In search of the saddiq: visitational dreams among Moroccan Jews in Israel

Abstract

Folk veneration of saints (hagiolatry) plays a major role in the lives of many Moroccan Jews living in Israel and constitutes a basic ingredient of their distinctive ethnic identity. In this context, pilgrimages to the saint's tomb and visitational dreams, in which he appears in person or in some symbolic guise, are related phenomena through which the linkage to the saint is maintained and his blessing is granted to his adherents. This paper is concerned with visitational dreams collected among Moroccan Jews in a major pilgrimage center in northern Israel. An attempt is made to show how personal concerns of the dreamers are mediated through the culturally shared idiom of the saint. We discuss the basic structure of visitational dreams, the major life problems conveyed by them (drawing on illustrations from the dream collection), their therapeutic qualities and their significance in the framework of the pilgrimage to the saint's sanctuary.