Jack Wetheimer derides it.  Justin Trudeau loves it.

And during this summer’s Jerusalem conference season, the World Council of Jewish Communal Services held its 12th Quadrennial Conference and speakers had some things to say about tikkun olam.  As it is 2012, folks in attendance at #WCJCS12 tweeted about the speeches and other random goings-on as did the folks at the seemingly hundreds of other conferences going on in Jerusalem.

(Although I somewhat wish I could attend #WCJCS12 or #JED21 or #JAFI2012 or #ROI or <<insert three to four letter acronym here>> to shmooze, build a more robust twitter following and drink watery coffee too, I realize that I do not have the funding nor secondary support staff at home to make such trips possible.  I am merely a Jewish educator.)

However, what I can do is attend/eavesdrop via twitter, drink better coffee in Toronto and occasionally offer a comment on someone else’s comment.  Hence an interchange with Mordechai Holtz over the following comments from David Brown:

Is there such a thing as tikkun olam Judaism? @liveinthegrey #wcjcs12

24 Jun 2012 10:08 via Twitter for iPhoneReplyRetweetFavorite

@mordecaiholtz

Mordecai Holtz

We need to be more than Jewish flavored humanism. Well said @liveinthegrey #wcjcs12

24 Jun 2012 10:09 via Twitter for iPhoneReplyRetweetFavorite

@mordecaiholtz

Mordecai Holtz

I wondered aloud if, in fact, there is any kind of Judaism outside of Tikkun Olam Judaism.  (Holtz replied: “Hmmm.”)

I can already anticipate the stinging reprove from the more frum folks over at Reddit/Judaism of the “Get your liberal Jew off my frum lawn” variety… as if liberal Judaism is synonymous with tikkun olam in the most content-free, wishy-washy tree-huggy manner.  Though I thank elishabenavuya for sharing my stuff there, the mostly frum folks who seem to lurk there never miss an opportunity to knock liberal Judaism.  So before you start knocking, take heed:

What I mean by all Judaism being “Tikkun Olam Judaism” is the orientation grounded in Torah which compels us to be outward-looking.   (Aha!  Content!)

I love you, tree!

There are dozens of examples of how concrete acts of tikkun olam transcend mere tree-huggery, but here’s one. Take the often cited tzedaka-related dictum from BT Bava Metzia 71a:  ”עניי עירך קודמין” – which, loosely translated, means “your poor first.”  (The larger discussion that concludes with the bon mot focuses on giving priorities.  Aha!  More content!)   Many Some Jews take this statement to mean Only help Jews … which would be a correct understanding of the statement if it stopped after the second word.   However, the word “קודמין” (lit. “first”) states outright that, on a list of priorities, you put your own community at the top but there are also other communities on that list!  (What kind of list only has one item?  Is that even a list?)  Even for the most myopic of Jews, there is no denying that there are other people in the world in need of help – our help.  Repeat:  Our help.

Here’s another.  The Torah trots out the triumverate of society’s most vulnerable: the ger, orphan and widow.  The orphan-widow combination appears about 20 times in the Torah, and often in the context of individuals who have financial means and surplus who are charged with helping those in need (read: widows and orphans).  Often, the call and justification for this act of tzedaka has nothing to do with conscience-tweaking, tree-hugging or wild universalizing.  Often, it is based on religious commandment (i.e., “Do this because I am God.” etc.), for historic reasons (i.e., “Do this because you were once in need.”), for karmic reasons (i.e., “God rewards the just.”) or for social reasons (i.e., “Those without are people just like you.”).  So, is the Torah’s specific call to action to those with means to help those without an act of tikkun olam?  In the literal sense, yes.  By helping the vulnerable, you make the world a better place.  I guess what it comes down to (and what irks the more myopic among us) is whether it is any less world-bettering if you as a Jew help a Sudanese widow or Ukrainian orphan.

