You write that your wife wakes up in the middle of the night screaming and crying, [and you wish to know what to do]:
Check the mezuzos in your home [to ascertain their kashrus]. Your wife should give several cents to tzedakah prior to candlelighting as well as each weekday morning. She should also recite the first section of Kerias Shema prior to her retiring at night. Also, beginning one or two hours before bedtime, she should refrain from eating foods that are difficult to digest.
(Igros Kodesh, Vol. XV, p. 306)
You write about your night terrors:
Inspect the mezuzos in your home as well as your tefillin [to assure their kashrus]. Be scrupulous in the recitation of Kerias Shema al HaMitah (the bedtime Shema), and when in bed [prior to going to sleep for the night,] recite or reflect on several lines of Tanya that you have committed to memory. [Also,] study a number of times the [section] Shaar HaBitachon in the book Chovas HaLevavos.
[Additionally,] be completely inattentive and unmindful of these frightening thoughts — [by this I mean]: do not even [try to] combat them. They will of themselves weaken with the passage of time, and they will in due course entirely disappear.
Surely you possess a pocket-size picture of my father-in-law, the Rebbe....
(Igros Kodesh, Vol. XI, p. 162)
I duly received your letter in which you ask my advice about the troubling dreams that your wife is having:
First and foremost, you should check the mezuzos in your home. Also, ask your wife whether she possibly offended a Jewish man or woman in the past. If there was such a slight, then she should ask for a general forgiveness before three Jews. By that I mean, she should say: "If I have offended the honor of a Jewish son or daughter, I regret that action with all my heart and ask for forgiveness."
I believe that I have already told you that prior to candlelighting on erev Shabbos and erev Yom Tov, your wife should give — according to her ability and without placing undue strain on her finances — tzedakah to the charity of R. Meir Baal HaNes.
I am sure that when she performs all the above, this will alleviate her situation, and slowly but surely all her [troublesome] dreams will cease.
It would also be beneficial for your wife to read a passage or two in the Memoirs of my father-in-law, the Rebbe, either in Yiddish or English — in whichever language is easier for her — prior to the recitation of the Shema and going to sleep.
(Igros Kodesh, Vol. V, p. 49)
... Regarding that which you write about [troubling] dreams:
Inspect the mezuzos of your dwelling, particularly the mezuzah of your bedroom. If at all possible, sleep in a tallis katan that has been checked [for kashrus] and [sleep] with your head covered. Before your morning prayers during the weekday, give a few francs to tzedakah.
(Igros Kodesh, Vol. XIII, p. 63)
With regard to disturbing dreams...
It is known — and this is alluded to in the words of our Sages, of blessed memory, as well — that "a person's dreams result from idle thoughts, etc., during the course of the day." By minimizing the cause, the result will be minimized as well.
Since there are additional reasons for dreams (see Tanya chapter 39 and sources cited there), you should be scrupulous in the recitation of Kerias Shema al HaMitah, as well as ensuring that the mezuzah on the doorway of your bedroom is kosher.
(Igros Kodesh, Vol. XIV, p. 326)
In reply to your letter:
Generally speaking, the matter about which you write[24] sometimes results from a lack of sanctity in the manner of speech. Often it is a result of the person's physical weakness. Sometimes the person's tefillin or mezuzos need to be inspected and changed.
Rectify all the above, and increase your energy in the study of Torah, Toras HaNigleh and Toras HaChassidus. May G-d grant you success.
(Igros Kodesh, Vol. IX, p. 273)
Notes:
- (Back to text) Nocturnal emissions.
Conquering Sleep Difficulties