Spirit Night In The Land Of The Living

כ' באלול תשס״ט
Belz 21

Last night I dreamt.

For one night, the way was open for the dead to come up from the cavern of the dead to walk among the living.

I saw as some of the dead came up from a deep cavern through the surface opening which led into the land of the living. Not all of the dead could come up. Only the dead who had the strength and will to climb up to the cavern's opening could make it up. Not only human dead could take advantage of this night, but the dead of all living creatures could if they had the will and strength to do it. In fact, I saw some spiders and small bugs who did take advantage of the opportunity to return to the land of the living for this brief period of time.

One small spunky girl bug who came up reminded me of both a praying mantis and a giraffe - she was skinny like a praying mantis but she had a longer neck like a giraffe. The small girl bug was climbing up the cavern wall, struggling to reach the opening, pulling her mate bug up with her who didn't have the strength to climb anymore. The girl bug had strength enough for both of them. She was determined to make it to the opening and she was going to bring her mate bug with her. She did too. I smiled when she made it to the top, male bug in tow.

One teen girl who specifically came up was my responsibility. I had called her up apparently. I cupped her face in my hands, hoping she was not mad at me for calling her up. She wasn't mad. On the contrary, she thanked me for the blessing of enabling her to walk one more night among the living. She went on her way.

Even in the dream, I was cognizant that last night was neither Samhain nor Yom Kippur, even though I felt the night embodied the spirit of both. As I was considering this, a rabbi appeared also in the room into which the cavern opened, also from the land of the living like me. He too, was greeting one of the dead, who then went on his way as the teen girl had.

After the teen girl, I thought my responsibility was over. But it wasn't - the rabbi said to me, "come, we have to go greet the dead." As the dead came up into the land of the living, we greeted them. Many came. We greeted them all, welcoming each one into the land of the living.

I woke up.