What is Tikkun Olam?
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ShareFor a Time Such as This, by Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove (2024)
The evolution of American Jewry has been transformative. Long established in the United States and also transformed by the millions of Eastern European immigrants arriving in 1880-1920, American Jewry was further and forever changed by the GI Bill, which after World War II granted veterans access to many levels of university and professional education. Jews had once been excluded from these opportunities, but this was the case no longer, profoundly affecting the young veterans’ hope for the future. American Jews began to leave behind their old neighborhoods, their Old World accents and traditions. Many sought to assimilate, embracing a secular and pluralistic vision of America.
This was “the bargain of emancipation”. Namely, in return for becoming fully integrated citizens, Jews were expected (or expected themselves) to shed their distinctive religious and cultural markers and adopt secular lifestyles. A decline in Jewish religious observance and affiliation was followed by a precipitous rise in intermarriage. Parochial Jewish concerns were replaced by more universal and progressive ones, as exemplified by the ubiquitous phrase “Tikkun Olam” (“mending the world”)
As the Jewish community assimilated into its American setting and as Jewish social services agencies found common cause and collaboration with a wider network of secular social service agencies, the emphasis on helping those in need expanded to include a much broader humanity. For the first time in a long time, Jews were positioned to put their words into actions by way of Tikkun Olam, “mending the world”. Examples of Tikkun Olam abound: The Philadelphia Hebrew Benevolent Society, founded in 1845, would be renamed the Jewish Family Service, expanding to include the wider community. The ADL, initially founded to combat antisemitism and discrimination against Jews, evolved to combat bigotry of all kinds. HIAS makes the shift explicit in its promotional literature: “We used to take refugees because they were Jewish. Now we take them because we’re Jewish.” Organizationally, American Jewry pivoted from particularism to universalism. Over time American Jews became some of the most effective advocates for progressive causes. From feminism to fighting poverty, from the seder [“Ha Lachma Anya”] to civil rights, from Emma Lazarus to Ruth Badger Ginsburg — three thousand years of Jewish empathy had a platform for expression on American soil.
- p. 36-37, 56-57
The evolution of American Jewry has been transformative. Long established in the United States and also transformed by the millions of Eastern European immigrants arriving in 1880-1920, American Jewry was further and forever changed by the GI Bill, which after World War II granted veterans access to many levels of university and professional education. Jews had once been excluded from these opportunities, but this was the case no longer, profoundly affecting the young veterans’ hope for the future. American Jews began to leave behind their old neighborhoods, their Old World accents and traditions. Many sought to assimilate, embracing a secular and pluralistic vision of America.
This was “the bargain of emancipation”. Namely, in return for becoming fully integrated citizens, Jews were expected (or expected themselves) to shed their distinctive religious and cultural markers and adopt secular lifestyles. A decline in Jewish religious observance and affiliation was followed by a precipitous rise in intermarriage. Parochial Jewish concerns were replaced by more universal and progressive ones, as exemplified by the ubiquitous phrase “Tikkun Olam” (“mending the world”)
As the Jewish community assimilated into its American setting and as Jewish social services agencies found common cause and collaboration with a wider network of secular social service agencies, the emphasis on helping those in need expanded to include a much broader humanity. For the first time in a long time, Jews were positioned to put their words into actions by way of Tikkun Olam, “mending the world”. Examples of Tikkun Olam abound: The Philadelphia Hebrew Benevolent Society, founded in 1845, would be renamed the Jewish Family Service, expanding to include the wider community. The ADL, initially founded to combat antisemitism and discrimination against Jews, evolved to combat bigotry of all kinds. HIAS makes the shift explicit in its promotional literature: “We used to take refugees because they were Jewish. Now we take them because we’re Jewish.” Organizationally, American Jewry pivoted from particularism to universalism. Over time American Jews became some of the most effective advocates for progressive causes. From feminism to fighting poverty, from the seder [“Ha Lachma Anya”] to civil rights, from Emma Lazarus to Ruth Badger Ginsburg — three thousand years of Jewish empathy had a platform for expression on American soil.
- p. 36-37, 56-57
