Tikkun Olam: Repairing the World

Tikkun olam has become a favorite Hebrew catch phrase to describe social activism, opposition to injustice, and efforts to improve society and repair the world. Non-Jews have also appropriated the term; former US President Bill Clinton used tikkun olam to describe his social agenda.¹ Where did the term originate?

The meaning of the phrase went through four iterations. It began in the Hebrew Scriptures as a verb meaning “to make straight.” Rabbis used the term in legal discussion in the Talmud. In the Middle Ages it was used to describe a Kabbalistic concept of cosmic repair. Finally, American Jewry utilized the term in the mid-twentieth century to describe modern social activism.

Repairing or Making Straight

The Hebrew verb TKN is only found four times in the Scriptures (Ecclesiastes 1:15; 7:13; 12:9; and Daniel 4:36). It means to “make straight, establish, arrange, or repair.” In Ecclesiastes 7:13, the writer said, “Consider what God has done: Who can straighten [takkan] what he has made crooked?”

The concept that we have a moral duty to society originates in the Torah.

The concept that we have a moral duty to society originates in the Torah. In Deuteronomy 16:20, God commanded us to “follow justice and justice alone.” The prophet Amos condemned Israel’s disregard of the widow, orphan, and alien. He declared, “Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the Lord God Almighty will be with you, just as you say he is. Hate evil, love good; maintain justice. ... Let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!” (Amos 5:14–15, 24).

Improving Society

The rabbis put the words tikkun (repair) and ha-olam (the world) together to create a term for “improving society”: tikkun ha-olam. The phrase is found 30 times in the Babylonian Talmud, 8 times in the Palestinian Talmud, and a few times in the Midrashim.

In Mishnaic literature, tikkun ha-olam referred to rabbinic interpretation of biblical laws that provided a way for Torah to be carried out while protecting those who could not defend themselves. The phrase was extended to describe fairness in business practice. For example, physicians could not be held liable for accidental malpractice. Because these moral rulings improved society or “made the world straight,” they were called tikkun ha-olam.²

Repairing the Universe

The Zohar, a book of Jewish mysticism that first appeared in Spain in the late thirteenth century, used tikkun olam to describe the cosmic benefits a Jewish person performing mitzvot (the Torah’s 613 commands) acquired. 

The entire philosophy of kabbalah sprung up around this book. It postures how through the fall of Adam, the universe was “ruptured” in both the physical and spiritual realms, and when a Jew carries out the mitzvot, cosmic repairs are made in the invisible spiritual world. The benefits then “flow down” into the physical world and slowly repair the damage done on earth by the sin of Adam. Later kabbalists elaborated on this philosophy by claiming that at the time of the fall, God’s presence was dispersed in the same way that a clay pot is shattered and the shards scattered. These pieces were called “divine sparks.” Famed kabbalist Isaac Luria (1534–1572) explained that the Jews were dispersed throughout the world in order to “elevate” these sparks and restore the unity of God’s presence.³

Repairing Our World

Tikkun olam underwent its fourth iteration in the mid-twentieth century. While Jews struggled to make sense of the horrors of the Holocaust, a handful of theologians said that the tragic event gave the Jewish people a right to be heard, a perpetual platform from which to speak against hatred and injustice wherever it reared its ugly head.⁴

Emil Fackenheim (1916–2003), rabbi, professor of philosophy, and Holocaust survivor, postulated that world history follows an ontological cycle: “rupture” and “repair” (tikkun). The Holocaust (rupture) was followed by the creation of the State of Israel (repair). It is incumbent on the Jewish people to lead the way toward repairing the rupture created by the Holocaust through acts of tikkun olam.⁵

Repairing World Peace

With the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, our people hoped to design a society founded upon moral values, led by a government that protected freedom of speech and religion and cared for the outcast, the orphan, and the widow. Moreover, many Jewish people believed that having a sovereign state won the right for us to advocate for tikkun olam on an international scale. 

Years later, it’s home to millions of Jews and Arabs living side by side and a world leader of influence and innovation. But there is still rupture. In the years since its founding, Israel has been fraught with conflict and war. Tikkun olam is elusive.

Tikkun HaLev (Repairing the Heart)

Any attempt to repair the world must take into account that governments and societies are made up of flawed humans. Our words and actions overflow from our hearts, which are in need of repair. Though the prophets charged our ancestors with the task of tikkun olam, they also condemned the human heart as sick, wicked, and ill-equipped to carry out that mission: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).

As long as we are at war with our own evil inclinations, we will be at war with those around us.

While it is our moral duty to pursue peace, establish justice, and care for those who cannot protect themselves, we can’t do any of that without first repairing ourselves. As long as we are at war with our own evil inclinations, we will be at war with those around us.

Though the Scriptures make it clear that we’re unsuited for the task of tikkun olam, they also provide hope for a resolution: “Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. . . . He was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed” (Isaiah 53:4–5). As a Messianic Jew, I believe Isaiah was painting a picture of the Messiah, Jesus, who came to provide repair where we need it first: the heart.

I look forward to the day when that peace will mend the world. The Aleinu (third century CE), a Hebrew prayer recited at the conclusion of the Shabbat service, looks forward to a day of complete tikkun olam when God Himself will mend the world. 

And therefore we hope to You, Lord our God, that we may speedily behold the splendor of Your might, to banish idolatry from the earth—and false gods will be utterly destroyed; to perfect the world [le-takken Olam] under the sovereignty of the Almighty. All mankind shall invoke Your Name to turn all the wicked of the earth to you.⁶ (emphasis added)