Gemara Clarity

Berachos 56a

ברכות נ״ו ע״א

Berakhot 56a

Learn Berachos 56a step by step: Aramaic beside English, every question, answer and proof colour-coded.

Open Berachos 56a in Gemara Clarity

Topic

Dreams follow their interpretation: the story of בַּר הֶדְיָא, אַבָּיֵי and רָבָא

Overview

The amud opens with two rulers who ask Jewish sages to predict their dreams. Each ruler thinks all day about the frightening image he was given, and he dreams it that night. The גמרא then tells about בַּר הֶדְיָא, a dream interpreter who gave good readings to clients who paid and bad readings to those who did not. אַבָּיֵי paid him and רָבָא did not, so the very same dreams were read as success for אַבָּיֵי and as disaster for רָבָא. Several of רָבָא's bad readings come true, including his arrest and two blows from a club. Once רָבָא pays, his readings turn good. רָבָא then finds a book that says all dreams follow the interpretation, so he holds בַּר הֶדְיָא responsible and curses him. בַּר הֶדְיָא flees into exile in Rome, where his habit of demanding a זוז gets him blamed for ruining the king's silks; the story continues on the next amud.

Opening lines

אֲמַר לֵיהּ קֵיסָר לְרַבִּי יְהוֹשֻׁעַ בְּרַבִּי חֲנַנְיָא:

The emperor said to Rabbi Yehoshua son of Rabbi Ḥananya:

אָמְרִיתוּ דְּחָכְמִיתוּ טוּבָא,

You say that you are very wise,

אֵימָא לִי מַאי חָזֵינָא בְּחֶלְמַאי.

tell me what I will see in my dream.

אֲמַר לֵיהּ: חָזֵית דִּמְשַׁחֲרִי לָךְ פָּרְסָאֵי

He said to him: You will see Persians capture you

The steps (38)

  1. QuestionThe emperor asks what he will dream
  2. ResponseA vivid prediction becomes the dream
  3. Questionשַׁבּוּר מַלְכָּא asks the same kind of question
  4. ResponseThe second ruler dreams what he contemplated
  5. StatementThe interpreter’s payment rule
  6. StatementOne verse receives opposite business readings
  7. StatementA second verse is read literally or favorably
  8. Statement“Another people” receives two family readings
  9. ProofAn earlier teaching explains the stepmother reading
  10. StatementEating with joy—or trying to calm fear
  11. StatementReading the beginning for one person and the end for the other
  12. StatementBeing feared can mean honor or suspicion
  13. ProofThe predicted arrest takes place
  14. StatementLettuce on the barrels
  15. StatementMeat on the barrels
  16. StatementA barrel hanging on a palm tree
  17. StatementA pomegranate sprouting on the barrels
  18. StatementThe barrel that fell into a pit
  19. StatementThe braying donkey foal
  20. Challengeרבא objects that the words are there
  21. ResolutionOnly the letter ו is erased
  22. Statementרבא alone: the fallen outer door
  23. StatementTeeth falling out
  24. StatementTwo doves flying away
  25. StatementTwo turnip heads
  26. ProofThe two blows come true that day
  27. Statementרבא pays: the fallen wall
  28. Statementאביי's house falls on רבא
  29. StatementEveryone takes רבא's bricks
  30. StatementSplit head becomes a feather from the pillow
  31. StatementHearing the Egyptian הלל
  32. Statementבר הדיא fears traveling with רבא on a ship
  33. StatementA book falls and reveals the secret
  34. Statementרבא rebukes and curses בר הדיא
  35. Statementבר הדיא fears the curse and chooses exile
  36. StatementIn Rome, the wardrobe keeper's first two dreams
  37. StatementThe third dream and the ruin of the king's silks
  38. StatementThe blame shifts to בר הדיא