Pt1 ‘All Dreams Follow the Mouth’: Bar-Haddaya’s Fee-Driven Interpretations of the Dreams of Rava and Abaye (Berakhot 56a-b)
This is the first part of a two-part series. The outline for the series is below.
Part 1
The Talmudic story of Bar-Haddaya (בר הדיא) centers on the power of dream interpretation1 and the ethical peril of manipulating that power for personal gain. Bar-Haddaya was a professional interpreter of dreams (mefasher ḥalmei) who applied a stark rule: if a person paid him a fee, he interpreted the dream favorably; if they did not, he offered a dire and destructive interpretation. His two prominent clients were the sages Abaye and Rava, who repeatedly dreamt the same verses yet received opposite interpretations, depending on whether they had paid.
In the first part of the sugya (13 dream interpretations), Bar-Haddaya’s interpretations follow the following pattern: Abaye, who pays, hears prophecies of prosperity, prestige, and joy; Rava, who withholds payment, is told of loss, death, disgrace, and calamity. The dreams quote verses from Deuteronomy’s curses and other biblical texts, such as “Your ox shall be slain before your eyes,” “You shall beget sons and daughters,” and “Go, eat your bread with joy.” To Abaye these are twisted into blessings — thriving business, family success, rising reputation — while to Rava they become misfortunes — business failure, bereavement, humiliation.
The repetition of verses from the Tokheḥa (the covenantal curses) in the Book of Deuteronomy (Chapter 28) dramatizes how one text can yield both blessing and curse, depending on the interpreter’s intention and the hearer’s fortune.
Part 2
Rava then visits Bar-Haddaya alone and continues to report dreams without paying. The interpretations grow brutal: the fall of a door means his wife’s death; lost teeth foretell the death of his children; flying doves portend divorce. Each vision becomes painfully literal.
When Rava finally pays him, the interpretations invert — now dreams of destruction foretell wealth, wisdom, and fame. The same dreams become auspicious once money changes hands. Among these dreams, Bar-Haddaya foretells Abaye’s death and Rava’s eventual ascendancy as head of the academy.
The story’s climax comes when Rava discovers a book that fell from Bar-Haddaya, containing the maxim: “All dreams follow the mouth” (kol ḥalomot holkhin aḥar ha-peh). Realizing that the interpreter’s words themselves shape reality, Rava denounces him: “Wicked one! It was in your power, and you caused me such suffering!” He forgives all but one crime — the death of his wife, the daughter of Rav Ḥisda — and pronounces a curse that Bar-Haddaya fall into merciless hands.
The curse is fulfilled: Bar-Haddaya flees into exile among the Romans, where, through the same pattern of greed and silence, he brings ruin on the royal household and is executed in a gruesome scene — tied between two cedar trees that tear his body apart.
This sugya thus weaves together theology, psychology, and ethics: dreams, money, and speech become instruments of fate. It explores how divine communication can be distorted by human motives, and how the interpreter — like the prophet — bears the moral weight of his words. Bar-Haddaya’s downfall completes a moral arc: the man who sold interpretations for profit dies by his own silence, punished not for falsehood, but for failing to speak.
