Tikkun olam

Tikkun olam (; ) is a religious concept in Judaism, which refers to various forms of action intended to repair and improve the world.

In classical rabbinic literature, the phrase referred to legal enactments intended to preserve the social order. In the Aleinu, it refers to the eradication of idolatry. In Lurianic Kabbalah, the "repair" is mystical: to return the sparks of Divine light to their source, employing ritual performance.

In the modern era, particularly among the post-Haskalah movements, tikkun olam has come to refer to the pursuit of social justice, or "the establishment of Godly qualities throughout the world",

One cannot convene a court in another place to nullify a get (divorce document). (4:2)
One must fully specify the names of the husband and wife on a divorce document. (4:2)
A widow can collect her ketubah even without a formal oath. (4:3)
Witnesses must sign the divorce document. (4:3)
Prozbul was instituted. (4:3)
If an enslaver set aside an enslaved person as a designated repayment for his debts, the enslaved person is freed, but the responsibility to repay the debt is transferred to them. (4:4)
If two people enslave one person, and one enslaver frees that person, the formerly enslaved person is forced to repay the second enslaver his share of the value of the enslavement. (4:5)
Captives are not redeemed for more than their monetary value. (4:6)
Captives are not aided in their attempts to escape (so that captors do not make the conditions of captivity more restrictive, or else so that captors do not take revenge on other captives). (4:6)
Torah scrolls, tefillin, and mezuzot are not purchased from non-Jews for more than their value. (4:6)
When a husband made a vow requiring him to divorce his wife, they were then allowed to remarry. (4:7)
One who sold their field to a Gentile must purchase and bring the first fruits from that field. (4:9)

More generally, tikkun can mean improvement, establishment, repair, preparation, and other related concepts. In the Mishnaic context, it generally refers to practical legal measures taken in the present to ameliorate social conditions. In the legal language of the Talmud, however, the verb took on a much more legalistic role, in that a takkana "affixation" was a category of legal enactment made by the Chazal.

In Aleinu

A conception of tikkun olam is also found in the Aleinu, a concluding part of most Jewish congregational prayer, which, in contrast to the Mishnah's usage, focuses on the end of time. The Aleinu beseeches God:

In other words, when all the people of the world abandon false gods, and recognize God, the world will have been perfected.

Among modern liberal Jewish movements, a common, but more modern, understanding of this phrase is that we share a partnership with God, and are instructed to take the steps towards improving the state of the world, and helping others, which simultaneously brings more honor to God's sovereignty.

Some scholars have argued that the Aleinu prayer is actually not a valid source for the concept of tikkun olam, claiming that the original prayer used a homonym "l'takhen" (spelled differently, ), meaning "to establish" (rather than "to fix", or "to repair"); this wording is still used by Yemenite Jews.

For example, Talmudic scholar and eminent philosopher of the Middle Ages Maimonides saw tikkun olam as fully inclusive of all these dimensions when he wrote: "Through wisdom, which is [represented by] Torah, and the elevation of character, which is [represented by] acts of kindness, and observing the Torah's commandments, which are [represented by] the sacrifices, one continuously brings tikkun olam improvement of the world, and the ordering of reality." Yet, he also saw justice as a fundamental component, as, for example, when he wrote, "Every judge who judges truth unto its [deepest] truth, even for one hour, it's as if he fixed the whole world entirely / tikein et kol ha'olam kulo and caused the Shekhinah to rest upon Israel."

Lurianic Kabbalah

Lurianic Kabbalah dwells on the role of prayer and ritual in tikkun of the upper worlds. According to this vision of the world, God contracted part of God's infinite light (Ohr Ein Sof) to create the world. The vessels of the first universe, the World of Chaos, shattered and their shards became sparks of light trapped within the next universe, the World of Rectification. Prayer, especially contemplation of various aspects of the divinity (sephirot), releases these sparks of God's light and allows them to reunite with God's essence. The "rectification" is two-fold: the gathering of light and of souls, to be achieved by human beings through the contemplative performance of religious acts. The goal of such repair, which can only be effected by humans, is to separate what is holy from the created world, thus depriving the physical world of its very existence, destroying the material universe. This restores all things to a world before disaster within the Godhead.

According to Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, in his book, Derech Hashem, the physical world is connected to spiritual realms above that influence the physical world, and Jews have the ability, through physical deeds and free will, to direct and control these spiritual forces. God's desire in creation was that God's creations would ultimately recognize God's unity and overcome evil; this will constitute the perfection (tikkun) of creation. While the Jews have the Torah now, and are aware of God's unity, some believe that when all of humanity recognizes this fact, the rectification will be complete.

In recent years, Jewish thinkers and activists have used Lurianic Kabbalah to elevate the full range of ethical and ritual mitzvot into acts of tikkun olam. The belief that not only does prayer lift divine sparks, but so do all of the mitzvot, including those traditionally understood as ethical, was already a part of Kabbalah, but the contemporary emphasis serves the purpose of finding a mystical depth and spiritual energy in ethical mitzvot. The application of the Lurianic vision to improving the world can be seen in Jewish blogs, High Holiday sermons, and on-line Jewish learning resource centers.

The association between the Lurianic conception of tikkun and ethical action assigns an ultimate significance to even small acts of kindness and small improvements of social policy. However, if this is done in a manner that separates the concept of tikkun olam from its other meanings as found in rabbinic literature and the Aleinu prayer, there is a risk of privileging actions that have no real religious significance and represent personal agendas more than Judaism itself.