How you answer that question might possibly speak more about your Judaism (Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist, et alia) than anything else…

Just saying.

Doing Judaism the Right Way for 2,000 Years

So I came across this piece last week on the JTA website written by Joel Alperson, the “past national campaign chair for United Jewish Communities”.

Dear readers, as the piece was quick to point out:  His views do not necessarily represent those of the Jewish Federations of North America, formerly known as United Jewish Communities.   Reading this note was a tremendous relief to me because, for a minute, I thought that Alperson’s piece did represent the views of JFNA (fka UJC) and I was struck afeard!

So I read the piece and thought about it, and like a piece of popcorn that sticks in between one’s molars, my tongue kept trying to dislodge it with little success.  Y’see I tend to agree that Judaism has to be more than just marketing and tikkun olam … check my first of six posts on that point here…

What poked at my gums was the following:

Orthodox Jews, for whatever disagreements many non-Orthodox Jews have with them, have grown in number, and not only by sheltering themselves in haredi Orthodox communities. In contrast to the haredi Orthodox, the Modern Orthodox largely swim in the same secular waters as other Jews: They own televisions, use the Internet, attend secular universities, and work and vacation in the secular world.

I would love to see Alperson’s data on this because from my reading on the subject (I gave a talk a million years ago on post-denominationalism, denominational switching and the viability of Conservative Judaism), as much as Orthodox have more kids than non-Orthodox, they are not growing at the rate that one would expect.  But perhaps I was not paying attention because I was too busy fiddling with font choices for the Keynote presentation.  Let’s continue…

But they also hold to a religious discipline that they believe is life-improving. They observe Shabbat and the Jewish holidays, and they study Jewish texts in far greater numbers than non-Orthodox Jews. They are more likely to have children, and their children are far more likely to marry Jews and make Jewish homes.

Hmm… I wonder how many Orthodox Jews would agree with Alperson’s characterization of Orthodoxy as a “religious discipline”? And do Orthodox Jews remain Orthodox because it is “life-improving” or because it is commanded?

Judaism teaches us how to be better friends, businesspeople, husbands, wives and philanthropists. It tells us how to help the weak and when to fight evil. In short, Judaism done right makes us better human beings. It is the discipline of leading a traditional Jewish life that also reminds us how best to engage in repairing the world.

Agree.  Agree. Ag.. Woah there, cowboy… “Judaism done right”?  ”the discipline of leading a traditional Jewish life”?   What are you saying, Joel?  Should we all become Orthodox?  Pray tell…

Ironically, by overemphasizing tikkun olam we could ultimately, through lack of Jewish knowledge and experience, lose the very impetus that put us in the tikkun olam business in the first place.

Hmm… compelling point.  Did you read my earlier post?

Must every Jew become Orthodox to live a committed and meaningful Jewish life? Clearly not. There are, of course, great numbers of highly committed non-Orthodox Jews. But as a community, at least for now, we’ll be severely weakened if we don’t acknowledge that we must repair ourselves far more urgently than we must repair the world.

So, if I understand Joel correctly, we all should not become Orthodox necessarily, but the Orthodox community has figured out Judaism’s secret sauce and if we want the Jewish people to survive, we might want to use their recipe…

You can read his whole piece here in case my yanking this extensive quote out of context and fisking it might misrepresent Alperson’s intent.

Before I am buried under another poopstorm, let me state that Orthodox Judaism is a wonderful religious practice for the Orthodox.  I have a lot of love and respect for frum people, their commitment to frumkeit and their dedication to mitzvot and middot.

All I am saying is this:  When individuals in positions of leadership in communal organizations (or formerly in positions of leadership yet still probably connected to and golf-playing with decision-makers) advocate and argue for one denomination over another, I get a little squeamish.

Related articles

• Op-Ed: Judaism is always ‘tikkun olam’ – and more (jta.org)
• Op-Ed: Judaism is more than ‘tikkun olam’ (jta.org)