An officer of the court
July 24th, 2009 | Tikkun Daily
This article appeared in Tikkun Daily as The Story Is Told. A picture of Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks appears here that did not apear in the original, as does a picture of Levi Yitchak’s gravesite in Ukraine. The article has been edited to reflect the evolution of both the Metivta of Ottawa and the Court. You may read the original article here.
I am very honoured to announce that my student Anne Marante will earn her core competency in Deliberative Ethics next week and be admitted as an officer of the Jewish Court for Social Justice.
I introduced the concept of the Jewish Courts for Social Justice in one of my early posts on Tikkun Daily. Social justice is oft-called tikkun olam in Hebrew.
The American rabbi Michael Lerner has worked very hard for almost 25 years to see tikkun olam evolve and enfold both Jews and the general community. He did not do this alone, of course, and had many associates and mentors along the way — and this is part of the definition of “Berdichever” social justice, as we will see below.
Lord Jonathan Sacks, Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom
Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks — I regard him as my Chief Rabbi — teaches that tikkun olam is the Jewish concept for social justice.
Tikun olam
The general concept of social justice, when used by the political centre-left, is really a cry for the general ability to both acquire inclusion in whatever group, and to attain sustainable wealth. Tikkun olam literally translates as “world (olam) reparation (tikkun)”. Jewish tradition acknowledges the world was made broken and must be fixed.
The story is told of a rabbi named Levi Yitzhak (oft-called “the Berdichever”) who once sang the Yom Kippur Eve service, the single most sanctified time in the Jewish holy day cycle. Suddenly he stopped and changed his chant.
“Dear G!d,” he sang, “I see the masses walking by me. I see the lame, the suffering, the broken! And Dear G!d, I have a question: What are you going to do about it?”
Then Levi Yitzhak stood silently, meditating, waiting for a reply. A small voice from the back of the congregation whispered “Reb Levi Yitzhak”, spoke “Reb Levi Yitzhak” and finally shouted “Reb Levi Yitzhak!”, at which point the Berditchever turned around to face the congregation.
“Reb Levi Yitzhak!” the voice continued, “G!d Did do something about it. G!d Made us!”
You can ask for more information about the Deliberative Ethics course by emailing me here.
