blogs/rabbi-huberman

What is Your Dream?

Has there ever been a time in your life when you've dreamed of a better job, a better life, a better future?

Who did you share that dream with — and did they support you, or did they try to stop you in your tracks?

Theodore Herzl believed in dreams. He wrote in 1896, as he envisioned a Jewish homeland, that “if you will it, it is no dream.”

The Torah believes in dreams. It is an incredible lesson, often ignored in our study of Jewish tradition. This is never more apparent than within this, and last week's, Torah readings.

Joseph, one the Bible's most intriguing characters, predicts that one day his brothers will serve him.

In his youthful arrogance, he shares that dream with his brothers who throw him into a pit and leave him for dead. He is eventually rescued by passersby, who sell him into slavery. Joseph is ultimately imprisoned.

In prison, Joseph gains maturity. He hones his ability to interpret dreams—not only his own, but those of others.

As this week's Parashah, Miketz (After two years time) opens, Joseph finds himself in front of the Egyptian king, making sense of two unsettling nightmares.

Pharaoh dreams of seven healthy cows being devoured by seven gaunt ones. Later, Pharaoh envisions seven solid ears of grain being consumed by seven scrawny ears.

Joseph concludes that Egypt is about to experience seven years of bountiful harvests, to be followed by seven years of drought.

He inspires Pharaoh to initiate a national program of conservation. Egypt is saved, and Joseph is promoted to the equivalent of Prime Minister. All because of dreams.

Dreams come in many forms. There are those we experience while we sleep. Others are contained within our pursuit of unrealized potential.

The Zohar, Judaism's primary mystical text, teaches that when we sleep—God uncovers our ears, and when we dream, one sixtieth of prophesy is revealed.

The Zohar teaches that within our waking “materialistic” hours, we tend to place veils over our spiritual side, but when we sleep, our soul leaves our body, and “soars up above.” There we charge our spiritual batteries. That is why so often dreams seem so real.

Yet not all of our dreams occur in our sleep. Many of us dream of possibilities. Perhaps it's a more satisfying job. Perhaps it's changing the place we call home. Perhaps it's exploring a talent that burns within us. Perhaps it's spending more time with our family and friends.

Writer Susan Sontag once wrote, “I was not looking for my dreams to interpret my life, but for my life to interpret my dreams.”

Friends, we are rapidly approaching the end of the secular year. It seems like yesterday that we were stressing over the effects of Y2K. A generation has passed.

And while we as Jews place considerable focus on the High Holidays — a time to rid ourselves of  “soul baggage,“ our tradition also tells us that it is permissible, if not advisable, to celebrate secular occasions, provided they lead us to fulfill, in a meaningful way, our soul destiny.

When was the last time we identified our greatest dream? Did we write it down and develop a plan? Who did we share it with? The Kabbalah has something to say about this.

In its interpretation of the story of Joseph and his brothers, it provides us with an insight about the nature of dreams, and with whom we should share them.

It suggests that Joseph had to wait 22 years to fulfill his destiny because he told his dreams to people who hated him.

The Torah tells us, “Joseph dreamed a dream, and told it to his brothers, and they hated him even more because of his dreams.” (Genesis 37:5, 8) From this, the Zohar derives an amazing life lesson:

“From here we learn that a person should only tell his dream to one who loves him. Otherwise, the listener interferes, and that dream is transformed.“

How many times in our lives have we dreamed about something big? How many times have skeptics questioned our ability to turn visions into reality?

Now think of those in your lives who love you and inspire you to dream big. How did they help nurture that vision?

The Zohar encourages us to dream. But it also advises us to share our dreams with those who love us. Those who do not, restrain our boundless potential.

The words of Theodore Herzl resonate deeply within Judaism.

But there is a second half to the sentence. “And if you do not will it, a dream it is, and a dream it will stay.”

The secular New Year is not technically a Jewish holiday, but it can inspire us to perform a soul check, three months after the High Holidays.

As we wind down Chanukah, as we enter Shabbat, as we begin a new Jewish month, and as we turn the clock on a new decade, let us identify one dream for the future.

Write down that dream and make a plan. And perhaps most of all, following the Kabbalah's advice, share it with those who love you.

Judaism encourages us to move away from the darkness of complacency. Each day from now to the middle of June, there will be more light in the world.

Let us climb aboard that beam, and make ourselves into something better.

Let us dare to dream.

Shabbat Shalom, v’kol tuv.

Rabbi Irwin Huberman