The History of Hatikvah

In celebration of Israel’s birthday we examine the history of our national anthem.

by Marnie Winston-Macauley

Israel, our homeland; a small country that stands for huge ideas and ideals. This small country took a barren desert, surrounded by enemies, and turned it into a lush land, wealthy in its values, and remarkable in its achievements for the region, and for the world.

With the anniversary of Israel’s independence upon us, let us celebrate by looking at our anthem, Hatikvah which has been the voice of Jews for over one hundred years.

Climbing Jacob’s Ladder

“He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.” — Genesis 28:12

The Torah portion for this week, Vayetze, is from Genesis 28:10–32:3 and Hosea 12:13–14:10.

The Jewish Sages teach that when Jacob was on his journey to the city of Harran, he ended up somewhere that he had not intended to go. But it was late, and so Jacob found a few stones, made a pillow, and went to sleep. As providence would have it, the place where Jacob slept was the holiest place on earth.

There, he had his famous dream in which Jacob saw a vision of a ladder resting on earth, stretching up to heaven. Angels were going up and down on it. When Jacob woke up he said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I was not aware of it” (Genesis 28:16). Jacob had unintentionally, but providentially, stumbled upon a virtual stairway to heaven.

Do You Dream about Others?

A few more posts from my Q&A with J at HHH series. Today's question is about dreams.

"My troublous dream this night doth make me sad."

William Shakespeare, King Henry VI

Mommaof3: My husband and I have been married for 5 years, and in the past year or so I have been having some troubling dreams. I try thinking good things before bed, since everyone says that you dream what you're thinking...that doesn't help at all. I keep dreaming about cheating on my husband with 2 different people (who i know in real life). I'm not asking for an interpretation or anything like that. lol Just do you have any advice on how to deal with these dreams? My husband thinks that it is funny because one of the people I dream about is his brother, so he likes to tease me and say that I married the wrong brother. However, it really bothers me to have these dreams about these 2 guys, because then it kind of changes how I think of these people in real life. So I guess I would like to know if you can suggest any ways to stop the dreams, and also how to deal with them (or forget them!) once I wake up in the mornings. (these dreams happen like once every week or so. So not every day, but not just occasionally.) Thank you for speaking so openly about marital sex and all that goes with it! :)

Oh no, what did I dream?!

Exploring Your Erotic Dreams

Posted by Tamar Love

It doesn't take much imagination to interpret the classic train-rushing-through-tunnel dream: It's about intercourse, folks. The train is the penis; the tunnel is the vagina. But really -- when is the last time you dreamed about rail travel? Our guess: a mighty long time.

But you've probably had dreams featuring water, houses, animals, or food, all in the context of sexual or erotic situations. For example, you may have experienced powerful erotic feelings while riding a powerful dream horse, or feeding a dream lover ripe peaches or mangoes. These images can be a little trickier to interpret -- but not altogether impossible

Erotic Dreams What Happens When Experiences Wet Erotic Dreams

By Leena Kiri 

What is the dream?

The first question to be clarified is the difference between Sleep and dreams. Sleep calls the state of suspension of activities conscious mind and the will, which occurs periodically (For several hours a day, usually at night) and that enables rest of the muscular system and a change of neuronal activity. Now are studying the importance of sleep period in the settlement of consolidation of memory and learning. The opposite state is the wakefulness or consciousness and will.

The passage of the monitors to sleep and vice versa is regulated by the central nervous system, with special importance reticular system which is located in the brain stem.

Sleep Throughout the body minimizes its metabolic activity, the muscles relax, the heart rate is slower, blood pressure is reduced, and the inspirations are longer and shorter expirations. However, its activity does not decrease brain psychic during sleep. Periods psychic peak phases coincide with those given in the dreams, and studies had shown that employing up Sleep 50% of a newborn, from 30% to 35% at two years, 25% in childhood, youth and adulthood, and from age 65 will be reduced progressively.

Men dream about sex

Jeanna Bryner, LiveScience Managing Editor


Credit: Phase4Photography | Shutterstock

No surprise here, men are more likely than women to dream about sex. And comparing notes in the morning may not be a turn on for either guys or gals, as women are more likely to have experienced nightmares, according to doctoral research reported in 2009 by psychologist Jennie Parker of the University of the West of England.