If there’s still anyone out there who is not familiar with the Hebrew phrase, “Tikkun Olam,” a literal translation would be: “Repairing the world.” Simple enough.
Brilliant. Our species evil-inclination has always been more potent than any of our good intentions.
Our Talmudic sages warned about this, when they admonished us to "until your dying day, never trust yourself". But, of course, every generation arises with its own innovations, convinced that this time around we can ignore the sages, invent the ultimate solution to humanity's problems, and move to achieve said solution by any means deemed necessary. Just as with your Tower of Babel analogy, now as then, the collateral damage in human lives matters to them who fancy themselves as humanity's saviors, not at all.
Most unfortunately for Jews, when a critical mass of us buys into these fantasies, it soon transpires that what the rest of the world means by ultimate solutions to the world's problems, is some version of the final solution to their problem with the existence of Jews anywhere in the world.
Thank you, Eve, for that painfully accurate insight: cleansing the world of all Jews is the antisemites' dream of Tikkun Olam. A chilling thought that will now be troubling my sleep. I wish it were not so, but I think you've clearly identified a primary motive force that inspires the hate brigades.
Welcome to my troubled sleep club, Sam. I'm not even sure if at this point the current frenzy of antisemitism can be reversed without an act of Divine intervention that's either seen by all as an unmistakable intervention, or otherwise crushes and confounds the evil that has arisen so triumphantly against us since that dreadful October 7th.
In the aftermath of what my parents and their families experienced during WWII, I have no basis for believing in or expecting salvation through miraculous divine intervention. However, I do put stock in a comment that I heard expressed by an Israeli warrior who commanded a tank squadron in battle: "When you put 100% of your effort into the struggle, God often adds an extra 20%."
I truly believe in God, and I also believe that, given the rules of the game, God only acts through us.
Both my parents having lost most of their families in the Holocaust, I dare not speak of it one way or the other. The subject of G-d and the Holocaust is best left to later generations, when the experience is not as raw as it still is to our generation.
Having been in Israel in the Six Day War, and having been studying Israel's history and current events ever since, I can't escape the conclusion that Israel's very existence, to say nothing of its phenomenal growth and thriving, despite all the internal and external enemies it faces, is -- as ever more Israelis are coming to realize these days -- due to nothing else but daily ongoing miracles.
This is not to belittle the daily sacrifices and amazing heroism of the every day Israelis who are coping with the daily challenges of the enemies without and being sold out to them by self-serving enemies within. I am in awe of these everyday heroes, both the ones that remain kind and generous through it all, as well as the ones I normally find too tough to deal with myself. If not for their collective sacrifices, our lives in the diaspora would be as unpleasant as those of our parents and grandparents had been before Israel's independence.
"Both my parents having lost most of their families in the Holocaust, I dare not speak of it one way or the other. The subject of G-d and the Holocaust is best left to later generations, when the experience is not as raw as it still is to our generation."
Eve, we have a lot in common and, quite probably, both wish that we had none of it in common. My parents's paths first crossed at Auschwitz, and then they found each other once again following the war—after having learned that their spouses and most of their families had been murdered. My father NEVER spoke of his experiences during the Holocaust with anyone apart from two anecdotes that he shared with me during his very last days. My mother, on the other hand, kept silent until the 1970s, but then began to share her stories far and wide wherever she was invited to speak: synagogues, churches, high schools and universities, organizations and other venues. She also gave recorded testimonials of her experiences to both the Spielberg Foundation and to Florida Atlantic University where they are archived along with those of other survivors who were willing to tell their tales.
I have the utmost respect for those who chose to keep silence. But I also have deep admiration for those who were able to speak. For my two daughters, more than synagogue attendance or Jewish summer camp, I think it was listening to their bubba's Holocaust interviews that convinced them deep in their bones that they were Jews.
"Both my parents having lost most of their families in the Holocaust, I dare not speak of it one way or the other. The subject of G-d and the Holocaust is best left to later generations, when the experience is not as raw as it still is to our generation."