Outline
Intro
Part 1
Part 2
The Passage - ‘All Dreams Follow the Mouth’: Bar-Haddaya’s Fee-Driven Interpretations of the Dreams of Rava and Abaye (Berakhot 56a-b)
Bar-Haddaya’s (implicit) rule--if a person paid him a fee, he interpreted the dream favorably, otherwise--a dire interpretation - A List of 13 dream interpretations
“Your ox shall be slain before your eyes” (Deut. 28:31) = Abaye’s Interpretation (Paid) -- Business will succeed; too joyful to eat; Rava’s Interpretation (Unpaid) -- Business will fail; too sad to eat
“You shall beget sons and daughters…” (Deut. 28:41) = Abaye’s Interpretation (Paid) -- Many children; daughters marry far away, as if in captivity; Rava’s Interpretation (Unpaid) -- Literally fulfilled — children taken captive
“Your sons and daughters shall be given to another people” (Deut. 28:32) = Abaye’s Interpretation (Paid) -- Children marry wife’s relatives (like “another people”); Rava’s Interpretation (Unpaid) -- Wife dies; children under another woman
“Go, eat your bread with joy…” (Eccl. 9:7) = Abaye’s Interpretation (Paid) -- Prosperity and joy; Rava’s Interpretation (Unpaid) -- Loss and sorrow, reading verses to ease fear
“You shall carry much seed…” (Deut. 28:38) = Abaye’s Interpretation (Paid) -- From beginning: abundant harvest; Rava’s Interpretation (Unpaid) -- From end: locusts destroy harvest
“You shall have olive trees…” (Deut. 28:40) = Abaye’s Interpretation (Paid) -- From beginning: blessing; Rava’s Interpretation (Unpaid) -- From end: olives drop, loss
“All the peoples shall see…” (Deut. 28:10) = Abaye’s Interpretation (Paid) -- Fame as head of academy; Rava’s Interpretation (Unpaid) -- Arrested as thief, public scandal
Lettuce on jugs = Abaye’s Interpretation (Paid) -- Business multiplies like lettuce; Rava’s Interpretation (Unpaid) -- Business bitter like lettuce
Meat on jugs = Abaye’s Interpretation (Paid) -- Wine sweet; business good; Rava’s Interpretation (Unpaid) -- Wine sour; others buy meat to dip in it
Jug hanging on palm = Abaye’s Interpretation (Paid) -- Business rises like palm; Rava’s Interpretation (Unpaid) -- Work cheap like dates (low value)
Pomegranate on jugs = Abaye’s Interpretation (Paid) -- Business thrives like pomegranate; Rava’s Interpretation (Unpaid) -- Business spoils like pomegranate
Jug falls into pit = Abaye’s Interpretation (Paid) -- Wares in high demand; Rava’s Interpretation (Unpaid) -- Wares ruined, thrown away
Donkey foal braying near head = Abaye’s Interpretation (Paid) -- Becomes leader with interpreter (amora); Rava’s Interpretation (Unpaid) -- Letter erased from tefillin (“peter ḥamor”)
Part 2
Rava’s Interpretation (Unpaid) - A List of 4 dream interpretations - Door of house fell, Front & back teeth fell, Two doves flying, Two turnip heads = Wife and children will die, Will divorce two women, Two blows from clubs
Story of Two blows from clubs
Rava’s Interpretation (Paid) - A List of 5 dream interpretations - Wall fell, Abaye’s and Rava’s palaces fell, Head split and brain fell, Hallel read = Acquire limitless property, Abaye dies and academy comes to Rava, Teachings spread worldwide, Feather falls from pillow, Miracles will occur
Bar-Haddaya later punished by Romans
Rava discovers a book that fell from Bar-Haddaya, containing the maxim: “All dreams follow the mouth”
Realizing that Bar-Haddaya’s words themselves shape reality, Rava denounces him; Rava forgives all but the death of his wife, and pronounces a curse that Bar-Haddaya fall into merciless hands
In fear of the curse, Bar-Haddaya flees into exile among the Romans
Romans execute Bar-Haddaya by tying him between two cedar trees that tear his body apart
Appendix - Table summarizing the 22 Dream Verse / Symbols, with corresponding Abaye’s Interpretation (Paid) and/or Rava’s Interpretation (Unpaid, until the end)
The Passage
Bar-Haddaya’s (implicit) rule--if a person paid him a fee, he interpreted the dream favorably, otherwise--a dire interpretation
בר הדיא מפשר חלמי הוה.
מאן דיהיב ליה אגרא —
מפשר ליה למעליותא,
ומאן דלא יהיב ליה אגרא —
מפשר ליה לגריעותא.
אביי ורבא חזו חלמא.
אביי
יהיב ליה זוזא,
ורבא
לא יהיב ליה.
The Talmud relates: Bar-Haddaya was an interpreter of dreams.
For one who gave him a fee --
he would interpret the dream favorably,
and for one who did not give him a fee --
he would interpret the dream unfavorably.
The Talmud relates: There was a series of incidents in which both Abaye and Rava saw an identical dream and they asked Bar-Haddaya to interpret it.
Abaye --
gave him money and paid his fee,
while Rava --
did not give him money.
#1 - “Your ox shall be slain before your eyes” (Deut. 28:31) = Abaye’s Interpretation (Paid) -- Business will succeed, too joyful to eat; Rava’s Interpretation (Unpaid) -- Business will fail, too sad to eat
אמרי ליה: אקרינן בחלמין ״שורך טבוח לעיניך וגו׳״.
