How a Mitford sister came to hear about tikkun olam

Tikkun olam is a distilled prophetic ethic, driven by the hope that the world is redeemable. Of course, in the vision of the prophets, redemption came about through divine intervention.

But the prophetic tradition inspires the belief that one should not simply accept the world as it is but try to move it closer to what it could, and should, be. When Amos cries, “Let justice well up as waters. And righteousness as a mighty stream,” it is as much an exhortation as a prayer.

In this, tikkun olam parallels Zionism, which dispensed with the patient wait for messianic deliverance from exile and instead advocated taking one’s fate into one’s hands, by working to restore Jewish sovereignty in Israel.

The late Rabbi Lord Sacks may not have used the phrase himself but the title of his work on social responsibility, To Heal A Fractured World, surely alludes to it. In a JC article which expressed one of the dominant themes of his Chief Rabbinate, a Judaism engaged with the world, he cited the example of the development economist Jeffrey Sachs who, asked what motivated his work, replied “tikkun olam”.

Tikkun olam in its modern form was a product of a particular age. In the postwar years, the barriers that prevented Jews from integrating into their host societies fell away in the West. As Jews entered the professions and other well-paid roles and settled in the suburbs, the struggles of immigrant generations to make ends meet receded into the past. Highly educated, physically secure and socially accepted, young Jews sought a Jewish raison d’être and tikkun olam rose to meet their idealism.

Meanwhile, conventional religious belief was on the wane and allegiance to synagogues began to weaken. Increasingly, communal life revolved around a “civil religion” that promoted Holocaust remembrance and identification with Israel. But an appeal to ethnic solidarity alone was not enough to keep assimiliation at bay in the diaspora. The limitations of that approach became more clear in the 1990s, hence the advent of Jewish “continuity” campaigns instigated by Rabbi Sacks and others.

The idea of tikkun olam plugged a spiritual gap. In some cases, it might have simply offered a Jewish veneer on a progressive universalism that involved little Jewish practice or knowledge. But for others, it formed part of a deeper Jewish framework.

As the Attorney General Lord Hermer recently recalled at the launch of the Movement for Progressive Judaism, the concept of tikkun had a broader application in his youth group days. For Netzer, the worldwide Progressive religious Zionist movement, tikkun begins with tikkun atmzi – repair of the self, radiating outward to tikkun kehillah – repair of the community; tikkun medinah – repair of the state of Israel; tikkun am – repair of the Jewish people; and finally tikkun olam. Concern for the world become more urgent with the growing awareness of climate change and the arrival of eco-Judaism.

In the post-War world, tikkun olam had arisen in an era of optimism and confident belief in progress. Now we are assailed by a new sense of uncertainty and insecurity. Jewish communities are understandably preoccupied with defence and external threats, challenges that might prompt a turning inward.

But past experience suggests to sustain Jewish life, you need a motivating idea able to convey a sense of Jewish purpose. If tikkun olam were no longer able to enjoy the traction that it did, something else would have to replace it.

Image:  Nancy Mitford (played by Bessie Carter) in the series Outrageous with her Jewish friend Joss (Will Attenborough) photo: Britbox