Eve, we have a lot in common and, quite probably, both wish that we had none of it in common. My parents' paths first crossed at Auschwitz, and then they found each other once again following the war—after having learned that their spouses and most of their families had been murdered. My father NEVER spoke of his experiences during the Holocaust with anyone apart from two anecdotes that he shared with me during his very last days. My mother, on the other hand, kept silent until the 1970s, but then began to share her stories far and wide wherever she was invited to speak: synagogues, churches, high schools and universities, organizations and other venues. She also gave recorded testimonials of her experiences to both the Spielberg Foundation and to Florida Atlantic University where they are archived along with those of other survivors who were willing to tell their tales.
I have the utmost respect for those who chose to keep silence. But I also have deep admiration for those who were able to speak. For my two daughters, more than synagogue attendance or Jewish summer camp, I think it was listening to their bubba's Holocaust interviews that convinced them deep in their bones that they were Jews.
Absolutely, Sam. And I apologize for the misunderstanding. I did not mean that our parents should not have recounted their experiences, that was essential for record keeping. I just meant that for us, the next generation, it's too soon to try to make sense of it. Someday, two or three or more, generations later, they may be able to look back at it from the wider angle that passage of time enables, maybe, but for us, it's too close to home, so to speak. Our function, seems to me, is to make sure that our enemies don't succeed in making the world forget what it had done to the Jews and what blood curdling savagery "civilized" people are capable of. Most importantly, we must ensure that future generations of Jews don't forget.
“The danger that lurks in the perilous quest to repair a broken world is inherent in its point of departure.
We are constrained to begin from a critical stance, i.e., what’s wrong with this picture? We are directed to focus all our attention on what needs to be fixed, changed, removed, destroyed. And we are exalted and inflated through our own self-selection as change-agents who are making the world a better place.”
Man, do those few sentences provide a fantastic springboard from which to make a truly deep dive!
I wish I could go further, but it’s late, I’m very tired, and my inclination to ‘elaborate’ would undoubtedly get the better of me tonight.
But I wanted to acknowledge and praise your work, and hope to explore several relevant points further in the near future.
In the meantime, may Adonai continue to bless, keep, guide, and prosper you!
From my perspective, you’ve come tantalizingly close to addressing the ‘root cause’ of this world’s tragic flaws and resulting ‘brokenness’. I can’t help wondering if you realize that, and are just holding back from ‘going there’ - or if you’re still grappling with various existential issues, seeking to come to a firmer conclusion and belief before doing so.
Regardless, you have piqued my interest, and I look forward to discovering more regarding your perspectives going forward.
Hi Mike! Thank you so much for your words of praise. You've also piqued my interest, and I'd love to hear more about what has engaged you so deeply in my essay.
For a more detailed exposition of my own beliefs about the nature of reality, human destiny, and our current struggles against our inhuman adversaries, please check out my recent book (on Amazon): "Paradigm Wars: A Brief History of Consciousness from the Insects to the Antisemites." I'll be very curious to know whether my conclusions align with what you anticipate.
In passing I was wondering where that statue of Christ is located, the one that you chose for your logo/avatar image? When it's expanded, it's quite an amazing work of art. When Christ is depicted with outstretched arms, it's almost always in the context of the Crucifixion. But here, the fully outstretched arms are extended by way of invitation, a loving, welcoming gesture. Wow!
Bought the book Sam, and look forward to reading it. In the meantime, I’ll just say you and I appear to be tracking together closely on many things - and you did well to make Aliyah…
By the way, what area of Israel are you living in?
Mike, feel free to keep me in the loop and share your thoughts with me as you make your way through my book. We do seem to have substantial areas of shared interest, and I look forward to fruitful conversation.
I made Aliyah last year, but I'm still dividing my life between Israel and Italy which I moved to about 20 years ago. In Italy I live in Tuscany, and in Israel Tel Aviv is home base. In Italy my friends occasionally correct my pronunciation of some less-than-common word; in Israel they endure my Hebrew politely and switch into English at the earliest opportunity.
