Non­fic­tion

The Way into Tikkun Olam: Repair­ing the World

  • From the Publisher
October 11, 2011

For every­one who wants to under­stand the mean­ing and sig­nif­i­cance of tikkun olam (repair­ing the world) in Jew­ish spir­i­tu­al life, this book shows the way into an essen­tial aspect of Judaism and allows you to inter­act direct­ly with the sacred texts of the Jew­ish tra­di­tion. Guid­ed by Dr. Elliot N. Dorff, Rec­tor and Dis­tin­guished Pro­fes­sor of Phi­los­o­phy at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Judaism, this com­pre­hen­sive intro­duc­tion explores the roots of the beliefs and laws that are the basis of the Jew­ish com­mit­ment to improve the world. It looks at the var­i­ous moti­va­tions that the sacred texts pro­vide for car­ing for oth­ers, the ways the Jew­ish tra­di­tion seeks to fos­ter such con­cerns in our social and fam­i­ly rela­tion­ships, and the kind of soci­ety that Jews should strive to cre­ate as part­ners with God. By illu­mi­nat­ing Judais­m’s under­stand­ing of the com­po­nents of an ide­al world, and the impor­tance of jus­tice, com­pas­sion, edu­ca­tion, piety, social and famil­ial har­mo­ny and enrich­ment, and phys­i­cal flour­ish­ing for both the indi­vid­ual and soci­ety, we see how this ancient quest for a world with all these ele­ments helps us define Jew­ish iden­ti­ty and mis­sion today.

Discussion Questions