Battle Against Poverty / The Robert Hicks Show
Posts
On Global Jewish Responsibility: Putting the Olam in Tikkun Olam
B’reishit bara Elohim, in the beginning, God didn’t create the Land of Israel or the Jewish people. No, God created a wondrous universe, teeming with beauty, complexity, and possibility. Within this incomplete world, God created human beings to partner with God in shaping a world of justice and compassion. The sphere of divine concern includes …
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The Pittsburgh Attack Inspired Calls for Tikkun Olam. What to Know About the Evolution of an Influential Jewish Idea
In the wake of the mass shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, many in the Jewish community have invoked the language of tikkun olam in their response to this tragedy. These Hebrew words are typically translated as “repair the world,” or “mend the world,” — or as those who knew one of the victims that day put it when describing …
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Living Lives of Value
Next month, my daughter Tamar is headed to Kolkata, India to spend the year teaching in a girls school and volunteering in a health clinic serving young people in the community. She, like so many of her peers, is eager to make a difference in the world. For Jews, this pursuit is age-old. Our texts …
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‘Despair is not a strategy’
Ruth Messinger has a new job — not so different from her old one, but with a new title and a new focus. After 18 years heading the American Jewish World Service — she served as its president from 1998 until July 2016 — she has passed the baton to Robert Bank, AJWS’s executive vice-president. But …
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