Summary
Q1. Why does the verse compare the Jewish People in exile to one who exists in a dream-like state?
A1. When dreaming, one’s conscious intellect is withdrawn from the brain, leaving only lower intellectual levels, in this case, imagination. The imagination has the ability to combine opposites, like imagining a flying boat, or a mixture of fire and water. During the time of Exile, our intellectual awareness of Hashem very limited. It is like the intellect that remains with someone while he is sleeping and dreaming. We can, therefore, love Hashem during prayer, and then immediately after prayer, we pursue our love for material needs, even though these two loves are contradictory.
Q2. Does that mean that our love of Hashem during prayer is only imaginary, since it does not affect our actions, and instead we pursue materialism?
A2. No. Our love for Hashem during prayer is very real. The fact that we experience love for material things afterward is because we live in the time of Exile, which derives from the spiritual level of “dreams.” Even though dreams are on an intellectually lower level than a wakened state, they express the subconscious, which is deeper than the revealed intellect. So too during Exile, when our intellectual awareness of Hashem is limited, we are connected to a deeper level of Hashem's revelation. This deeper level is called the world of “Circles,” which gives us the ability to go from one opposite extreme to the other. This is akin to a dream, in that opposites can come together. From this higher spiritual level, we are able to go from experiencing love of material things to a truly genuine love of Hashem during prayer.
Q3. What does the verse mean by saying that only when Moshiach comes we will consider ourselves like dreamers during the time of Exile? Don’t we already know that we are on the level of “dreams?”
A3. Now, we only see the great spiritual level of dreams indirectly. All we see now is that opposites can come together. Someone can go from a very low spiritual state to a very high one in only a short time. However, the source of this power for opposites to combine is from a very high level that we cannot understand. Only after Moshiach comes will the source of “dreams” - the spiritual world of “Circles” - be fully revealed in a way that we perceive directly. At that time, our physical eyes will see Divine Revelation, and our physical brain will comprehend Divine Revelation.
