In the Jewish calendar we are approaching the month of Kislev, the month of dreaming and of dreamers. The root of the Hebrew word Kislev has to do with covering or concealment.

Kislev occurs at the time of year (usually November in the Julian calendar) when the sun is concealed as the days grow short in a gathering of darkness.

So too, in the Jewish psyche, we turn inward as if our souls are enveloped in our prayer shawls like a cocoon. Dream and dreamers play an important part in the Torah and in Jewish literature.

During Kislev, all of the dream passages are read, such as the dream of Avimelech and the dreams of the great dream interpreter Joseph.

The language itself lacks a firm footing in time. There are no real tenses only whether an action has been completed or is incomplete.

When God reveals his name to Moses in the burning bush as “I am,” the passage could just as well be translated as “I will be who I will be” as the sense is incomplete.

In this way, ancient Hebrew is a language ready-made for dreamers and prophets. As it is said in the book of Joel, “your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams and your young men see visions.”

As individuals we are incomplete. Through our dreams we seek to understand this enigma and to restore ourselves to wholeness.

Perhaps the people who understand the significance of dreams the best are the indigenous people of Australia. For them dream time is the soul of a person that has always existed and will continue to exist even after death.

This introspection culminates in Kislev with the Festival of Light, Hanukkah. We light the candles one by one, adding one more on each of the eight days.

The symbolism is that of an increase in light, knowledge, awareness, wholeness as we emerge from our cocoons of Kislev, the month of dreams.

Joan Cowan is a member of Shir Hayam Chavurat on Bainbridge Island.