Social care on Hagibor. Photo: Karel Cudlín
Jewish Social Welfare
The high value placed by the Jewish tradition on active concern for the welfare of others has its roots in the Torah. Phrases such as “that your brother may live with you”(Leviticus 25:35) and “you shall love your fellow person as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18) are found there. What is the rationale for Jews’ concerning themselves with other Jews’ welfare? The verses cited portray one Jew’s concern for another as motivated by a sense of brotherhood. As kinsmen, Jews have a familial responsibility for each other’s welfare.
Hanukkah. Foto: Buxbaum.
Tikkun Olam: Repairing the World
(Hebrew for “world repair”) has come to connote social action and the pursuit of social justice. The phrase has origins in classical rabbinic literature and in Lurianic kabbalah, a major strand of Jewish mysticism originating with the work of the 16th-century kabbalist Isaac Luria.
The phrase “tikkun olam” remains connected with human responsibility for fixing what is wrong with the world.