לרבא אמר ליה:
פסיד עסקך
ולא אהני לך למיכל מעוצבא דלבך.
לאביי אמר ליה:
מרווח עסקך
ולא אהני לך למיכל מחדוא דלבך.
They said to him: The verse: “Your ox shall be slain before your eyes and you shall not eat thereof” (Deuteronomy 28:31) was read to us (אקרינן) in our dream.
He interpreted their dreams and
to Rava he said:
Your business will be lost
and you will derive no pleasure from eating because of the extreme sadness of your heart.
To Abaye he said:
Your business will profit
and you will be unable to eat due to the joy in your heart.
#2 - “You shall beget sons and daughters…” (Deut. 28:41) = Abaye’s Interpretation (Paid) -- Many children, daughters marry far away, as if in captivity; Rava’s Interpretation (Unpaid) -- Literally fulfilled - children taken captive
אמרי ליה: אקרינן ״בנים ובנות תוליד וגו׳״
לרבא אמר ליה:
כבישותיה.
לאביי אמר ליה:
בנך ובנתך נפישי,
ומינסבן בנתך לעלמא,
ומדמיין באפך כדקא אזלן בשביה.
They said to him: The verse, “You shall beget sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours; for they shall go into captivity” (Deuteronomy 28:41), was read to us in our dream.
He interpreted their dreams, and
to Rava he said
its literal, adverse2 sense.
To Abaye he said:
Your sons and daughters will be numerous,
and your daughters will be married to outsiders
and it will seem to you as if they were taken in captivity.
#3 - “Your sons and daughters shall be given to another people” (Deut. 28:32) = Abaye’s Interpretation (Paid) -- Children marry wife’s relatives (like “another people”); Rava’s Interpretation (Unpaid) -- Wife dies, children under another woman
אקריין ״בניך ובנתיך נתנים לעם אחר״.
לאביי אמר ליה:
בנך ובנתך נפישין,
את אמרת לקריבך והיא אמרה לקריבה,
ואכפה לך ויהבת להון לקריבה, דהוי כעם אחר.
לרבא אמר ליה:
דביתהו שכיבא,
ואתו בניה ובנתיה לידי איתתא אחריתי.
They said to him: The verse: “Your sons and your daughters shall be given unto another people” (Deuteronomy 28:32), was read to us in our dream.
To Abaye he said:
Your sons and daughters will be numerous.
You say, that they should marry your relatives and your wife says that they should marry her relatives
and she will impose her will upon you and they will be given in marriage to her relatives, which is like another nation as far as you are concerned.
To Rava he said:
Your wife will die
and your sons and daughters will come into the hands of another woman.3
#4 - “Go, eat your bread with joy…” (Eccl. 9:7) = Abaye’s Interpretation (Paid) -- Prosperity and joy; Rava’s Interpretation (Unpaid) -- Loss and sorrow, reading verses to ease fear
אקרינן בחלמין: ״לך אכל בשמחה לחמך״.
לאביי אמר ליה:
מרווח עסקך
ואכלת ושתית וקרית פסוקא מחדוא דלבך.
לרבא אמר ליה:
פסיד עסקך,
טבחת ולא אכלת
ושתית וקרית לפכוחי פחדך.
They said to him: The verse: “Go your way, eat your bread with joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart” (Ecclesiastes 9:7) was read to us in our dream.
To Abaye he said:
Your business will profit
and you will eat and drink and read the verse out of the joy of your heart.
To Rava he said:
Your business will be lost,
you will slaughter but not eat,
you will drink wine and read passages from the Bible in order to allay your fears.
#5 - “You shall carry much seed…” (Deut. 28:38) = Abaye’s Interpretation (Paid) -- From beginning: abundant harvest; Rava’s Interpretation (Unpaid) -- From end: locusts destroy harvest
אקרינן ״זרע רב תוציא השדה״.
לאביי אמר ליה
מרישיה,
לרבא אמר ליה
מסיפיה.
They said to him: The verse: “You shall carry much seed out into the field, and shall gather little in; for the locust shall consume it” (Deuteronomy 28:38), was read to us in our dream.
