Jewish Values: Tikkun Olam
By Rabbi Min Kantrowitz - Jewish Values #8: Tikkun Olam
Each edition of NMJJ highlights one of the many Jewish values that guide our lives. Each of these values underlies our Jewish community, regardless of any individuals’ religious observances or practices. These values form the ethical structure of the community. They are not presented in order of importance…all of them, together, weave a fabric of support, inspiration and hope for increased compassion and justice in our shared world.
The words “Tikkun Olam” literally mean “repair” and “world”, but the concepts underlying these words are much broader and more profound than this simple phrase might imply.
“Tikkun” implies repair of something that is broken or imperfect. In Jewish mystical tradition, the perfect world does not yet exist in this dimension. Some describe it as "incomplete", with the responsibility to bring it to completion being shared between humans and the Source of All. Some describe a theological cosmic event in which the power of creation was stronger than the world which had been created at that time, overwhelming the existing patterns of matter, shattering them and leaving behind shards or traces or fragments of the vessels that had previously contained the forms of the created world. As the recipients of these scattered fragments, we each have individual responsibility to mend what has been fragmented, to do our part to repair the world and help the process of perfecting it, as was the original Divine intent. Tikkun does not necessarily imply that any person knows what "perfection" is, but the mitzvot provide a blueprint for some of the basic components of it. Tikkun is a collection of actions which can be accomplished in small and large ways to align with the Divine will.
The word “Olam”, usually translated (poorly) as "world" refers to both space and time. Einstein would be very comfortable with this concept. It includes both the time we measure and the eternity we can never measure. It includes the physical reality that we can touch and transform as well as the psychological reality of our feelings, emotions and reactions. Olam also includes cognitive reality, wisdom and ideas. Spiritual reality, that dimension we recognize, seek and honor, is also a part of Olam.
Taken together, Tikkun Olam refers to a very large set of tasks, based on the understanding that humans play a crucial role in carrying out the Divine plan, and that our participation is necessary in the process of attempting to improve the reality we have inherited.
The value of Tikkun Olam can be accomplished in acts as apparently insignificant as thanking the overworked mail delivery person or picking up a piece of litter, or in grand gestures like funding a scholarship to allow an unhoused person to attend college or inventing a life-saving antibiotic. Small or large, each of these acts contribute to the process of perfecting the world; we each play our part, following the guidelines we have received, fine tuning Creation by enacting this value.
SEE ALL Jewish Values by Rabbi Kantrowitz HERE .
Jewish Values by Rabbi Kantrowitz published to date:
Jewish Values: Love your neighbor as yourself #1
Jewish Values: B’Tzelem Elohim "in the image of God" #2
Jewish Values: Shmirat ha Adama to guard/protect/watch the earth #3
Jewish Values: Rodef Shalom - Pursue Peace #4
Jewish Values: Tzedek, Tzedek Tirdof - Pursue Justice #5
Jewish Values: Pe’ah - Dignified helping the needy #6
Jewish Values: Gemilut Chasadim - To Bestow Lovingkindness #7
Jewish Values: Tikkun Olam #8
Rabbi Min Kantrowitz is a Rabbi, educator and author. A 2004 graduate of the transdenominational Academy for Jewish Religion, California, she is the author of “Counting the Omer: A Kabbalistic Meditation Guide” (Gaon Press) and co-author of “One God: Three Paths” a prayerbook written by a Christian and a Moslem and a Jew. Rabbi Kantrowitz is a Rabbis Without Borders Fellow who served as Rabbinic Advisor to Congregation Nahalat Shalom and served on the Board of Directors of Hopeworks, and the Steering Committee of Hillel at UNM and as a founding member of the New Mexico Jewish Journal. Rabbi Kantrowitz is a former psychologist, a former architect/planner, a wife, mother and the proud Bubbie of three grandsons.
Meredith Gould is a mixed-media artist in Albuquerque. View her works available for purchase::
Original paintings at her website www.meredithgouldarts.com
Judaica at her Etsy Shop meredithgouldarts.etsy.com, and
works-in-progress at www.instagram.com/themeredithgould.arts.
