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In Matthew's text today, however, Joseph seems to do a lot based on dreams. In today's reading we hear about two dreams, and then there's the dream where Joseph is told not to dismiss Mary. Joseph makes big life decisions at least three times based on his dreams. According to the Jewish belief system, however, this may not be so strange. Judaism believes that all of God's word -- except that spoken Moses -- was transmitted to the prophets while the prophets were in a dream-like state. Therefore, Jewish lore takes dreams seriously. One custom, called "hatavat chalom" -- which, translated, means "to make the dream better" -- involves asking a rabbi for a favorable interpretation of a nightmare. The dream itself is not as important as the interpretation -- and what you do with that interpretation.
