The story
Tikkun olam means "repairing the world". Its earliest use is in the Mishnah, the code of Jewish oral law compiled around the turn of the third century, in the phrase "for the sake of repairing the world". The rabbis gave it as the reason for amending laws so that society would keep working fairly. Examples in tractate Gittin include rules protecting a widow's right to collect her marriage settlement, requiring witnesses to sign divorce documents, and a rule that captives should not be ransomed for more than their value.
A second meaning comes from the Aleinu, a prayer that concludes most Jewish services, which looks forward to a time when the world will be perfected under the kingship of God. Over the centuries the phrase referred sometimes to practical social measures and sometimes to this hope for final redemption. Maimonides taught that the world is improved through Torah study, acts of kindness and observance of the commandments, and he wrote that a judge who rules with complete truth, even for one hour, is as if he had repaired the whole world.
In the sixteenth century the kabbalist Isaac Luria gave the idea of repair a mystical meaning. He taught that the vessels holding divine light had shattered at creation, scattering sparks that prayer and holy deeds could gather and return to their source. In the modern era that vision inspired many to see even small acts of kindness and small improvements in social policy as part of a cosmic task.
Today, especially among Jewish movements since the Enlightenment, tikkun olam refers to the pursuit of social justice. It rests on the idea that Jews bear responsibility not only for their own moral, spiritual and material welfare but for the welfare of society at large, and it connects to older teachings about building society and loving one's neighbour. In the United States, Shlomo Bardin popularised this reading at his educational camp in the 1950s, and as progressive Jewish organisations grew in the 1970s and 1980s the phrase spread widely.
It now guides a wide range of work, from direct service to philanthropy. The Jewish Federations of North America name it as one of their core principles, and the American Jewish World Service invokes it in supporting grassroots groups in Africa, Asia and the Americas.
Why it matters
Tikkun olam has inspired countless volunteers, charities and campaigns, giving people of many backgrounds a simple phrase for the work of making the world better.
Sources
- Tikkun olam Wikipedia
Another act of tikkun olam. This is part of tikkun olam, the Jewish idea of repairing the world, and every one of us can add to it.