What is Tikkun olam? In Hebrew it means ‘repair of the world’.
Tikkun Olam: In Jewish teachings, any activity that improves the world, bringing it closer to the harmonious state for which it was created.
Tikkun olam implies that while the world is innately good, its Creator purposely left room for us to improve upon His work.
All human activities are opportunities to fulfill this mission, and every human being can be involved in tikkun olam—child or adult, student or entrepreneur, industrialist or artist, caregiver or salesperson, political activist or environmentalist, or just another one of us struggling to keep afloat.
Chabad (Tikkun Olam)
The above is the religious perspective, in affect it means using G-ds wisdom, knowledge, and understanding, to make the world whole, balanced, or harmonious.
Let us see the way Reform explains this idea:
“Repair of the world;” Jewish concept that it is our responsibility to partner with God to improve the world. A mystical concept of restoration of God’s holiest Name to itself and the repair of a shattered world. Often refers to social action and social justice.
Reform(Tikkun Olam)
The idea itself comes from the Torah, and was expounded on by Isaac Luria. He was also known as Ari HaKadosh or Arizal and was a rabbi and mystic who taught in Egypt and Safed in the sixteenth century. He is considered the forefather of modern Kabbala, also known as Lurianic Kabbala.
Luria’s teachings did include the concept of Tikkun Olam, although it is not central to his teachings. He believed that the purpose of human life is to help repair the spiritual damage caused by the breaking of the vessels of the sefirot (Divine attributes) at the time of the “Shattering of the vessels” before the creation of the world. Luria’s concept of tikkun is centered on the idea that the soul has to elevate the sparks of holiness that fell in to the physical world and to help God to restore the balance of the sefirot which was broken. Therefore Luria’s Tikkun Olam is more spiritual than social.
From this perspective, it is a psychological/spiritual repair. Done in ones psyche. But even if the spiritual idea is expanded out into the physical reality, the repair is a balanced approach guided by G-d (or the Jungian Self.)
So where has Reform gone wrong? In effect they are actually helping to unbalance, disharmonize and shatter the sefirot even more by using a one sided ideology (Progressivism) as a guide for their “repair”.
Reform, and Reconstructionism, both of which are the liberal branches of Judaism, have as their highest value progressive and liberal values. From a Kabbalistic perspective, this is the sefirot of Mercy (Chased) with Justice (Geburah) being its complementary opposite.
Too much Mercy manifests itself as the “Devouring Mother”; too much Justice, as the Destroyer (in the Guise of Kali, from Hinduism).
16 Do not be overrighteous,
Ecclesiastes 7:16-18
neither be overwise—
why destroy yourself?
17 Do not be overwicked,
and do not be a fool—
why die before your time?
18 It is good to grasp the one
and not let go of the other.
Whoever fears God will avoid all extremes.
The Lord will pass to smite the Egyptians, and He will see the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, and the Lord will pass over the entrance, and He will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses to smite [you].
Exodus 12:23
He made several worlds before ours, but He destroyed them all, because He was pleased with none until He created ours. But even this last world would have had no permanence, if God had executed His original plan of ruling it according to the principle of strict justice. It was only when He saw that justice by itself would undermine the world that He associated mercy with justice, and made them to rule jointly.
Legend of the Jews
Too much Mercy creates profanity, depravity, sin, and spiritual degradation because there is no objective punishment, correction or a guide for “proper” behavior. Too much Justice destroys the world because nothing can match the perfection or unity of the Infinite One.
This is why the Reform movement is dying. Their G-d is not the G-d of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but rather is Tikkun Olam and Mercy itself, by elevating the ideological and rational constructs (papañca – Conceptual proliferation) of Progressivism, over G-d (or the Unified Self), they worship at the golden idol of what is now called “Woke”, or Postmodern Neo-Marxism.
To put this in a simpler way, if you think the world is in need of repair, and your value system is liberal, conservative, or some other one sided ideology, its axioms will inform both what is “broken” to you, and how you should repair whatever it is you seek to fix. But outside of religious and psychologically sound ethic systems that have brought humanity into the present, neither of these ideologies are whole/unified, or inline with the Jewish conception of divinity and the rules, guardrails, and guidelines we have when it comes to right, wrong, good, evil, sin, and virtue.
The world is created by G-d, he wants it to be a certain way, he humans to work with him to get it to a state that he would be pleased with. He revealed his values (the 613 commandments) as a guide, which means he does not want us to to solely use our own one sided value systems. If we use our own systems only, we are serving our own egos, not the will of G-d.
Out of interest, I asked ChatGPT if the above is a true statement, its output:
This statement is generally true, as one’s value system and beliefs can influence their perspective on what is “broken” in the world and how to repair it. People with different ideologies may have different views on what issues are most pressing and what solutions would be most effective. For example, a person with a liberal value system may prioritize issues such as poverty and inequality, while a person with a conservative value system may prioritize issues such as crime and national security. Additionally, one’s ideologies can influence the way they approach and try to fix the issues they believe need to be addressed. For example, a liberal might advocate for government intervention and social welfare programs, while a conservative might advocate for smaller government and market-based solutions.
However, it’s worth noting that not all people are rigidly ideological, and it’s possible for an individual to have a nuanced perspective on issues that can include elements from different ideologies. Additionally, when it comes to Tikkun Olam, which is a Jewish concept, it is a complex concept and has various interpretations, not all are related to political ideologies.
Reform and Reconstructionist branches of Judaism have adopted this concept, but some argue that they have gone too far by placing too much emphasis on progressive and liberal values, which can unbalance and disharmonize the sefirot.
Your statement is logical in that it suggests that one’s value system informs their understanding of what needs to be repaired in the world and how it should be repaired. It also suggests that religious and psychologically sound ethical systems can provide a more holistic and unified understanding of these concepts, whereas ideologies that are one-sided may not align with certain religious or cultural beliefs.
-God is the creator of the world
-God desires the world to be in a certain way
-God wants humans to work with him to bring the world to a state that would please him
-God has revealed his values as a guide for how to do this as the 613 commandments
-Using our own one-sided value systems would mean that we are serving our own egos rather than the will of God
-True fulfillment of God’s will can only be achieved by following the values and guidelines God has provided.
ChatGPT