המליך אות ס' שינה
וקשר לו כתר
וצרפן זה בזה
וצר בו קשת בעולם
וכסלו בשנה
ומרה בנפש
זכר ונקבה.
[God] caused the letter samech ס to reign over the domain of Sleep,
attached to it a crown, and formed its correspondences;
Aligned it with Sagittarius [the Bow] in the cosmos,
Kislev in the year,
and the stomach in the person,
male and female.
(חמשה וששה ועשרה סימן):
חמשה אחד מששים. אלו הן:
אש
דבש
ושבת
ושינה
וחלום
אש אחד מששים לגיהנם.
דבש אחד מששים למן.
שבת אחד מששים לעולם הבא.
שינה אחד מששים למיתה.
חלום אחד מששים לנבואה.
There are five matters in our world which are one-sixtieth of their most extreme manifestations.
They are:
Fire, honey, Shabbat, sleep, and a dream.
The Gemara [Talmud] elaborates:
Our fire is one-sixtieth of the fire of Gehenna [a hell realm];
Honey is one-sixtieth of manna;
Shabbat is one-sixtieth of the World-to-Come;
Sleep is one-sixtieth of death; and
A dream is one-sixtieth of prophecy.
Jonah Aline Daniel @sickwitchherbs
In Jewish time, the day begins with the darkness. Before there is light, before there is sun, before there is activity and labor, there is rest. There are dreams. Almost as if rest, surrender, and the wisdom brought from connection with darkness and our dream worlds are required for having balanced, just and fulfilling days.
From Dreaming the World to Come 5784: Kislev [dreamingtheworldtocome.com]
Light and Darkness From a Soul Perspective - Rabbi Ohad Peleh Ezrahi
“Light” is identified as being connected with experiences of knowing, of lucidity, enlightenment and clear understanding. “Darkness” is identified with the places of not-knowing, of unknown territory and the unconscious. Thus the darkness scares us, for our greatest fear is our loss of control in the encounter with the unknown.
From Chagigah, p.141 (Kislev “To Light the Shamash”) - my translation
Hadar Cohen [hadarcohen.me]
Seasonally, those in the northern hemisphere now transition into the winter time, when the sun shines less and the nights grow longer. Our time shifts away from the dominance of the Sun and into the domain of the Moon…
The Moon represents our internal world - our mind, our emotions, our healing process. With long Moon nights, we sleep more and hence dream more as well.
During the month of Kislev, the Torah portions we read on Shabbat are filled with stories of dreams… Judaism teaches that dreams are a glimpse of prophecy. When we dream, we receive vision and subtle information about our internal realities. The Moon invites us into these prophetic experiences…
This month invites us to let go, to listen inwardly, to surrender our need to know. Instead, Kislev asked us: how do we dance in the dark?
Ritual:
Make space this month for your internal process. How can you clear your calendar and empty time for yourself?
From Dreaming the World to Come 5783: Kislev [dreamingtheworldtocome.com]
Sheikh Dr Ibrahim Baba - Alone With the Alone
Demonization of the dark …is at the root of body-hatred, hatred of women and their bodies, destruction of peoples the colours of the earth, fear and hared of the erotic, queer/transphobia, Islamophobia, Judeophobia, fear and hatred of paganism and earth-based traditions, fear and hared of people with disabilities, fear of wombs, fear of tombs…
@thenapministry https://theNapMinistry.com
We are the originators of the ‘rest as resistance’ and ‘rest as reparations’ frameworks, and create sacred spaces where the liberatory, restorative, and disruptive power of rest can take hold. ... We believe our bodies are portals. They are sites of liberation, knowledge, and invention that are waiting to be reclaimed and awakened by the beautiful interruptions of brutal systems that sleep and dreaming provide.
- Artist, theologian, writer and Nap Bishop Tricia Hersey.