Rabbi’s dream house would rest on biblical foundation

Rabbi Eliahu Klein will someday build his dream house.

Not some castle in the hills with huge bay windows and an ocean view, but an institute -- specializing in Jewish dream rituals.

"The Bay Area is very ripe to create a special contemplative center to deal with dreams and honor the dream-ritual traditions of Judaism," said Klein, an Oakland resident who serves on the faculty of the Jewish Meditation Teachers Training Program at Chochmat Halev: The Jewish Meditation Center of Berkeley.

Author of "Meetings With Remarkable Souls: Legends of the Baal Shem Tov" and the soon-to-be-released "Kabbalah of Creation: Issac Luria's Early Mysticism," Klein is a veteran teacher of Kabbalah, Chassidism and Jewish meditation. He has taught throughout the United States, Canada and Israel.

He recently returned to the Bay Area after living in Boston, Mass., where he taught continuing-education classes at the Hebrew College. The former New Yorker has since settled in Oakland, and married.

Through his travels, Klein has led years of workshops and lectures on traditional dream rituals, touching a side of Judaism often ignored or unknown.

"Through my workshops I've seen the good that would come of such a center linked with the mystical, therapeutic and contemplative side of Judaism," said the Orthodox-ordained rabbi, adding, "I always get people astounded that these kinds of rituals actually exist in Judaism."

According to Klein, Jewish dream rituals date back to biblical times and involve three areas: absolving dreams, dream fasts and dream incubation.

Absolving dreams, he explained, is the spiritual alternative to seeing a therapist.

"In the 20th century we developed a Freudian approach to the interpretation of dreams. In the Jewish world of rituals it's a bit different."

The ritual involves a Jewish court, made up of three people who listen to the "dream master," considering the dream a message from God with only good connotations.

"This allows him or her to feel relieved," said Klein. In his workshops, Klein has participants re-enact the biblical ritual. "It's an unbelievable experience to see people process their dreams in front of a religious court."

The second ritual, the dream fast, is reserved for bad or peculiar dreams. This ritual of purification is so important to Jewish tradition, that fasting is even permitted on the Sabbath, according to Klein.

"That's an eyebrow-raising idea. Shabbat is a holy day -- you're supposed to eat and drink."

The third ritual, dream incubation, is "the most curious and fascinating," he said. It involves isolating one's self in a sacred room and asking the heavens for answers to particular questions.

"The answers enter as you fall asleep. You receive [the answer] in your dreams."

The dream institute, which Klein would call the Dreamwork Center, would incorporate all three rituals into its methodology. The rituals would be available to both Jews and non-Jews, allowing people to deal with "real problems and real healing."

"I have repeatedly seen catharsis and confirmation in dealing with these rituals in my workshops," he said. "We can benefit from the methods which our sages have been practicing for ages."

Although lingering at the conceptual "infant, brilliant-idea stage" for the last year and a half, Klein hopes to have the center established within the next two years, after dreaming about it himself for the past decade.

Presently, Klein reports his main focus is to move his teachings to the front burner of the Jewish community and turn up the heat.

"After years of going to therapists, it's time for people to find out they can have a spiritual experience instead," he said. "Most people are dumbfounded and kind of in awe that these kinds of Judaic traditions exist.

"Many [Jews] often turn to other faiths in search of this type of spiritualism. But they don't have to find spirituality elsewhere: There is a true, spiritual side to Judaism."