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Last update - 09:55 15/05/2008 No longer busy with tikkun olam By Israel Harel Tags: tikkun ola, demography  He did it. Some 40 heads of state from around the world accepted his invitation and came to honor the 60th anniversary of the State of Israel. There are those who say they came to honor Shimon Peres more than to pay tribute to the state. Perhaps. This aspect of the event - which was titled, how appropriately for an event in which Peres is at the center, "tomorrow" - naturally drew media attention. Were it not for the police interest in some of the people who came to the conference's theoretical segment, and therefore one that drew less media attention (organized and implemented by the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute), the serious work being carried out there in parallel with the VIPs' visit would not have received much attention. Several hundred people, including intellectuals and community leaders, dealt with the "tomorrow," in other words, the future, of the Jewish people and the State of Israel. Among the subjects discussed by the special working group was the Jewish people's commitment to tikkun olam. Even though the participants did not concentrate on the original, metaphysical meaning of the concept, i.e. "to perfect the world under God's sovereignty," you could sense that there was something irregular; perhaps even a touch of escaping reality. This might be the case because this subject is raised at a time of moral, political and security crisis in Israel, as well as a crisis of identity and demography being experienced by the nation around the world. Advertisement Stuart Eizenstat, a former White House aide and undersecretary of state in two U.S. administrations, said the central problem facing the Jewish people today is demographic. The Jewish birthrate in the United States, for example, is very low, and many of the few Jews born marry outside the faith. During the discussion, I learned that the tikkun olam most Jewish people, but also organizations, take part in is mainly humanitarian and far removed from the fervor for universal tikkun olam - the revolutionary, absolute kind that many Jews between the late 19th century and the mid-20th century strove for. The aid to some 70 countries, described by French economist Jacques Attali, and the activities of the American Jewish World Service, which Ruth Messinger described, were well received. But one must ask: What does this have to do with tikkun olam? After all, thousands of non-Jewish organizations, in addition to the huge European, American and international foundations, work on a vast scale on the same types of activities. So does the United Nations, despite its shortcomings and biases. There was a time when Jews approached tikkun olam on the basis of its universal significance. Communism originally carried a major, exciting and compelling message of tikkun olam. It was natural that many Jewish idealists joined the ranks of the most revolutionary movement toward tikkun olam. Some of them became leading figures in the revolutionaries' utopian branches, as well as in the ranks of tyrannical Bolshevism. The kibbutz in its various forms and ideologies was also a representative example of the Jewish desire to work toward tikkun olam, in addition to building the country and preparing the tools for Jewish independence. The Zionist commune in Israel, according to the writings of the pioneers in that endeavor, was meant to serve as a light to the gentiles, in addition to establishing a homeland through revolutionary and fulfilling socialism. The entire world, not just Eretz Israel, was meant to become one big commune. Many Jews saw the civil rights movement in the United States as a movement for tikkun olam, and therefore were among its key participants. Today, when revolution has lost the wind in its sails, tikkun olam is interpreted by Jews of goodwill as activities for the environment, handing out condoms in AIDS-stricken areas, and, according to Columbia University Communications Professor Todd Gitlin, ending the occupation. Perhaps in the future there will again be exciting revolutionary movements. For Jews to join their ranks and work toward tikkun olam, we first of all need Jews for whom the ills of this world are central to what ails them. If the Jews around the world do not concentrate on resolving their existential problem - preventing their demographic demise - there will be no Jews to work toward tikkun olam, not even according to the original interpretation offered by Gitlin. Bookmark to del.icio.us   Animated massacre Animated Israeli film at Cannes explores Sabra and Shatila massacre. Kowtowing to funders When papers are sponsored, can their reporting be truly independent?   1.   Tikkun Olam as interpreted in the humanist sense 17:03  |  Dror 15/05/08   2.   Repairing evil will not repair the world 18:14  |  Tali 15/05/08   3.   demographic demise? get out of the territories 18:48  |  Shelley 15/05/08   4.   defining tikkum olam....? 18:48  |  ravi 15/05/08   5.   Tikun Olam? 19:36  |  Jenny 15/05/08   6.   defining tikkun olam 20:13  |  reuven 15/05/08   7.   no6..rueven.... ignorance personified 21:20  |  ravi 15/05/08   8.   Tikkun Olam is nonsense 21:43  |  Erez 15/05/08   9.   # 7 Ravi 22:40  |  Jan Vlaming 15/05/08   10.   Doesn`t tikkun olam today mean figuring out a peace w/ the Pals? 06:03  |  newageblues 16/05/08   11.   # 7 Ravi 08:58  |  Jan Vlaming 16/05/08   12.   Tikkun Olam is a modern American expression 10:17  |  rcl 16/05/08   13.   Dror, Man doesn`t have to remain exiled... 23:00  |  Dutch 16/05/08

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