Tikkun Olam

Tikkun olam means "repairing the world." This explanation is drawn from The Book of Miracles by Lawrence Kushner.

In 16th century Tsefet, Rabbi Isaac Luria observed that in his world, like ours, many things seemed to be wrong. People suffered from hunger, disease, hatred, and war. "How could God allow such terrible things to happen?" wondered Luria. "Perhaps," he suggested, "it is because God needs our help." He explained his answer with a mystical story.

When first setting out to make the world, God planned to pour a Holy Light into everything to make it real. God prepared vessels to contain the Holy Light. But something went wrong. The light was so bright that the vessels burst, shattering into millions of broken pieces like dishes dropped on the floor. The Hebrew phrase which Luria used for this "breaking of the vessels" is sh'virat ha-kaylim.

Our world is a mess because it is filled with broken fragments. According to Luria, we live in a cosmic heap of broken pieces, and God cannot repair it alone.

That is why God created us and gave us freedom of choice. We are free to do whatever we please with our world. We can allow things to remain broken or, as Luria urged, we can try to repair the mess. Luria's Hebrew phrase for "repairing the world" is tikkun olam.

Tzedakah: What Does It Mean?

This explanation is from Teaching Mitzvot: Concepts, Values and Activities by Barbara Binder Kadden and Bruce Kadden:

"The word 'tzedakah' is difficult to translate precisely. Many use the word "charity," but that is from the Latin word caritas, meaning love or dearness, whereas tzedakah means justice and righteousness. Tzedakah is not something one does out of the goodness of one's heart, but rather out of one's sense of responsibility toward God and toward one's fellow human beings."

In other words, for Jews, tzedakah isn't just a nice thing to do. It's a mitzvah or commandment that is part of what it means to be Jewish. Tzedakah isn't just for those who deserve it, or something you do because you're feeling generous. You do tzedakah because it is the right thing, and a commandment.

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