Dreamers and Visionaries

As summer wanes, I remember my youthful summers at a certain Midwestern summer camp, where the songs of Debbie Friedman filled the air. She’d often begin with a short verse from scripture or liturgy, and build a song around it. She worked this magic with her song, “The Youth Shall See Visions,” based on a line by the Prophet Joel:

And the old shall dream dreams, and the youth shall see visions
And our hopes shall rise up to the sky
We must live for today; we must build for tomorrow

Give us time, give us strength, give us life

As a rabbi, I still find these sentiments resonant. The Book of Joel’s four chapters, written between 2,500 and 3,000 years ago, describe an Israelite society pummeled by drought, famine, and locusts, but also human violence, polarization, and greed.

Nevertheless, the prophet reassures that a different future beckons, built together young and old alike.

זִקְנֵיכֶם֙ חֲלֹמ֣וֹת יַחֲלֹמ֔וּן

בַּח֣וּרֵיכֶ֔ם חֶזְיֹנ֖וֹת יִרְאֽוּ

“The old shall dream dreams

and the youth shall see visions” 

Joel dares the youth to unleash bold visions.  Even without understanding the neuroscience of an adolescent’s brain as we do today, he witnessed the way they could not only see visions, but were brave enough to act on them, unburdened by the fear of consequences. Like young, pre-king David, facing down an armored giant with only speed and a slingshot.

Agile and creative, the youth see visions because they are not bogged down by experience. However, without that experience, each problem our young people face loom enormously. 

They need us to share our dreams-dreams acquired through our lives and those of our parents and grandparents:

To do this, the late great Rabbi David Hartman told a crowd at the Lion of Judah Conference in 1995:

“My bracha to you all is, have the courage to be irrelevant to your children… The purpose of being [an elder] is to give a memory, a burden that children their whole life then have to think about… [T]heir world consists of their own peer groups. They need to meet people who represent and bear witness to something else.”

Our elders “dream dreams,” keeping ancient values alive-of prosperity and dignity, of gathering and rest, of justice and family traditions, of accountability and responsibility.

Our young people stay nimble and ask questions, reinterpret and sometimes reject, lose their patience and embolden us when they “see visions” and take courage.

When we are scared, they are bold. When they are insecure, we say: You are loved. When we see doom, they see possibility. When they are in a whirl, we help them pause and appreciate. When we resist change, they innovate.

We need each other.  Elders and youth, youth and elders-each learning with, and from, one another. Together we thrive.  

As we prepare to enter this new year of 5786, may we manifest this ancient prophecy, at the meeting point between old and young, between dreams and visions.

Rabbi Shoshanah Conover is the Senior Rabbi of Temple Sholom of Chicago.