What Is The Term Used In Judaism That Means "To Repair The World?"

Hanukkah. Shtisel. The Western Wall.

In pop culture there are some words that immediately make you think: "Oh! That's Judaism!"

Amidst those keywords there is an old phrase that is getting a lot of new "yep that's Judaism" buzz: tikkun olam.

Tikkun olam literally means fixing the world. Only present it is more than often translated as Jewish social justice.

Earth Day often focuses on how we can literally do caring for the earth through environmental efforts. But, as one blogger said it best: "When nosotros consider Earth Day through the lens oftikkun olam, we begin to notice that World Day is also nearly how we support and take care of each other."

This Globe Twenty-four hours, permit'southward unpack what's then Jewish nearly the idea of repairing the world. When did people decide it was broken? And what healing the earth actually looks like in practise.

Where did Tikkun Olam come from?

The phrase tikkun olam does not bear witness up in the V Books of Moses or anywhere in the Hebrew Bible.

Instead, it makes its first appearance in early rabbinic literature. At that time, Rabbis were fine-tuning laws in order to understand how to "repair the world" for the purpose of "tikkun olam." But it was not nevertheless considered some dandy Jewish principle.

Effectually the year 300 CE, the term tikkun olam appeared for the first fourth dimension in the Rosh Hashana (new yr) service. Within a prayer chosen the "Aleinu," lies the phrase "to fix the world (letaken olam) under God'due south authority."

"Nether God's authority" is understood by Orthodox Jews to mean the Messianic Era, when the world will be healed and perfected.

Vii hundred years later on, the slap-up rabbi and commentator, Maimonides, picked up the phrase too.

"When y'all proceeds wisdom by studying Torah, develop grapheme past doing acts of kindness, and when yous observe the mitzvot (commandments) you bring tikkun olam," he said.

This was understood to mean that when you practise Tikkun Olam, you bring God closer to the Jewish people.

Kabbalistic Approach

Jewish mystics, known equally Kabbalists, came along and mixed the ideas of Messianism and Jewish Observance together. They also added a twist.

Kabbalists believe the world is broken, and contains evil. Co-ordinate to them, in the moment of cosmos, divine sparks broke out and fell into the crude fabric world. This, in turn, unbalanced the universe.

Past doing good deeds and observing the commandments, they believe Jewish people can send those sparks back to heaven, restore balance to the universe, and bring the Messianic Era.

Reform Move

In the 1960's, when the Civil Rights motility took centre stage in the United States, it was the Reform movement of Judaism that took the phrase tikkun olam and turned information technology into "Jewish social activity." Reform Judaism focused on the key Jewish ideas of charitable works, acts of loving-kindness, and justice.

This made Tikkun Olam a more than widely known phrase within the greater Jewish customs, but it also caused some controversy.

There are those today who worry that the progressive arroyo to tikkun olam is assimilationist. Doing good deeds is fantastic, they say, but if it replaces Jewish observance and Torah study, then it is devoid of Judaism.

Progressives counter that for those Jews who don't resonate with the ritual aspects of Judaism, tikkun olam gives them a way to engage and take pride in their heritage. And more to the indicate, tikkun olam is a central tenet of Judaism. It'southward almost the point of everything Jews exercise!

Tikkun Olam Today

Today, tikkun olam is catching on like wildfire. In Israel, there are over 42,000 registered not-turn a profit charitable organizations. In the United states of america, that number is many times higher. Tikkun olam today is, in fact, a multi-billion dollar charitable industry.

At that place are also Jewish folks and communities around the globe doing Tikkun Olam in their own means.

So what really is tikkun olam? Ultimately, tikkun olam has roots in many dissimilar Jewish theological arguments, and can mean different things to different people and communities.

For some, the motivation is to bring the Messianic Era. For others, it'due south to heal the world by working closely with other communities. For some, it needs the ritual acts of Judaism and Torah study for it to exist Jewish. For others, simply living the ethical values of helping God fix a cleaved world makes information technology innately Jewish.

Either way, when the Jewish community engages in this project, we call it simply: Tikkun Olam — Jewish people working hard to gear up a very broken world.

It is for this reason that tikkun olam is, for many today, a fundamental, essential, and perhaps the nearly important chemical element of Judaism.