The application of Lurianic Kabbalah to ethical mitzvot and social action is particularly striking because Lurianic Kabbalah saw itself as repairing dimensions within the spiritual and mystical worlds, rather than this world and its social relations. Author Lawrence Fine points to two features of Lurianic Kabbalah that have made it adaptable to ethical mitzvot and social action. First, he points out that a generation recovering from the tragedy of the Holocaust resonates with the imagery of shattered vessels. Second, both Lurianic Kabbalah and ethical understandings of tikkun olam emphasize the role of human responsibility and action.

Modern developments

The original context of the Aleinu prayer, in the Rosh Hashanah liturgy, is accompanied by the hope that "all [people/creatures] will form a single union to do Your will with a whole heart". In many contexts this is interpreted to be a call to universalism and justice for all mankind – sentiments which are common throughout Jewish liturgy.

For example, in the American Conservative movement's prayer book, Siddur Sim Shalom, "A Prayer for Our Country", elaborates on this passage: "May citizens of all races and creeds forge a common bond in true harmony to banish all hatred and bigotry" and "uniting all people in peace and freedom and helping them to fulfill the vision of your prophet: 'Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they experience war anymore. Both lines express wholeheartedly the idea of universal equality, freedom, and peace for all.

In the liberal movements of Judaism, especially in the United States, this sentiment is embedded in the idea of acting compassionately for all people. For example, the 1975 New Union prayer book, used by the movement for Reform Judaism's Gates of Prayer, includes the text, "You [Lord] have taught us to uphold the falling, to heal the sick, to free the captive, to comfort all who suffer pain". These aspects of Judaism already have a traditional name however, gemilut chasadim, and some have criticized the emphasis on social action as disregard for other aspects of Judaism traditionally connected to tikkun olam, such as learning, prayer, repentance, and ritual commandments.

Perhaps the first Jewish thinker to use the phrase "tikkun olam" in the modern sense of "fixing the world" by building a just society was Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook (1865–1935). According to Jewish scholar Lawrence Fine, the first use of the phrase tikkun olam in modern Jewish history in the United States was by Brandeis-Bardin Camp Institute founder Shlomo Bardin in the 1950s.

As progressive Jewish organizations started entering the mainstream in the 1970s and 1980s, the term tikkun olam began to gain more traction. The term has since been adopted by a variety of Jewish organizations, to mean anything from direct service to general philanthropy. Some explain that this will occur because Shabbat rest (which is considered a foretaste of the Messianic Age) energizes Jews to work harder to bring the Messianic Age nearer during the six working days of the week. It is expected that in the messianic era there will be no injustice or exploitation, Some Jews believe that performing mitzvot will create a model society among the Jewish people, which will in turn influence the rest of the world. By perfecting themselves, their local Jewish community or the state of Israel, the Jews set an example for the rest of the world. The theme is frequently repeated in sermons and writings across the Jewish spectrum: Reconstructionist, Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox.

Additionally, mitzvot often have practical, worldly, or social effects (in contrast to the mystical impacts, as held by Lurianic Kabbalah).

Tzedakah

Tzedakah is a central theme in Judaism and serves as one of the 613 commandments. Tzedakah is used in common parlance as charitable giving. Tzedek, the root of tzedakah, means justice or righteousness.

Building a model society

By performing the mitzvot, it is believed that the Jewish people will become a model society. This idea sometimes is attributed to Biblical verses that describe the Jews as "a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" () and "a light of the nations" or "a light to the nations" ( and ). The philosophies of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, Isidore Epstein, and Eliezer Berkovits. The philosophy of Religious Zionism follows Kook in his philosophy.

In Modern Orthodox philosophy (which often is intertwined with Religious Zionism, especially in America), it is commonly believed that mitzvot have practical this-worldly sociological and educational effects on those who perform them, and, in this manner, the mitzvot will perfect the Jews and the world.

According to the rationalist philosophy of Hirsch and others, the social and ethical mitzvot have nearly self-explanatory purposes, while ritual mitzvot may serve functions such as educating people or developing relationships between people and God. As examples, prayer either inculcates a relationship between people and God or strengthens beliefs and faith of the one who prays, and keeping kosher or wearing tzitzit serve as educational symbols of moral and religious values. Thus, the ultimate goal of mitzvot is for moral and religious values, and deeds, to permeate the Jewish people and, ultimately, the entire world, but the ritual mitzvot nevertheless play a vital role in this model of tikkun olam, strengthening what is accomplished by the ethical.

Hirsch's Horeb is an especially important source, as his exposition of his philosophy of the mitzvot. He classifies the mitzvot into six categories:

(1) toroth (philosophical doctrines);
The ethical mitzvot fall under (2) mishpatim and (3) chukim (commandments of justice towards (living) people and the natural world (including the human body itself) respectively) and (4) mitzvot (commandments of love);
The ritual mitzvot under (5) edoth (educational symbolic commandments) and (6) avodah (commandments of direct service to God).

Aside from the fact that by perfecting themselves, the Jews set an example for the rest of the world, there is thus the additional distinction that mitzvot have practical, worldly effects — for example, charity benefits the poor materially, constituting tikkun olam by its improvement of the world physically or socially, in contrast to the mystical effects of mitzvot, as held by Lurianic Kabbalah.

Improving the world

For some Jews, the phrase tikkun olam means that Jews are not only responsible for creating a model society among themselves, but also are responsible for the welfare of the society at large.

Jewish youth organizations

Tikkun olam is used to refer to Jewish obligations to engage in social action in the Reform Furthermore, USY has the Abraham Joshua Heschel Honor Society.

In addition, other youth organizations have also grown to include tikkun olam has part of its foundation. BBYO has community service/social action commitments in both of its divisions, AZA and BBG. BBG includes two different programming areas specific to tikkun olam—one for community service, and another for social action.