Just a note to tell you I’m making my way through the book Sam… I keep copying passages to a file for later comment but there’s so many so far that it’s looking like it’s going to take awhile. You make many excellent points, and there’s rich ground for fruitful discussion throughout. So far, I’ve only read several chapters but it seems we’re tracking even closer than I expected…
Wish we could sit and talk this through sometime later. If I have a windfall, perhaps another trip to Israel would be in order!
I really appreciate conversations on these themes which I find so deeply interesting, but there are very few folks in my little village in rural Italy who would have any idea what I'm talking about—either in English or Italian! :-)
So, please do get in touch when you feel inclined to discuss any of the topics that I've addressed in the book. Perhaps we could arrange a Zoom chat at a mutually time.
Thanks for the message Sam; I will definitely check out the book! I went down with extraordinarily excruciating headaches after my original post and just up from that experience now, so I’ll revert further tomorrow. But that picture is from Rio de Janiero. I had a very eclectic career, starting in the Merchant Marine, fortuitously ‘shifted’ into Offshore Engineering, Construction, & Installation, then ended up working for Jeff Bezo’s Blue Origin. Now retired, but travelled extensively throughout my working career, with the added blessing of being able to spend time exploring in quite a few places, including Israel - which I love above all others.
Incidentally, I also spent time in the only other place with such a statute on top of a mountain overlooking the sea; Puerto Plata, in the Dominican Republic. (Lisbon has one as well, but on a large hill, rather than a mountain.)
I've since realized that I had an album that featured that image of Christ on its cover. So, clearly I looked at it many times. But I saw it for the first time the other day.
Tikun Olam or social justice is an ersatz substitute for traditional Jewish values and focusing on Tikun Olam produces young Jewish men and women who are grossly illiterate in traditional Jewish values but who have swallowed woke Kool Aid on issues of race gender and climate and who will march for Hamas
I posted it to the wrong thread but RYBS is a web abbreviation for Rsbbi Joseph Ber Soloveitchik a leading Rosh Yeshiva at Yeshiva University who also wrote many articles on Jewish law and philosophy
Yes, I know lots of tikkun olam Jews. Sympathising with Hamas and ambiguous about Israel. Hinduism takes the view that every individual is on his/her own path of evolution towards liberation and ( as the Gita says) disturbing others by preaching to them and trying to change them is a big mistake. Judaism and Hinduism are both non conversion religions. But today unfortunately both have produced lots of people who don’t know much about or appreciate their religion and are trying to change the world. One of my Jewish friends used to say that idealists are the most dangerous people in the world.
Hi Ruth! I visited your site, read your essay "Killing Indifference," and subscribed directly to your substack. Your writing style is simple, honest and engaging. And, sufficiently so, that I decided to trust you as a guide to what is for me unfamiliar territory.
I know almost nothing about present-day India's political challenges, and even less about India's history. But, while living for many years in the San Francisco Bay Area, I had the good fortune to experience mind-blowing Indian music and dance performances, and the less-than-thrilling experience of collaborating with Indian programmers in the high-tech arena. :-)
India is the favorite travel destination for many of my Israeli friends, and I almost got there once myself before work and family began impinging on travel plans. The potential for fruitful alliance between Israel and India against common enemies intrigues me. You seem to have a foot in both the eastern and western worlds, So, I'm looking forward reading your dispatches and filling in some of the blanks!
Thank you so much for writing. Great to be in touch. The majority of Indians are Hindus and the majority of Hindus support Israel. Judaism and Hinduism have a lot in common despite the obvious differences. And India is one of very few places where Jews lived for centuries, along with Hindus, Muslims and Christians, but faced no persecution. Of course, that is changing now, thanks to importation of Jew-hatred by Islamists and leftists. I am a Hindu from India but have lived and taught at a university in the US for a long time. I moved here from India when I was 40 so half my heart is in India and I spend a lot of time in India. In America, most of my friends are Jews (not coincidentally, I think) and I am married to a Jew. Am going to visit Jerusalem in August. I've been to Tel Aviv briefly but not Jerusalem.
Tel Aviv is quite hot in August, but it should be a lovely time to visit Jerusalem. There's much to see but one highlight not to miss is the tour of the underground world that has been excavated in recent decades. Quite amazing!
