WHAT I BOUGHT ON E-BAY. Well, not me, but someone. A revelatory dream figures in the story.

Get in on eBay: Local man buys ancient Hebrew text online
By Rhys Saunders The Daily Times [Farmington, NM]
Article Launched: 11/24/2007 12:00:00 AM MST

FARMINGTON — One Farmington man was so overcome by divine inspiration that he recently bid on — and won — an eBay auction for an original 18th century Kabbalah book.

Thaddeus Beeley said he first became curious about the ancient text after talking to a friend studying Kabbalah at the time. Kabbalah refers to a set of beliefs and practices that supplement traditional Jewish interpretations of the Bible.

According to many who study the ancient texts, an intimate understanding and mastery of the Kabbalah brings one spiritually closer to God and enriches a person's experience of Jewish sacred texts and law.

"I was just getting curious and I wanted to get something that was an original, unchanged text," 23-year-old Beeley said. "I was browsing online and stumbled upon it."

[...]

That same night, something strange happened to Beeley. When he went to sleep inside his Farmington home, he dreamed of the book.

"I had this dream that someone bad got it, and they were trying to keep it covered up, and keep it for bad," he said.

When he awoke, Beeley decided he must have the Kabbalah text.

"I waited until the last minute," he said. "I think that's the best way with eBay, so you can get it the cheapest."

With 10 minutes left until the auction closed online, a second bidder vied for the ancient text, Beeley said.

"The bid went up, so I went up to $90," he said. "Then it went up to $110, then to $120, and I thought, I'm just going to put in $150.'"

Sixty seconds away from the close-out time on the item, Beeley won the bid.

"When I finally got it, it was even more incredible than I thought," he said. "It was printed around 1780, it smelled like an old library and it looked like an old treasure map. There's an inscription on the front of the book that is in Hebrew. I still don't know what to do with it yet, and I still haven't translated it."

[...]