Dear JCC Indianapolis Members and Friends,

I’ve been dreaming lately.

This a-ha came to me this past week when I crossed paths with one of our most generous supporters, a member who is deeply passionate about our JCC.

He noted for me that this week’s Torah portion, which will be read tomorrow on Shabbat in synagogues throughout the world, recounts one of its most well-known sagas.  It is the story of Jacob’s dream.  

Jacob leaves home carrying nothing but a blessing and a future he cannot yet imagine. By nightfall he is exhausted and alone. He rests his head on a stone, and in that moment of deepest vulnerability, he dreams. In that dream, something essential emerges: That often the next step only becomes visible when we allow ourselves to rest momentarily and dream of what could be.

I realize now that every day since I started in this dream job almost exactly 15 months ago, I’ve been dreaming — and you could literally call it “daydreaming.”

Every day when I walk through the halls of our JCC (my favorite part of the job), stopping to chat with people to see what’s going on, I am dreaming.  

The people I encounter, the activities taking place, the energy that hovers in the air, and the conversations I have inspire me to dream. What could our JCC truly be? How many more lives could we enrich? What could we do better? How do we lift our magic beyond our walls? How can we be an even more effective force in growing, nurturing and ensuring a strong future not only for our Jewish community but also for all of Indianapolis?

In Jacob’s dream, he sees a ladder stretching from the earth toward the heavens, with angels moving up and down. Jewish tradition teaches that the ladder represents a world alive with possibilities — where small steps can create real change, and where the sacred rises from the everyday work of building a community. (It’s a perfect analogy for our exhilarating strategic planning process which is now underway.)

Our Torah endures because our ancient stories remain so fresh and relevant. These daily walks through our sacred halls are my respite;  yet, I now see they have become the source of my dreaming. So I thank the member who mentioned Jacob’s dream to me. It named and framed the dream-like state — or more accurately dreaming-state — that I have been in since first arriving in Indy for my interview in June 2024.

And you know what? Here’s my ultimate dream: That I — and all of you — never wake up from our dreaming.

As another famous Jewish leader, Theodore Herzl, the father of modern Zionism, memorably said, “If you will it, it is no dream!”

So as a new year dawns on the horizon, let’s burst into it collectively, together, and full of dreams for our ascendant JCC, empowered by our collective will and determination to make our dreams — even those we haven’t yet imagined — come true.

Shabbat Shalom,

Sam Dubrinsky, CEO