Dream question
A dream question is a practice of divination whereby a person attains a prophetic state while dreaming, receiving a divine answer to a question meditated on before sleep. According to Kabbalah, when the conscious mind is subdued, the subconscious mind emerges. Thus, in dreams, the soul is being rejuvenated while consciousness slips away.
The early medieval master Hai Gaon notes a method for attaining a dream question involving fasting, purification, and meditation on a text. Based on comments by Abraham ibn Ezra and others, scholar Moshe Idel has identified this text with Exodus 14:19-21, each verse of which contains 72 consonants alluding to a mystical series of Hebrew letters said to represent the true name of God.
Moshe Idel, Romanian-Israeli historian and philosopher of Jewish mysticism, has explored the concept of Se’elat Halom in his research of Kabbalah. In his work "On "She’elat Halom" in “Hasidei Askenaz: Sources and Influences", Idel points to Chagigah 5b in the Babylonian Talmud where God made a promise to the people of Israel, that despite being hidden from view, he will speak to them in dreams.
The process of ''She'elat Halom''
Hai ben Sherira Gaon, a medieval Jewish Rabbi and scholar living from 939 to 1038, recounted experiences of elders confronting the dream question. He recalls several pious elders who fasted, prayed, meditated, in order to go to sleep and receive prophetic revelations. Moshe Idel comments on this, noting that the practice of She’elat Halom calls for the aspirant to fast, pray, and recite verses. He referred to several elders who would fast for a few days, maintain a state of purity through prayer, and recite the letters of verses by their numbers. In their dreams, they would encounter wondrous answers, comparable to prophetic visions.In some cases, however, questions have been answered in dreams without prior fasting and ritual purification involved. During the high middle ages, the dream question was often utilized by Rabbis to determine Jewish law. This process was highly at odds with the Sephardic rationalism that was represented by Maimonides. R. Eliezer B. Nathan of Mainz recorded his experience with the dream question in 1152. On Shabbat, he had inquired out loud, wondering if a glass used to drink wine by a gentile could then be used for Jewish wine consumption. He then took a nap and in a dream, his late father in law came to him and recited verses from the books of Amos and Isaiah that answered the question he asked earlier. The glass was not fit for Jewish wine consumption because residue from the wine consumed by a Gentile was still present on the glass.
In medieval Jewish literature, there is a distinct difference between the dreams from the She'elat Halom practice that occur in the beginning of the night versus at the end of the night. Dreams at the beginning of the night tended to lack prophetic contents whereas dreams at the end of the night were usually revelatory with divine interventions.
In their autobiographical writings from the early 17th century, both mystic Hayyim Vital and rabbi Leon of Modena claim matter-of-factly to have asked a dream question.