Tikkun Olam
Spiritual - Physical - Material
נְשָׁמָה גוּפָנִי גַשׁמִי
"If you see what needs to be repaired and how to repair it, then you have
found a piece of the world that G-d has left for you to complete.
But if you only see what is wrong and what is ugly in the world,
then it is yourself that needs repair".
- Menachem Mendel Schneerson
Spiritual גַשׁמִי
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Judaism is not all or nothing; it is a journey where every step counts, to be pursued according to one's own pace and interest
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Every human being is worthy of profound respect, no matter their level of observance, knowledge or affiliation.
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Commandments (Torah Mitzvot) are not rituals, but opportunities for personal growth, to be studied and understood.
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Torah is wisdom for living, teaching us how to maximize our potential and pleasure in life.
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Each human being is responsible for one another.
Unified, no goal is beyond our reach; splintered, almost no goal is attainable.
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We act with urgency to confront the spiritual and physical challenges facing the world.
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Through the power of free will, every individual can change the world - and each of us is responsible to get the job done.
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The Jewish people's history and destiny are to serve as a light unto the nations. Torah ideas have civilized the world and can continue to do so, if the Jewish people continue to accept the challenge.
Tikkun Olam refers to repairs performed on an individual level, as found in Lurianic kabbalah, or Jewish mysticism. This view of Tikkun Olam is more abstract and cosmological. Rabbi Isaac Luria, a teacher and kabbalist, in 16th Century Safed (Tsfat), explained that the world is made up of good and evil.
In order for the balance between good and evil intended by G-d to be restored, humans must be involved in the world's reparation. Humans are responsible for separating the holy world from the material world.
"If I am not for myself, who will be for me?
But if I am only for myself, who am I?
If not now, when?"
- Rabbi Hillel Ethics of the Fathers, 1:14
Physical גוּפָנִי
Tikkun Olam embodies the spirit of philanthropy. Increasing the well-being of humankind is one of the key elements of repairing the world. Helping those who are in need, no matter in what capacity, is crucial and "holy" work. Tikkun Olam, as it relates to practical methods, applies to working in all communities, not just Jewish communities.
Jews are members of greater society, and as such, their actions are not limited to their own communities. Social welfare and volunteer work, as well as the donation of monetary and physical resources, are ways in which people can be philanthropically involved, and at the same time, be involved in Tikkun Olam.
Humanitarianism requires a concern for human welfare, especially as manifested through philanthropy; it is the belief that the sole moral obligation of humankind is the improvement of human welfare.
The Feuerstein Institute, a non-profitable, oriented towards
Tikkun Olam whose founder Professor and Rav Reuven Feuerstein has developed a method to improve the mental performance of a person based not on his IQ, but on the cognitive potential that the person can achieve.
This method, the Feuerstein method, has placed the institute in a position of world leader in the treatment of autism and Down's syndrome.
But not only.
From this method many applications in the field of human resource education of diseases related to old age (Dementia; Alzheimer's) have been or are being developed in partnership with certain Israeli hospitals.
Apart from the research and development aspect, the approach of Tikkun Olam led by the Feuerstein institute fits very exactly within the framework of the activity of our association Shoresh and we envisage a very strong partnership in order to disseminate the psychological side and scientific thanks to them and the spiritual side by Shoresh.
Feuerstein Institute www.icelp.info
Material נְשָׁמָה
Be a piece of the puzzle.
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Encourage members to engage in individual, as well as communal acts of Tikkun Olam.
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Establish the idea that the individual needs connect the community
Tikkun Olam, in the earliest texts, means establishing order and balance whether in Nature or Creation, as God does when balancing the forces of compassion and judgment, or in society, as the rabbis do when they amend the laws of the Torah. The social meaning of Tikkun Olam, which became primary, refers to acts that establish and repair or improve society (that is, the present world) in the course of our normal lives and institutions. An emergent meaning that has roots in the combining of these themes is that humanity is responsible for repairing the natural world that we have despoiled (see especially the text from Ecclesiastes Rabbah and the second quote from Rav Kook).
None of the earlier midrashim, nor the Mishnah, nor the two Talmuds, know the meaning of Tikkun Olam as something for which one strives in order to bring redemption, nor do they know the meaning of Tikkun Olam as the end of idolatry. These two motifs derive from the Aleinu prayer, which, though written in the 3rd century or earlier, probably did not use the term l’takein until around the end of the first millennium. However, once this word-change became accepted in the liturgy of almost every Jewish community, the concept of Tikkun Olam transformed to include those meanings as well.
Tikkun Olam includes the many actions people take to help each other and to create a society. In the earliest texts of Jewish philosophical thought (also starting around the turn of the first millennium), Tikkun Olam explicitly includes concepts of justice and loving one’s neighbor.
A messianic conception of social justice naturally flows out of the convergence of eschatological motifs derived from the Aleinu and ideas about sustaining and improving society found in the Mishnah and midrash.