it tells of the revered and loved Rebbe of Nemirov, whom his followers believe ascends to heaven during the season before the Jewish High Holy Days. A skeptical Lithuanian Jew decides to uncover the truth and secretly follows the rebbe. He discovers that the rabbi is not performing a miracle in the supernatural sense, but something much more profound.

He disguised himself as a peasant, chopped wood, and brought warmth and comfort to a poor, sick widow. The story is short, simple, and deeply moving. Peretz uses gentle humor to contrast unquestioning belief with skepticism, yet he ultimately shows respect for both religion and reason. The skeptic’s investigation reveals that true holiness is found not in prayer but in acts of kindness and self-sacrifice. Helping another human being is the highest form of religion. When others later claim that their rabbi ascends to heaven, the former skeptic replies, “If not higher.”

It is even seen in tales in serious philosophical books, such as Maimonides’ Guide for the Perplexed, my favorite book after the Bible.

In this philosophical masterpiece, Maimonides tells us his famous allegory, “The Tale of the King’s Palace.” The Guide was written between about 1185 and 1190 CE in Judeo-Arabic for his student Joseph ben Judah. The story depicts a large crowd of people trying to enter the king’s palace to see him. Some people live far from the palace and do not even know the king exists. They represent individuals who lack knowledge of God. Others know of the king but remain outside the city. They possess some belief but little understanding. Some reach the city and begin searching for the palace. These are people who study religion and philosophy. Others arrive at the palace and enter its outer courts. They have attained deeper intellectual and spiritual understanding. Only a very small number enter the king’s inner chamber and stand in his presence. These are symbols of the wise individuals who have achieved the highest knowledge of God that human beings can attain.

The palace symbolizes truth, the king symbolizes God, and the journey toward the palace symbolizes lifelong learning and self-improvement. The tale remains relevant today because it encourages people not to be satisfied with superficial beliefs but to continue seeking greater understanding and wisdom. It teaches that closeness to God is not achieved merely through birth, beliefs, daily prayer, or by devoting one’s life to the study of Torah. Instead, it is attained through the pursuit of truth, wisdom, proper moral behavior, and a deep understanding of reality. It is intellectual and ethical growth that brings a person closer to God. But even then, complete knowledge of God remains beyond human reach.

One can also find profound truth in extremely short tales, which may be nothing more than a parable.

The brief story of the non-Jewish man who asks Hillel to teach him the entire Torah while standing on one foot appears in the Babylonian Talmud Shabbat 31a.  Hillel patiently accepted the challenge and famously responded: “What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor. That is the whole Torah; the rest is commentary. Go and study it.”

Hillel was a Jewish sage, scholar, and the president of the Sanhedrin, the supreme Jewish court, who, according to traditional sources, lived from around 110 BCE to 10 CE. Born in Babylonia, he migrated to Jerusalem in extreme poverty to study Torah. He founded the “House of Hillel” (Beit Hillel), a school of thought renowned for its lenient, compassionate interpretations that ultimately shaped mainstream rabbinic Judaism.

Hillel did not mean that the Torah consists only of one rule. Rather, he taught that concern for other people is the foundation upon which all the Torah commandments rest. The many laws and teachings of the Torah can be understood as applications of this principle. They can and should be seen as practices that aid people in achieving the Torah’s goal of concern for all people.

After giving his concise answer, Hillel added, “The rest is commentary. Go and learn it.” The point is that no short slogan can replace serious study. One may grasp the central idea quickly, but understanding its implications requires continuous learning.

People can even learn how to improve themselves from stories about dreams, such as Jacob’s dream of a ladder reaching to heaven, found in Genesis 28:10-22.

A dream is an experience that occurs during sleep in which a person sees images, hears sounds, feels emotions, or encounters situations that may seem realistic, symbolic, or fantastic. Modern psychology generally views dreams as part of the brain’s processing of memories, emotions, and experiences, while many religious traditions also see some dreams as potentially meaningful or even revelatory.

Modern scholars tell us that there are 15 dreams in the Hebrew Bible, 10 in Genesis and 5 in the prophetic and historical texts. There are also 6 dreams mentioned in the New Testament, all in the Gospel of Matthew.

Maimonides discussed dreams in several works, especially in the Guide for the Perplexed. He said Dreams are connected to prophecy, but not all dreams are significant. Some dreams may contain truth. The imagination remains active during sleep. While reason rests, the imaginative faculty can produce images and symbols.

Sigmund Freud argued in The Interpretation of Dreams that dreams are the “royal road to the unconscious.” He was convinced that dreams reveal hidden wishes and desires, they are symbols that often disguise unconscious thoughts, and by analyzing dreams, people can better understand themselves.

Others point out that dreams can reveal anxieties that need attention, highlight unresolved conflicts, and suggest creative solutions to problems. This can explain Jacob’s dream in Genesis 28.

Jacob was fleeing for his life from his twin brother, Esau. He had co-conspired with his mother, Rebekah, to trick his blind, aging father, Isaac, into giving him the birthright blessing intended for the firstborn, Esau. Infuriated by this deception, Esau vowed to murder Jacob. To save Jacob’s life, Rebekah urged him to flee to her brother Laban’s household in Haran. During the flight, Jacob stops to sleep. He dreams of a ladder reaching from earth to heaven, with angels ascending and descending upon it.

God promises that He will be with Jacob and protect him. Several practical lessons can be drawn from this story:

A ladder is climbed one rung at a time. Personal growth also usually occurs through many small improvements rather than one dramatic transformation. At the time of the dream, Jacob was fleeing from his brother and facing an uncertain future. He was agitated. His unconscious mind relieved his fear and revealed his solution. The dream suggests that his current situation does not determine his ultimate destiny. He can take steps that will bring him up to a very satisfying goal.

The angels follow the upward movements by coming down. This suggests to Jacob, as well as to readers of the tale, that once they achieve satisfaction from their upward steps, they need to return to earth to help others.

He wrote a short parable about a forest, often called the tale of The Hasidic Masters, which serves as the preface to his 1964 novel, The Gates of the Forest.

The tale describes four generations of rabbis trying to avert misfortune for their congregants. The founder knew how to reach a particular spot in a particular forest, light a sacred fire, and say a special prayer to work a miracle. His successor recalled the place and the prayer, but forgot how to light the fire. Yet, his miracle occurred. The following rabbi knew the place, but could not remember the prayer and how to light the fire. Still, the miracle worked. The last successor forgot the place in the forest, that he must light a fire, and the words of the prayer. He remained at home, told the story of what his ancestors did, and that was enough to create the miracle.

The lesson of the parable is the incredible power of a story. Even when people feel lost, incapable, or stripped of ideas, tools, or rituals, reading or sharing a story is enough to bring about a miracle, offering a lesson that can improve a reader’s or listener’s life.