I just saw the above title for an upcoming evening seminar in New York.  How inspiring!  But….

Do we really get the opportunity to create the communities that we want?  I suppose that there are some who have access to unlimited funds and unlimited resources and for them they ARE able to imagine and work toward the perfect community.  But for the vast majority of us we have to approach this problem in a little bit different manner:  First we see what kind of community we have and then we try to figure out the ways in which we can make THAT community into the best place that it can be. 

On the other hand I do think that it is worthwhile for us in Jewish community leadership positions to imagineer what Jewish community could be.  What if we could truly engage more that twenty percent of our population?  What if we had financial recourses that would allow us the luxury of time and facilities that would assist us in building community?  What if…

The truth is, however, that for a large portion of the American Jewish community we live in the places where we’re able to find jobs and make a living and THEN we look to build or become part of a Jewish community.  It would be amazing if people chose lifestyle first and then could find jobs secondly but most of us just don’t have that luxury of being able to live in the place where the ideal community could be built.  

Nevertheless….we MUST dream…we MUST reach outward to build communities of meaning and spirit that are filled with the ideals of Judaism and the kind of richness that brings meaning to Jewish lives.