Looking forward to reading your dispatches and learning more about Hindus and Jews and the things we hold in common.
Excellent piece. I once wrote a comment on a Vancouver gay man's posting who always castigates progressives for being antisemitic that his hammering away at them does not good because progressivism (i.e. tikkun olam) always leads to totalitarianism. He was aghast and continues to tilt against windmills. Very important what you wrote about taking time to see the wealth we have inherited instead of defacing paintings and banning classics. In sociology, my beloved master Niklas Luhmann constantly stressed the importance of seeing, of knowing from where you see what you see and of knowing as well that you cannot see what you cannot see. Needless to say, we followers of Luhmann are a minority cast into the outer Hebrides. And I especially liked your comment about the benefit of Jewish prayer, having started late in life to recite my morning prayers! Thanks for the post.
It's interesting that I also had two teachers along the way who stressed the importance of seeing: one was a retired Shakespeare professor who led poetry writing retreats, and the other was a psychologist who taught us how to work with dream images. I took what learned from them and applied it to working with Renaissance paintings and sculpture when I started leading tours in Italy. I wrote a book that I think would be right up your alley based on what you've shared about your work with your mentor. I focused on 15th century Florentine masterpieces that everyone looks at and no one sees. It's called "The Renaissance of Imagination" and it's on Amazon.
Given present circumstances I have shifted my focus from art to current events. But I'm just an old dog trying to apply the tricks I've learned along the way to new terrain.
Stephen, it would be lovely to have you as a neighbor to chat with over morning coffee. But I'm pretty sure you don't live in rural Tuscany, so that's not an option. Anyway, I'm very grateful to have such a thoughtful reader!
Excellent essay and analysis. Small edit - the phrasing of “to repair the world beneath sovereignty of God” - לתקן עולם במלכות שדי - is (to the best of my knowledge) in the Aleinu prayer that concludes the daily morning and evening worship and not the Amidah. Thank you for your writing and teaching !!
Thankfully I wuz spared the wurst reaper-cuss'uns of Tikkun Olam comin' from a very practical home an' fer reasons unknown, an' equally practical Reform temple.... where none'a this wuz pushed (bein' a "help" wuz good but it never extended to "Yenimsville!"
Thus, the golden rule was not, therefore, ta save the Whirled or even be CONcerned 'bout the misfortunes of every nayshun (even tho' I had ta clean my plate b/c childrin were starvin' in Chynna...which makes no sense...never did!)...BUT our own golden rule wuz DSD i.e. "do sumthin' dummy!"
DSD meant in the immediate...in a situation that affects you, yer fambly, yer neighbors (regardless of faith) an' of course yer fellow joos. In real life this 'splains why I'd stand by the kid that wuz bullied at skool, but wuz not all "ginned up" 'bout third whirled injustice (which soitenly wuz real). It 'splains why I--an' four other joos, made up 25% of the self-assembled team in our ol' Brooklyn neib fightin' ta stop the introoshun of a dangerous LPG pipeline ta pump fracked gas inta Canada--where it wuz legal (the creation of which also would'a closed local stores) an' / too, to fight a local toxin-spewin' superfund site on which (hold yer breath!) they wanted ta build a skool! All local concerns that affected me / my fam BUT in this velly non-jooish neib (Hispanic/Polish ta spessyfry), I find it funny as heck that somehow of about 20 puttin' in sweat-time ta address these velly real issues a quarter were joos!.... Wuz that Tikkun Olam? Wuz it just DSD? Dunno.
As a little kid I member puttin' pennies (pennies! soon ta disappear!) inta paper tubes fer my adorable gran'ma who went 'round the neib with her "Hadassa sisters" collectin' 'em for Israel. THIS wuz considered local! Israel wuz local (lol).
