Bet Mishpachah D'rash: December 26, 2003

<BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" LINK="#000000" VLINK="#000000" ALINK="#000000"> <CENTER><TABLE><TR><TD WIDTH=20% VALIGN="TOP"> <A NAME="top"> <P> <B><a href="http://betmish.org/text/miketzdrash.html">Text-Only Version</a></B> <P> <BIG><B><a href="http://betmish.org/index.html">Home</A></B></BIG> <P> <BIG><B><a href="http://betmish.org/whatsnew.html">What's New</A></B></BIG> <P> <BIG><B><a href="http://betmish.org/calendar.html#July20">Coming Events</A></B></BIG> <P> <BIG><B><a href="http://betmish.org/drashot.html">D'rashot</A></B></BIG> <P> <BIG><B><a href="http://betmish.org/do.html">What We Do</A></B></BIG> <P> <BIG><B><a href="http://betmish.org/who.html">Who We Are</A></B></BIG> <P> <BIG><B><a href="http://betmish.org/contact.html">Contact Us</A></B></BIG> <P> <BIG><B><a href="http://betmish.org/faq.html">Frequently Asked Questions</A></B></BIG> <P> <BIG><B><a href="http://betmish.org/archives.html">Archives</A></B></BIG> <P> <BIG><B><a href="http://betmish.org/links.html">Links</A></B></BIG> <P> <BIG><B><a href="http://betmish.org/member.html">Membership</A></B></BIG> <P> <BIG><B><a href="http://betmish.org/credits.html">Credits</A></B></BIG> <P> <BIG><B><a href="http://betmish.org/addbook.html">Guest book</A></B></BIG> </FONT></TD> <TD ALIGN=CENTER VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="80%> <CENTER>    <table border="0" align="center"> <tr> <td align="center"> <a href="http://betmish.org/index.html" target="_top"><IMG border=0 src="http://betmish.org/images/banner2.gif" align=center height="104" width="512" hspace=5 alt="Bet Mishpachah banner"></a> </td> <td align="left"> <font size="-5"><a href="http://betmish.org/child/descriptions/banner.html">Banner<br>Description</a></font> </td> </tr> <tr> <td align="center"> <p><font size="-1"><i>Washington, DC's Egalitarian Synagogue</i><br> <i>Embracing a Diversity of Sexual and Gender Identities</i></font> </p> <p> <b><font face="Arial"><font size="+1">Rabbi Bob Saks<br> </font></font></b><br> <font face="Arial"><font size="-1"><i>Founded in 1975 by Members of the GLBT Community<font color="white" size="-4"> </font></i></font></font></p> </td> <td align="left"> <font size="-4" color="white"> </font> </td> </tr> </table> </center> <center><h1>From Dreams to Action</h1> <b>Brian Harradine</b> <br><b>December 26, 2003</b></p></center> <P>According to the translation in the URJ <span lang="Transliterated Hebrew"><i>humash</i></span> "Torah: A Modern Commentary", a single line is repeated in the Torah and Haftorah portions this week. The first from B'reshit is "Then Pharaoh awoke: it was a dream!" The second from First Kings is "Then Solomon awoke: it was a dream!" Both of these dreamers awaken and then take an action. How many times have we had dreams or hopes or wishes of making something happen, only to not take action on them and let them slip like sand through our fingers? <P>Dreams and hopes need constant attention and activity to keep them alive. According to Dylan Thomas in the poem "Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night", Rage, rage against the dying of the light. In this case, the dying of the light could be a dream that is never realized. I recently raged against the dying of one of my hopes. I felt myself languishing in a job that offered no fulfillment, no joy, just a paycheck. I kept saying to myself, "One of these days, I will go back to school. Change things." The problem was that one of these days never comes. I had to bring it about on my own. I am proud to say I am now back in school working towards becoming a registered nurse. <P>Our synagogue is in a similar place right now. We have had meetings open to the public, meetings of secret cabals, and private kvetch sessions among those closest to us about where we go from here. We have had proposals and demands submitted for review. We have even had offers of money to throw at this issue. However, all the kvetching, complaining, demanding, and money in the world will not cause movement in any direction until we have action. Any action usually begets more action. <P>Too often our tone towards any organization we belong to reminds me of that old Janet Jackson song "What Have You Done for Me Lately?" A better, more effective question is, what have we done for ourselves lately to have our dreams for our synagogue come true, to have our hopes materialize in some concrete form. <P>When we ponder, "Why is the synagogue not where I want it to be?", we should look to ourselves and say "Did I do enough to bring about my dream for this organization? Did I chair a committee? Did I devote myself to the changes that I would like to see or did I just say what I thought was wrong and hope that others will make the changes I want? Did I stand at the sidelines and kvetch because others were not moving to make my dreams come true? I would like to propose some steps to taking action, any action, personal or organizational. <OL><P><LI>Plot a course for the action. Whatever your dream is, plot out the steps that needs to be taken to reach fulfillment. For example, if we as a synagogue want our own worship space, we need to plot the steps toward that goal. <P><LI>Set a deadline for each step. Action steps needs deadlines, otherwise they become more unrealized dreams. If you want to go back to school, set out a timeline that promotes urgency instead of procrastination. Try not to move the deadline. <P><LI>Commit the resources. Time and money are the basic resource units. Make sure that all of these resources are geared towards the same goal. It is very nice of people to come up with ideas on how to make their own lives or organizations better. If there is not a personal commitment that goes with these dreams, then they become an evanescence, an ethereal being that cannot be captured and held on to. We each need to be willing to put in the time to whatever hope we want to bring into reality. </ol> <P>Each person in here is an agent of the dream, the hope of repairing the world. If your dream for the secular new year is to bring about a change in yourself, plan it and do it. If we as a synagogue want to dream of buildings, executive directors, and office space, we need to plan it and do it. If we as a political entity want to effect change to bring our GLBT community our human rights and marriage rights, we need to plan it and do it. <P>My dream is for each one of us to carry out a plan, to realize our personal and communal dreams for this secular new year. This is one dream I do not want to shatter with the phrase "and Brian awoke" only to find that no action has been taken. </TD></TR></TABLE></CENTER> <P><HR> <p align="center"><FONT face=Arial><small><small><b>For a description of any of the graphics on this page, click on the D next to the graphic. <BR>For more information, contact our office at <a href="mailto:office@betmishpachah.org?SUBJECT=Request for Information from Web Site">office@betmishpachah.org</a><br> Send comments about this site to <a href="mailto:webweaver@betmishpachah.org?SUBJECT=Comments About Web Site">webweaver@betmishpachah.org</a>.<br> Copyright 1996 - 2008 Bet Mishpachah.</b></small></small></FONT> <CENTER><font face=Arial size="-1" color="#999999"><small><small><P><b>This page last modified on Saturday, December 27, 2003 at 05:28 PM EST.</b></small></small></font> </CENTER> </body>