Social Action at Beit Haverim/South Metro Jewish Congregation - Group on Tikkun Olam (GOTO)
Contact: Cathy Blair
For upcoming activities, please see the Beit Haverim calendar.
Tikkun Olam at Beit Haverim/SMJC
In Hebrew, Tikkun Olam translates into “repairing the world.” Beit Haverim’s Group on Tikkun Olam brings many types of social action opportunities to our community with the goal of making a difference for ourselves and others through contributions. GOTO encourages and facilitates individual and group participation in a variety of meaningful activities locally, nationally and globally. The group’s role includes analyzing and communicating public affairs issues that may impact the Jewish community and beyond. This is social action.
In the spirit of our Jewish community, social action means looking within ourselves to see how we can make a difference in our families, communities and across the world. Social action is about volunteering, organizing, planning and taking part.
Whether it’s a small Beit Haverim gathering or a larger community event, getting involved is how we connect to one another. Essentially, social action is giving and taking. Think about what you can give. What do you hope to get back? This may be the year that you can begin to answer these questions. We hope you will join with SMJC and engage in Tikkun Olam in ways that are fulfilling to you as an individual, a family, a community and a contributing member of the earth.
GOTO is exploring how best to meet the needs of Beit Haverim families and their commitment to Tikkun Olam. Members are encouraged to present ideas they may have concerning new issues or projects they would like to learn more about or get involved with as a congregation. Social issues and the preferred ways of implementing action may change with time. GOTO believes that it is essential to periodically revisit the questions associated with Tikkun Olam on a congregation-wide basis. We encourage each member to explore ways in which a commitment to repairing the world expresses his/her identity as a Jew and as a member of the world community.
Jewish Connection to Social Action
Adapted from www.jrf.org/adatsmd/tikunola
The concept of Tikkun Olam or repairing the world through social action, is one of the traditional categories of tzedakah (righteousness and justice). The word “tikkun” first appears in the book of Ecclesiastes (1:5, 7:13, 12:9), where it means “setting straight” or “setting in order.” The most notable early rabbinic source for the phrase Tikkun Olam is the Aleinu prayer, where the phrase expresses the hope of repairing the world through the establishment of God’s sovereignty.
The obligation to repair the world emerges from various Jewish sources. Some, including many of the ancient prophets, see the obligation as originating primarily from the commandment to emulate God's holiness, for, in their view, God is the model for human righteousness.1 Others see the obligation to engage in social action as arising chiefly from the Jews' historical position as an oppressed people.2 Still others believe that engaging in acts of Tikkun Olam is the primary means of satisfying the need to create a sense of Jewish community and identity. From this perspective the commitment to Tikkun Olam is a calling, a vocation, and it is unlikely that the Jews could survive, and it would be unseemly if they did, except as a community organized around values and committed to Tikkun Olam.3 However its beginnings are conceived, Tikkun Olam is central to Judaism, and to our SMJC community.
The freedom that we enjoy in America provides us with an opportunity to carry out Judaism's ethical obligations. As Americans, we have the freedom to pursue courses of action of our own choosing. As Jews, this enables us to fulfill our commitment to improving our community. Acts of Tikkun Olam provide us with channels through which we can apply our Jewish response to contemporary issues. GOTO provides the SMJC community with a link between the ethical mandate of the Jewish tradition and the desire of members of the congregation to address themselves to some of the major issues facing our society.
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1. "Ye shall be holy, for I, the Lord your God, am holy." (Leviticus 19:2)
2. "You shall not oppress a stranger for you know the heart of a stranger as you were slaves in the land of Egypt." (Exodus 23:9). See also Nathan Glazer, Jews and American Liberalism.
3. Leonard Fein, Where are We? The Inner Life of America's Jews (New York: Harper & Row, 1988), pp. 205, 207.
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