When we fail ta put our oxygen masks on first...we git the sad/sorry/shameful idiots with SO much empathy fer Gazas an' SO little fer their fella joos that they march ta destroy Israel (oy) an' depict the rest of us as bloodthirsty moidererz. From this (not frum this tho') comes Tikkun Olam at its worst. Like I said, it wuzn't a thang (thankfully) fer us/our fam tho' along the way I met some so-deluded/delooted. HOWEVER I do recall some Tikkun Olam connection with Purim...like makin' a food basket fer yer elderly neighbor who would not, otherwise, enjoy delicious hard dough (godferbid) in the form'a Hamantaschen or....schneken! (Life withouth schnecken would INDEED be sad!)
Let's hope the deluded (an' clearly delooted too as they always shell out fer their "causes") will realize their mission-mistaken an' return ta sanity. An' fer the rest of us, I think Do Sumthin' Dummy suffices just fine!
Words of wisdom, thank you, Miss Daisy! Life without schnecken would certainly be sad, but would help keep us from getting too big to squeeze into our britches. And that's not only a literal problem, but also sometimes a metaphorical one, as I've alluded to in this essay. Coincidentally, albeit irrelevantly, my mother once told me that, after emigrating to America, when she was first learning English, she always used to confuse "schnicken" and "chicken." To me there was a world of difference between the two and I couldn't fathom how she could possibly confuse them, but she swore up and down that it was so, and how can anyone argue with another person's choice of what confuses them? Now you'd be well within your rights to point out that "schnecken" and "schnicken" may look a lot like each other, but they too are worlds apart and as different as breakfast and dinner, so bringing schnicken into the conversation was hardly kosher. But I couldn't help myself.
Now that we have that out of the way, I'd just like to add that your family's practice of DSD certainly has points in common with Tikkun Olam. But as you have pointed out, size does matter. And scale too. Performing random acts of kindness in your neighborhood never hurt nobody, but rounding up the neighbors and getting them to kick the Jews or block rush-hour traffic for whirled peas—well, that's a horse of different color. My mother didn't speak French so she never read Voltaire or she probably would have agreed with his conclusions about do-gooderism: "Il faut cultiver nos jardins."
btw, where and what is "Yenimsville?" That sailed right over my head.
ha ha, wull I think when it comes ta schnecken & not gettin' too big fer our britches (that'd be gotkehs!), it's all 'bout moderation in both cases! Small scale, keep it local yokel! An' in a sense Tikkun Olam COULD be 'bout moderation in terms of "doin' good" close-by--eggzactly, helpin' yer neighbors, yer own fam, yer friends (jooish 'er naught)... an' that duz make the world a better place (leetle by leetle, small repairs make the structure stand a mite better). I'd argue that the diaspora helpin' Israel could be included in Tikkun Olam since it's "home" ;-) I think it's in the genes/jeans ta do a little tailorin'--a fix here, there, it looks bettah. But we don't have ta clothe the world!
As fer "Yenimsville"--ok, the ville I found is likely "velt" or from it, but I sawr that others online were equally bemused origin-wise (you'll see from pronunciation) because a lot of yiddish speakers used it an' nobuddy knows from where it came except it means "nowhereland/da boonies"...
1. "yenems" is the genitive masculine form of "yener", which roughly translates to "the other one" or "that one" (as opposed to 'this one', "doziker"). velt is world. yene velt means ~the otherworld (or: the distant world); yenems velt means ~the world of the other one.
2. יענע װעלט yene velt—the world to come, hereafter, a far away place
ville (town) vs velt (world) seems ta come from kinder mis'hearin' parents or "AmeriKanizin'" what makes sense?!
A commenter offered his own version of nowhereland which is hilarious: "kennishkocke!"
An' yup, nous devons cultiver nos propres jardins peut-être aidant nos voisins de temps en temps, mais Voltaire, certainement, n'a pas compris les juifs,* malheureusement, ni notre sens du devoir fraternel ;-) (francophile anywayz!)
I didn't intend to disparage the positive aspect of Tikkun Olam which certainly exists and deserves respect. I think we see eye-to-eye on that matter. But it's the negative aspect which is hardly ever noticed, so I harped away on that.
