Dreams
What Really Happens to Your Soul When You Sleep? Jewish Mysticism on Night, Dreams, and “Taste of Death”
Kabbalistic teachings reveal why sleep is called a mini-death, where your soul goes at night, why dreams can be spiritual messages, and why washing your hands in the morning matters more than you think
“When people lie on their beds at night … the entire world tastes a taste of death. Then a spirit of impurity wanders through the world, contaminating it, and resting upon a person’s hands… And when a person awakens and his soul returns to him, anything he touches becomes defiled. Therefore, one should not take his clothing from someone who has not yet washed his hands.”
(Zohar, Bereishit 53; Matok Midvash pp. 448–449)
Every Night the Soul Ascends to Be Judged for That Day
When a person goes to sleep each night, his soul departs and is judged before the heavenly court of God Himself — not merely the lower courts of angels.
If the soul is found worthy to continue its mission, it returns to the body with the morning light.
The judgment is different for merits and for sins:
How Is the Judgment Done?
Sins:
The person is judged only for the sins he has already done — not for sins he might commit in the future.
As the verse says: “God has heard … according to how he is there now.” (Rashi’s explanation: only according to present deeds.)Good deeds:
The person is judged also for the good deeds he will do in the future, and receives merit because God desires kindness and goodness.
Only God Who knows the future and knows the thoughts of every heart, can judge this way. The angels’ court cannot, so they do not judge the soul at night.
(Zohar, Chayei Sarah 121; Matok Midvash pp. 2–3)
The Soul’s Journey When It Leaves the Body at Night
The verse states: “My soul yearns for You at night; my spirit within me seeks You.” (Yeshayahu 26:9)
When a person lies down to sleep, the soul leaves the body and ascends. But not every soul merits reaching the King (God).
Only a faint spark of life-force remains in the body to keep it alive while the soul travels.
The Obstacles the Soul Encounters
To reach holiness, the soul must pass through:
The three impure “shells” (klipot): Tohu, Vohu, and Darkness.
Then the soul reaches the Klipat Noga, an intermediate realm.
Only from there can it rise into sanctity.
If the soul is pure from that day, it passes through and ascends. If it is stained by sin:
It is trapped among the impure realms.
There it may hear partial truths about future events.
If it is deeply defiled, the impure forces mock it and show it false dreams.
This is why some dreams are true and some are false. The soul wanders until morning, when it returns to the body.
Fortunate are the righteous, whose pure souls rise and receive spiritual revelations in dreams. Woe to the wicked, who prevent their souls from ascending at night.
(Zohar, Lech Lecha 83; Matok Midvash p. 272)
“Into Your Hand I Entrust My Spirit”
To prevent harmful forces from controlling a person during sleep, one must recite: “Into Your hand I entrust my spirit” before falling asleep. This is like depositing a precious item in God’s care.
Even though the soul owes God far more than any deposit, God lovingly accepts it as a pledge — and returns it in the morning.
All humans taste the “taste of death” at night, because the “Tree of Death” (the spiritual root of nighttime darkness) rules over the world, giving power to harmful forces.
Since the souls were deposited with God, He returns every soul safely to its owner.
(Zohar, Bamidbar 119; Matok Midvash pp. 29–30)
God Renews the Soul Each Morning Because He Believes in Us
Rabbi Shimon said: Just as the souls of the righteous ascend every Shabbat and Rosh Chodesh and are renewed in the upper Gan Eden, so too every night, when people go to sleep and entrust their souls to God, He renews the souls of the righteous in the morning.
This is the meaning of: “They are renewed every morning; great is Your faithfulness.” (Eicha 3:23)
Rabbi Yitzchak adds: Even a regular person and even a sinner, receives his soul back renewed each day because God has great faith in him that he can choose good, grow, repent, and elevate himself.
God returns the soul even though it may have been guilty in the heavenly court, because He trusts the person’s potential.
The Radbaz writes that since a person says “Into Your hand I entrust my spirit” before sleep, he cannot die in his sleep unless his destined moment has arrived, because a deposited item must be returned.
(Zohar Chadash, Bereishit 23; Matok Midvash pp. 364)
The Sensation of Death During Sleep
No one goes to sleep without tasting a form of death. When the soul departs, the body is left without its holy life-force, and the spirit of impurity settles upon it and defiles it.
For this reason, the Talmud says (Shabbat 108b) that a person should not touch his eyes upon awakening before washing his hands — because the impure spirit clings to the hands and can cause harm, including ayin hara.
Thus, the halachic importance of washing hands three times alternately in the morning to remove this impurity.
(Zohar, Vayishlach 169; Matok Midvash p. 539)
