She Rises While It Is Still Night: Dreaming in the Four Worlds of Kabbalah

by Tamar Frankiel PhD

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Author: Tamar Frankiel PhD

Publisher: Gaon Web

Paperback:
ISBN 10: 1935604988
ISBN 13: 978-1935604983

She Rises While It Is Still Night is titled for a verse in the biblical book of Proverbs, following a mystical tradition that interprets "She" as Soul, the source of inner light that emerges from darkness. The book explores dreaming as a primary mode of access to that spiritual light, by interweaving two frameworks: a typology developed by her teacher in dreaming, Connie Kaplan, and a cosmology known as the Four Worlds, developed by Jewish mystics - thus the subtitle, Dreaming in the Four Worlds of Kabbalah.
Using her own dreams as well as those she has heard from others, the author retells dreams that illustrate the Four Worlds and shows how they bring guidance, teaching, healing, and a broader perspective on life. She emphasizes the significance of dream language as well as its imagery, showing how dreams may wax poetic or point out our foibles, bring joy and laughter or evoke poignant sadness, all the while leading us to a deeper connection with soul.
An appendix discusses briefly the ancient roots of commentary on dreams in the Jewish tradition, and touches on other modes of dream interpretation that have influenced the author. Also included is a description of the kind of group work that has nourished the author's development in dreaming.

Review

"I have been waiting for a book which addresses dream interpretation from a Jewish spiritual and scholarly perspective. Finally, and not surprisingly, it has been written by Tamar Frankiel. She Rises While It Is Still Night: Dreaming in the Four Worlds of Kabbalah is beautifully composed, accessible and erudite. The list of people I will be sharing it with is already very long."
-- Rabbi Vanessa Ochs, Ph.D., Department of Religious Studies, University of Virginia

"In this book Dr. Frankiel gives the reader a mystical map! She walks us through the worlds of Kabbalah and shows us how dreaming can open those worlds for us. This is not a dream dictionary but rather a dreaming template - an open-ended form through which we may better understand our dream images, and more importantly our relationship to the Soul."
-- Dr. Connie Kaplan, author of The Invisible Garment.

"Dr. Frankiel has woven together imagery, insight and scholarship to examine the spiritual relevance and resonance of dreaming. With the framework of the kabbalistic 'Four Worlds, ' we discover how our dreams are messages rich with both personal and cosmic purpose. This book is a must for anyone who wishes to more deeply understand the connection between the world in which we live and the worlds in which we dream."
-- Rabbi Laura Owens, Bnai Horin, Children of Freedom, Los Angeles.

From the Author

When I first joined a dream group, I expected it to be interesting. I did not expect that the work would reveal the path of a mystic - that it would amplify and enrich nearly everything I knew about spirituality, and also be deeply congruent with my previous studies in Jewish mysticism. I wrote this book to share twenty years of discoveries about dreaming and its connection to a Jewish spiritual path.

Each of our lives derives vitality from our Divine Source -- God, or the Absolute, the Infinite Oneness, the Cosmos. The various types of dreams we experience are channels, within the vast consciousness of soul, that connect us to an original pattern for human existence. We learn about those deeper dimensions of our being when we begin to open the secrets of dreams.

More than that: We need dreaming for the health of our personal and collective lives. In the dream we learn how to stay connected to the world beyond time, the world of soul, of truth and beauty and goodness. The demands of ordinary life and its emotional stresses pull us away from our true selves, from the expression of our highest potentials. We find helpful resources in waking life; but we often miss the most readily available connection, the one we have every night.

We need to integrate the night into our spiritual lives, open the pathway to soul, and allow it to illumine our lives. While it appears ephemeral, dreaming is actually a profound anchor, a dependable friend. It connects us to others in surprising ways, nurturing everyday life. And at the same time, it brings us closer in loving, joyful embrace to the deepest Mystery.

Accept the gift of dreaming into your own life; it is worth every moment of effort.

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She Rises While It Is Still Night: Dreaming in the Four Worlds of Kabbalah