Yes, it's sad but true that Voltaire was a bit of a Jew-hater. But if I had to pull all the books off my shelves where some respected intellectual said incredibly mean and stupid stuff about the Jews, there would be lots of bare shelf space on my bookcases, and even the GoodWill stores don't want any more books these days cause there's only about a half dozen people left who actually read them.
Thanks for the erudite etymological breakdown of Yenimsville. I'm glad I asked. I never would have figured that out on my own. It brought to mind one of my favorite tunes by the Yeedles, with its melancholy refrain: "He's a real YenimsMensch living in a Yenimsvelt."
Zis iz troo! ve like Wagner an' fret not at all over "the Dickens"--full shelves, we accept the nasty bits cuz the cherce cuts are jus' too darn good ;-)... E.E. Cummings--an'nuddy one I recently larned 'bout. So in the same boat, a.k.a. "ve too"...
Now indeed ye didn't dis-peer-rage Tikkun Olam attal attal--I agree that the imModerate GOOD-DO-NIKS became fool-heart-y GoodDon'tNiks (or GoodEunuchs ta which I say nichts!) yeesh. I don't wreck-og-nize these folks... they didn't grow up with me. An' what did it all get 'em? Breakin' bread with the Weather Underground, yikes! I heard the Black Panthers took Lenny Bernstein fer quite the ride (much to the embare-ass-mint of many around 'im... similar de-loush-uns). In trooth, noboddy told joos ta save the woild... ta set a good example, yes! Like Hillel said, help yerself foist! (an' not just to the brisket!)
Ve cannot eat da "beetles" (so much fer the NWO dietary lawrs) but we do DO justice to the Beatles!
ps fwiw Batman "gits" it right--limitin' his heroism ta savin' Aunt Harriet, his pal Robin, & even with his high-tech 'e didn't stray beyond Gotham City Limits (standin' in fer Prague!). Caped Crusader was exceptional due ta lived trauma (his parents murdered...a nod ta WWII fer the writers Bob Kane & Bill Finger ) his schmart kopf--unique inventions in da bat cave! NOT bein' super human! (tho' Superman also saves locally--in Metropolis!)
No frets as my guitar gently sings about marshmallow skies and yellow submarines while U2 boats fly swastika pigs, but in Jerusalem all the Jew hatred melts away. As for those nasty intellectual antisemites (and there's no shortage of them) I like the response of someone who was asked: "What can say when you encounter Jew-hatred in a towering figure like Thomas Stearns Eliot"? Answer: "Fuck you, Tom."
On another, less discordant note, while we're discussing Beatles cover bands, I strongly suspect that you're familiar with the crème de la crème of this genre: The Rutles. But, if not, voila: https://youtu.be/ePaHG6g7uFw?feature=shared
lol re TSElliot to whom I'd say, "at KATZ's ya don't git ta cut the line--in"fect" you'll wait in bek an' no half-sour fer YOU rott'n Mr. Mistoffelees!"
An' Oh yessm, me an' mah goils are huge fans of The Rutles! (They're crackin' good brilliant as they'd say over the pond--which ain't so typical fer a cover band...but then again, they ain't yer average cover band at'all!) Love the moovie! ;-)
so I'm readin' my mornin' nooze which includes a lovely story 'bout the jooish fire fighters in NYC (a fraternal org) an' the leader mentions how every chew must "repair the world" an' again I went OY. This tall-muddy dict-tum has become a cudgel... Puttin' out fires at yer peril is indeed needed, a mitzvah, yer doin' good daily, locally as a FDNY member (no arguemint thar)--but ta pair this up with fixin' a "broken" world (which trooly "we" didn't break...ok a few've us may have helped :-( -- becomes a task impossible an' a guiltin' soul-gnaw nobuddy needs....
“Every Jew has this responsibility to heal the world. So we’re all drawn to the fire department, while still serving those roles of advocacy and camaraderie,” said Ner Tamid’s president, Deputy Chief Yonatan Klein."
