“Tikkun Olam,” loosely translated refers to “repairing the world” through acts of goodness, such as performing Mitzvot (good deeds). While “Tikkun Olam” is not a Torah commandment, it is contained in the Talmud and is the key concept of the Judaic code of living a righteous life.
You cannot just hijack the concept of “Tikkun Olam” without incorporating the entirety of Torah am not referring to any particular level of Jewish observance, just the commonality of a moral and just life.
Using the concept of “Tikkun Olam” without coupling it with Torah, is a canard. However, to the uninformed, it can be easily disguised and ultimately lead to something quite nefarious. Claiming that any cause some group defines as social justice falls under the concept of “Tikkun Olam,” does not make it so. If on the surface, a particular cause claims it represents social justice, but in actuality has undertones of an injustice of power, then the concept is beng inappropriately hijacked.
Judaism holds the deed to “Tikkun Olam” because it not only seeks to repair the world and make it more harmonious, but makes it safer and more just.
Why? Because Torah embraces the quest for a world free from any form of tyranny. Anything less is a misrepresentation of “Tikkun Olam” and a moral hijacking of the Jewish concept. We cannot allow that to happen.
Here is an example:
Those who would bring tyranny of their kind upon the people are in direct opposition to the true concept of repairing the world.
A group claiming their cause is social justice and invokes the victim card will draw empathy from those who seek to “repair the world.” On the surface, that would be correct. However, when the underlying plan is really not harmony, but an upending of the balance of power, thereby promoting its own kind of absolute tyranny, that is incongruous with the Torah concept. Especially if that includes violence or goes against a democratically elected regime.
An all-out use of “Tikkun Olam” to pursue a disingenuous purpose, which is exactly what the Left is currently doing, is erroneous and inconsistent with its actual meaning. It is using the term “Tikkun Olam” mendaciously in order to gain a false moral high ground.
This deception will destroy us all.
Those who would bring tyranny of their kind upon the people are in direct opposition to the true concept of repairing the world. Those who espouse a tyrannical dogma, for example, just as much as those who hold a dictator or ruling class higher than G-d, cannot claim that the world is improved. That is in direct opposition to the meaning of “Tikkun Olam” and Torah.
To improve the world, the entire concept of Tikkun Olam must be incorporated to insure the true, moral, lawful and non-violent high ground.
What is it then that we have to overcome to end the strife and help repair the world? We must overcome the tyrannies in the world; those nations, those rulers, those oligarchs, those movements, those who have placed themselves as the objects of worship over and above G-d. Those can be governments and those can be movements as well as religions, all who wish to force their beliefs on the rest of us.
During my forty years of trying to combat tyranny and antisemitism in America, the one constant that appears is the emphasis on the US Constitution’s Rule of Law, which is its unyielding stance against tyranny of any kind.
There is no doubt that about the moral high ground on which I stand. I say “Tikkun Olam”, repair the world, which is at the heart of all Judaic teachings, but what I’m really saying is that we must defend the moral high ground from anyone, any group, any nation, any religion, that would use the integrity of “Tikkun Olam” to invade and destroy the Free World. We must never lose our focus to confront and destroy the disciples of tyranny, even if they appear draped in the robes of Social Justice. That is the just and noble purpose of not only the Constitution, but of the Torah.
Without the Ten Commandments, the underpinnings of moral advancement in humanity, we would not have had the moral nor ethical imperative that produced the laws that framed our Constitution. Without that sacred foundation, the ideals to which our Republic adheres could never have been actualized. These are the same ideals embraced by the Covenant that Abraham received from G-d that bind both America and Israel to a common endeavor, the ongoing quest to secure a world, free from tyranny and the forces of oppression.
“Tikkun Olam” is the greatest moral principle in Jewish Law. “Tikkun Olam” represents G-d’s moral high ground that stands against tyranny. Using “Tikkun Olam” correctly, only in its unwavering context to Jewish Ethics, as depicted in this video, not only rescues the concept of “Tikkun Olam,” but can refute any group from hijacking it under false pretenses.
Acting on that, along with prayers in the name of those who no longer have a voice, including those whose well deserved place in history has been tyranically toppled, will serve to bring about a world filled with "peace, harmony and justice for all." We push that farther away when we destroy, and hasten its arrival by doing G-d’s work here on Earth.
With special thanks to Dr. Sandra Alfonsi for her insightful contributions
Stanley Zir is founder of Never Again is Now and Victorious America.com, "dedicated to the completion of America's destiny... in fulfilling Liberty's mandate: 'Our Eternal War on Tyranny'." He can be found at Scrapthedeal.com.