To Abaye he said
from the beginning of the verse, that he will enjoy an abundant harvest.
To Rava he said
from the end of the verse, that his harvest will be destroyed.
#6 - “You shall have olive trees…” (Deut. 28:40) = Abaye’s Interpretation (Paid) -- From beginning: blessing; Rava’s Interpretation (Unpaid) -- From end: olives drop, loss
אקרינן ״זיתים יהיו לך בכל גבולך וגו׳״.
לאביי אמר ליה
מרישיה,
לרבא אמר ליה
מסיפיה.
They said to him: The verse: “You shall have olive trees throughout all your borders, but you shall not anoint yourself with the oil; for your olives shall drop off” (Deuteronomy 28:40), was read to us in our dream.
And again,
to Abaye he said
from the beginning of the verse.
To Rava he said
from the end of the verse.
#7 - “All the peoples shall see…” (Deut. 28:10) = Abaye’s Interpretation (Paid) -- Fame as head of academy; Rava’s Interpretation (Unpaid) -- Arrested as thief, public scandal
אקרינן ״וראו כל עמי הארץ וגו׳״.
לאביי אמר ליה:
נפק לך שמא דריש מתיבתא הוית,
אימתך נפלת בעלמא.
לרבא אמר ליה:
בדיינא דמלכא אתבר,
ומתפסת בגנבי,
ודייני כולי עלמא קל וחומר מינך.
למחר אתבר בדיינא דמלכא
ואתו ותפשי ליה לרבא.
They said to him: The verse: “All the peoples of the earth shall see that the name of YHWH is called upon you; and they shall be afraid of you” (Deuteronomy 28:10), was read to us in our dream.
To Abaye he said:
Your name will become well-known as head of the yeshiva,
and you will be feared by all.
To Rava he said:
The king’s treasury was broken into
and you will be apprehended as a thief,
and everyone will draw an a fortiori inference from you: If Rava who is wealthy and of distinguished lineage can be arrested on charges of theft, what will become of the rest of us?
Indeed, the next day, the king’s treasury was burglarized,
and they came and apprehended Rava.
#8 - Lettuce on jugs = Abaye’s Interpretation (Paid) -- Business multiplies like lettuce; Rava’s Interpretation (Unpaid) -- Business bitter like lettuce
אמרי ליה: חזן חסא על פום דני.
לאביי אמר ליה:
עיף עסקך כחסא.
לרבא אמר ליה:
מריר עסקך כי חסא.
Abaye and Rava said to him: We saw lettuce on the mouth of the jugs.
To Abaye he said:
Your business will double like lettuce whose leaves are wide and wrinkled.
To Rava he said:
Your work will be bitter like a lettuce stalk.
#9 - Meat on jugs = Abaye’s Interpretation (Paid) -- Wine sweet; business good; Rava’s Interpretation (Unpaid) -- Wine sour; others buy meat to dip in it
אמרי ליה: חזן בשרא על פום דני.
לאביי אמר ליה:
בסים חמרך,
ואתו כולי עלמא למזבן בשרא וחמרא מינך.
לרבא אמר ליה:
תקיף חמרך,
ואתו כולי עלמא למזבן בשרא למיכל ביה.
They said to him: We saw meat on the mouth of jugs.
To Abaye he said:
Your wine will be sweet
and everyone will come to buy meat and wine from you.
To Rava he said:
Your wine will spoil,
and everyone will go to buy meat in order to eat with it, to dip the meat in your vinegar.
#10 - Jug hanging on palm = Abaye’s Interpretation (Paid) -- Business rises like palm; Rava’s Interpretation (Unpaid) -- Work cheap like dates (low value)
אמרי ליה: חזן חביתא דתלי בדיקלא.
לאביי אמר ליה:
מדלי עסקך כדיקלא.
לרבא אמר ליה:
חלי עסקך כתמרי.
They said to him: We saw a jug hanging from a palm tree.
To Abaye he said:
Your business will rise like a palm tree.
To Rava he said:
Your work will be sweet like dates which are very cheap in Babylonia, indicating that you will be compelled to sell your merchandise at a cheap price.
