dreams for the year to come

I started my day by dreaming way into the future. Rabbi Mó signing her new 5-year contract inspired us to do some high level planning. We looked out over the next 5 years with hope and humility, so much potential and so much uncertainty on the horizon.  

This time of year, the weeks between Shavuot and summer break, always have this internal forward-looking focus. After the magic of revelation at Sinai comes the to-do list. Or in the words of Jack Kornfield, “After the ecstasy, the laundry.” 

These days, anyone who walks into the KT office is quick to notice a colorful and chaotic wall of sticky notes spread over 12 months of desk calendars. As a staff, we have spent the last few weeks dreaming and planning the year ahead. It’s been an act of creation, taking the time to actually calendar everything known to us, from holidays and committee meetings to B’nei Mitzvah. It’s been fun to see people’s reaction - excitement, overwhelm, intrigue. 

I have a planning mind. My mother was a planner and her mother before her. Some part of me knows that advance-planning is a coping strategy, an attempt to feel in control in an unstable world. All planning has an element of hubris. I internalized this deeply in March 2020 when the entire calendar dissolved in a day. And again today when my plans to join a Families for Ceasefire delegation to Jerusalem and the West Bank next week were derailed by Israel’s escalation with Iran. I pray that the Shechina spreads her protective wings over everyone in Israel/Palestine and Iran. So terrifying. 

Another part of me knows that envisioning the future is an act of resilience, an act of resisting  despair and choosing to keep dreaming up new ways to build our community, our world with love; to carve out time to manifest our creative ideas. 

It is its own spiritual practice to be able to hold excitement and satisfaction in our planning and the flexibility of spirit to accept changes as they come, which they will.

It feels like a real milestone for Kol Tzedek internally to be planning a year with so much known. A year that includes big changes, like moving the High Holidays to the Friends Center and a year that includes less change overall, with Torah School and Shabbat being stable in our new building. A year that includes tremendous simcha, with 20 B’nei Mitzvah and our 2nd Annual Retreat at Northbay (Save the dates: April 3-5, 2026!). A year full of learning and connection – with so many cool classes on the horizon. 

Calendaring the year ahead is not unlike the Holy One’s request to take and retake the census of the Israelites in the wilderness. There is a deep human impulse to generate order from the unknown. To be sure that every person, every detail is accounted for. I have learned so much about the soothing powers of a good spreadsheet from the KT board and Josh Bloom. It’s cellular. 

It has been meaningful to have coated the year ahead with sticky notes, to reclaim our dreams and set our intentions on this side of the river of time. 

Perhaps you too want to put a sticky on some dreams for the year to come?
What plans might you make to fill your future with joy and beauty? To cultivate your resilience? ​