I Have a Dream...

Interestingly, the last two posts have been about the same chapter of Tehillim - the שיר המעלות that we say on special days before bentching.  Ms. Gordon discussed the first Passuk - "בשוב ד' את שיבת ציון היינו כחולמים".  She explained it "when G-d returns us to Israel, it will seem as if we are dreaming."  Many years ago, on the only Yom Ha'atzmaut I ever spent in Israel, I heard two other interpretations of this phrase within a couple of weeks of each other that are virtual opposites.
The first was very harsh מוסר- when Hashem was bringing us back to Zion, היינו כחולמים - we were like day-dreamers, as in the time of Ezra.  The chance to rebuild Israel was there, but most of the Jewish community was too comfortable in גלות, and just slept through the unique historical opportunity.  This packs a lot more of a punch to me now, with my home and family settled in the North Jersey capital of what some call the Center for the Jewish Past, than it did a post-high school idealist with all of life's big decisions ahead of me.  Understanding it this way, it is very appropriate that we say the line so often; to either jar us out of our complacency in גלות, or typify it, if we don't realize what we are singing.  It is all the more pointed, considering that the occasions on which we sing it - leaning back, stomachs full, around a table of family and friends after Shabbos & Yom Tov meals - capture the picture of religious comfort in the diaspora. 
The other explanation was far more uplifting.  In order to get back ציון, we need to be כחולמים - like dreamers.  Both politically on a national level, and for people on an individual one, a cost benefit analysis will rarely yield the answer that going to Israel is realistic or prudent.  In order to actually end up there, you need to dream a little - to see beyond what is real or responsible, and take a little leap of faith.  That's the way it has always been, from the first time Bnei Yisrael complained that they were thirsty, through history, particularly the last hundred years, and so it remains today.  That's why I so greatly admire those who actually take that leap.