Our Gemara on Amud discusses a portent in a dream when one sees the word “Hesped” “Eulogy” in a written form:
וְאָמַר רַבִּי יְהוֹשֻׁעַ בֶּן לֵוִי: הָרוֹאֶה הֶסְפֵּד בַּחֲלוֹמוֹ – חָסוּ עָלָיו מִן הַשָּׁמַיִם, וּפְדָאוּהוּ. הָנֵי מִילֵּי בִּכְתָבָא.
And Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi says: If one sees a eulogy [hesped] in his dream, it is an allusion that in Heaven they had pity [ḥasu] on him and saved him [peda’uhu] from actually being eulogized. The Gemara notes: This statement applies specifically when he actually saw the word: Eulogy [hesped], in writing.
Ben Yehoyada asks the obvious question, why shouldn’t the dream portray its information in a straightforward manner? Why have it written as “Hesped” instead of “Chas-Pad”, which would clearly connote mercy and redemption? Ben Yehoyada answers, that part of the process was to first be anxious and disturbed by the morbid omen of eulogy, then the person will reflect and repent, and it will turn into redemption. Meaning to say, indeed a person may receive a message in a dream that directly predicts a positive future, but this Gemara is teaching that something that looks grave can be redirected into something good. A prophetic intuition that something bad will happen is not a fixed fate, instead it’s a warning to change in order to avoid the fate.
The Jewish prophets such as Yirmiyahu and Yeshaiyahu did not prophesy to doom Israel with a pessimistic future, but rather as a final call to repent and change the future for the better. Bereishis Rabbah (53:4) states that though God keeps His promises to grant goodness, and will be honored without contingencies no matter whether the Jews keep their side of the deal, a decree of punishment from God can be reversed. This is a fundamentally optimistic and resilient outlook that can also be applied as a way of living and reacting to all events. Nothing that happens seals our fate, rather what happens is an invitation to reassess and consider what we can do to create a different future. The Chazon Ish’s Emunah Vebitachon (ch. 2) famously makes the point that faith or bitachon is not believing everything will be good, in a sense that it will be what we wish for or feel we deserve. Bitachon is believing that everything happens for a purpose and God is in communication with us about it. If something happens, we are supposed to learn from it, make meaning of it, heed its message so as to transform our future. Chazon Ish adds, if we believe God is omnipotent and that everything is directed by God, then no situation is doomed. Just as God brought suffering to you as a warning or message, so can He immediately change the situation. The future may be predicted for what it might be, but it can change based on what we do now.
Translations Courtesy of Sefaria, except when, sometimes, I disagree with the translation 
Do you like what you see? Please subscribe and also forward any articles you enjoy to your friends, (enemies too, why not?)