THANKFULLY.... yer not the only one onta sumthin' here--sumbuddy wrote a book 'bout just this kinda mixed up "Kool Aid" (a drink that's neither "kool" nor "helpful!" of course)
I DO believe mebbe there's sumthin' to it cuz the "Left I Left!" seemed plagued with an "outbreak" of misdirected T.O. (still iz!) an' it's the Left that needs healin'! (ain't too cozy on da "Right" an' their ain't no "center")
It's a humbling experience to realize that the original insight you had and turned into an essay was already had by someone else seven years earlier who turned it into a book. Oh well, we're so damn deep in nested responses that probably no one will ever find out!
And, while we're here, I want to acknowledge just one of your eloquent phrases: "a guiltin' soul-gnaw nobuddy needs..." Wow, what a line that is! It's something that Lady Macbeth could have said at a Shakespeare Festival in Appalachia. It's taken me some time to gain proficiency in parsing your locutions and to appreciate some of your word-plays. Your prose style with its complex puns and multiple levels actually picks up where James Joyce left off.
Speaking of which, Marshall McLuhan loved to quote Joyce's response when a critic sneered that some of Joyce's puns were trivial. "Yes, some of them are indeed trivial. But others are fully quadrivial."
Thank you for sharing your essay which I very much enjoyed. My goal in what I wrote was not to disparage the good works that many undertake in the spirit of helping their fellow man. My intention was to call out the young fools who march under the banner of Tikkun Olam, literally and figuratively, while supporting the hate brigades who would happily destroy the Jewish people and Western civilization along with them.
I much admire the work you've undertaken in Baltimore. I actually put one foot into the neighborhood were you are based about 30 years ago. At the time, I was working on my Ph.D dissertation on Charles Baudelaire and Edgar Allen Poe, and I took advantage of the opportunity to visit Poe's former residence while I was on a business trip to DC. It was a rough neighborhood, to put it mildly. The taxi driver was uncomfortable even driving there, and after pointing out Poe's house, he was happy to get out of there.
On the other side of the ledger, I fell in love with downtown Baltimore. The waterfront area had been recently redeveloped and the restaurants and cafes were bustling with life. Street musicians performed along the wharf and crowds would gather to enjoy the performances. I remember being struck by how completely comfortable and casual black people and white people were hanging out together. We had nothing at all like that in San Francisco where I was living, nor in Newark, NJ, where I had grown up.
Based on the photo of you and the others in your cleanup crew, it looks like some elements of that interracial harmony have survived. Kol HaKavod for the work you are doing in your community to weave the webs of friendship in your neighborhood.
I appreciate your comments, Sam, and that you took the time to read my essay. I get that your writing style is different than mine, and your goal may be to provoke as a method of raising awareness. I, too, have been concerned about the way Jews are excluded from progressive spaces, and I'm very concerned about the reduction of Judaism to only social justice, whether it's called tikkun olam or (as I suggest) takhlit olam.
But I also think your conclusion offers a false choice:
"When Judaism is reduced to Tikkun Olam, we can join with others near and far who also subscribe to the universalist dream of making the world a better place. We can share interfaith prayer breakfasts, march together for worthy causes, donate money to alleviate suffering in distant lands. We can free ourselves from the myopic vision of concern with our own well-being, with our own ethnicity, with our own actual history and our national aspirations. All we have to give up to join the antisemitic universalist choir is our self-respect, our decency and our own identity as Jews."
I see no reason when we can't join interfaith prayer breakfasts and march together for worthy causes (as many of us did Shabbat afternoon against the tyranny of Donald Trump and his enablers) -- while also retaining our identity, self-respect, and our capacity to condemn antisemitic words and violence no matter the source. The ghetto has not been good for Jews, whether the walls are constructed by others or by ourselves. I for one want to be in the world and trying to make it better -- for them and for us.
Thanks again for engaging and wishing our people here and in Israel a safer today and tomorrow.
Forgive me, Rabbi, but when I read words like "the tyranny of Donald Trump and his enablers," I realize that there's no reasonable chance here for meaningful exchange. Your inability to recognize the greatness of Donald Trump and the historic importance of his passionate support of Israel and the Jewish people indicates to me a critical failure of vision and understanding that outweighs all the Tikkun Olam that you undertake, no matter how sincere.