#11 - Pomegranate on jugs = Abaye’s Interpretation (Paid) -- Business thrives like pomegranate; Rava’s Interpretation (Unpaid) -- Business spoils like pomegranate
אמרי ליה: חזן רומנא דקדחא אפום דני,
לאביי אמר ליה:
עשיק עסקך כרומנא.
לרבא אמר ליה:
קאוי עסקך כרומנא.
They said to him: We saw a pomegranate taking root on the mouth of jugs.
To Abaye he said:
Your business will increase in value like a pomegranate.
To Rava he said:
Your work will go sour like a pomegranate.
#12 - Jug falls into pit = Abaye’s Interpretation (Paid) -- Wares in high demand; Rava’s Interpretation (Unpaid) -- Wares ruined, thrown away
אמרי ליה: חזן חביתא דנפל לבירא.
לאביי אמר ליה:
מתבעי עסקך,
כדאמר ״נפל פתא בבירא ולא אשתכח״.
לרבא אמר ליה:
פסיד עסקך
ושדית ליה לבירא.
They said to him: We saw a jug fall into a pit.
To Abaye he said:
Your merchandise will be in demand
as the adage says: Bread falls in a pit and is not found. In other words, everyone will seek your wares and they will not find them due to increased demand.
To Rava he said:
Your merchandise will be ruined
and you will throw it away into a pit.
#13 - Donkey foal braying near head = Abaye’s Interpretation (Paid) -- Becomes leader with interpreter (‘amora’); Rava’s Interpretation (Unpaid) -- Letter erased from tefillin (‘peter ḥamor’)
אמרי ליה: חזינן בר חמרא דקאי אאיסדן ונוער.
לאביי אמר ליה:
מלכא הוית,
וקאי אמורא עלך.
לרבא אמר ליה:
״פטר חמור״ גהיט מתפילך.
אמר ליה: לדידי חזי לי ואיתיה.
אמר ליה: ואו ד״פטר חמור״ ודאי גהיט מתפילך.
They said to him: We saw a donkey foal standing near our heads (איסדן), braying.
To Abaye he said:
You will be a king, that is to say, head of the yeshiva,
and an interpreter (אמורא) will stand near you to repeat your teachings to the masses out loud.
To Rava he said:
I see the words peter ḥamor,4 erased (גהיט) from your tefillin.
Rava said to him: I myself saw it and it is there.
Bar-Haddaya said to him: The letter vav of the word peter ḥamor is certainly erased from your tefillin.
For another piece of mine analyzing parts of this extended sugya on dream interpretations, see my two-part series “Selected Dream Interpretations, Especially Those Relating to Illicit Sex (Berakhot 56a-57b)“, final part here.
בישותיה - “bad”.
The Talmud here glosses, supporting Abaye’s dream interpretation in the previous two dream interpretations (reading the verses in Deuteronomy 28, verses 32 and 41, non-literally: Many children, daughters marry far away, as if [=metaphorically] in captivity):
דאמר רבא
אמר רבי ירמיה בר אבא
אמר רב:
מאי דכתיב ״בניך ובנתיך נתנים לעם אחר״?
זו אשת האב.
As Rava said that
R’ Yirmeya bar Abba said that
Rav said:
What is the meaning of that which is written in the verse: “Your sons and your daughters shall be given unto another people”?
This refers to the father’s wife, the stepmother.
Compare also my “Two Talmudic Stories of Cryptic Blessings and Their Interpretation (Moed Katan 9a-b)“, where the interpretations of the cryptic statements follow a similar pattern as here: on their face - curses about wife and children dying, but reinterpreted to mean blessings.
פטר חמור - “first-born donkey”. In Exodus.13.13; found in the section of “When YHWH brings you ...”” (והיה כי יביאך - incipit of the passage of Exodus 13:11–16) in tefillin.
See Wikipedia, “Tefillin“, section “Parchment scrolls“:
The four biblical passages which refer to the tefillin, mentioned above, are written on scrolls and placed inside the leather boxes […]
These [passages[ are:
“Sanctify to me ...” (Exodus 13:1–10);
“When YHWH brings you ...” (Exodus 13:11–16);
“Hear, O Israel ...” (Deuteronomy 6:4–9);
“If you observe My Commandments ...” (Deuteronomy 11:13-21).
Notably, in our version of the biblical text (=Masoretic version), the word is without a vav (=plene).