Fair enough, Sam. I’m not enthusiastic about the possibilities for meaningful exchange in comments or social media threads anyway. I bet we could have a meaningful exchange over a cup of coffee or a beer. Oh well. Perhaps I’ll see you in shul someday.
True Christians know what is REALLY in the hearts of all men. True Christians know that this is a fallen world. True Christians also know that their faith is rooted in the Jewish God, His people and His scriptures!
Yes, Reform started out with some good ideas and intentions. But they do seem to have really lost track of the plot. If they had any sense, they would lay off the interfaith prayer breakfasts and stop saying Kaddish for the poor Hamas terrorists who have died. At least until the Pals release the hostages that they're still starving and tormenting. But clearly the Progressive do-gooders can't bring themselves to give up virtue signaling for such an extended period of time.
Progressivism is a cancer that has eaten away numerous religious denominations.
Brilliant. Our species evil-inclination has always been more potent than any of our good intentions.
Our Talmudic sages warned about this, when they admonished us to "until your dying day, never trust yourself". But, of course, every generation arises with its own innovations, convinced that this time around we can ignore the sages, invent the ultimate solution to humanity's problems, and move to achieve said solution by any means deemed necessary. Just as with your Tower of Babel analogy, now as then, the collateral damage in human lives matters to them who fancy themselves as humanity's saviors, not at all.
Most unfortunately for Jews, when a critical mass of us buys into these fantasies, it soon transpires that what the rest of the world means by ultimate solutions to the world's problems, is some version of the final solution to their problem with the existence of Jews anywhere in the world.
Thank you, Eve, for that painfully accurate insight: cleansing the world of all Jews is the antisemites' dream of Tikkun Olam. A chilling thought that will now be troubling my sleep. I wish it were not so, but I think you've clearly identified a primary motive force that inspires the hate brigades.
Welcome to my troubled sleep club, Sam. I'm not even sure if at this point the current frenzy of antisemitism can be reversed without an act of Divine intervention that's either seen by all as an unmistakable intervention, or otherwise crushes and confounds the evil that has arisen so triumphantly against us since that dreadful October 7th.
In the aftermath of what my parents and their families experienced during WWII, I have no basis for believing in or expecting salvation through miraculous divine intervention. However, I do put stock in a comment that I heard expressed by an Israeli warrior who commanded a tank squadron in battle: "When you put 100% of your effort into the struggle, God often adds an extra 20%."
I truly believe in God, and I also believe that, given the rules of the game, God only acts through us.
Both my parents having lost most of their families in the Holocaust, I dare not speak of it one way or the other. The subject of G-d and the Holocaust is best left to later generations, when the experience is not as raw as it still is to our generation.
Having been in Israel in the Six Day War, and having been studying Israel's history and current events ever since, I can't escape the conclusion that Israel's very existence, to say nothing of its phenomenal growth and thriving, despite all the internal and external enemies it faces, is -- as ever more Israelis are coming to realize these days -- due to nothing else but daily ongoing miracles.
This is not to belittle the daily sacrifices and amazing heroism of the every day Israelis who are coping with the daily challenges of the enemies without and being sold out to them by self-serving enemies within. I am in awe of these everyday heroes, both the ones that remain kind and generous through it all, as well as the ones I normally find too tough to deal with myself. If not for their collective sacrifices, our lives in the diaspora would be as unpleasant as those of our parents and grandparents had been before Israel's independence.
"Both my parents having lost most of their families in the Holocaust, I dare not speak of it one way or the other. The subject of G-d and the Holocaust is best left to later generations, when the experience is not as raw as it still is to our generation."
Eve, we have a lot in common and, quite probably, both wish that we had none of it in common. My parents's paths first crossed at Auschwitz, and then they found each other once again following the war—after having learned that their spouses and most of their families had been murdered. My father NEVER spoke of his experiences during the Holocaust with anyone apart from two anecdotes that he shared with me during his very last days. My mother, on the other hand, kept silent until the 1970s, but then began to share her stories far and wide wherever she was invited to speak: synagogues, churches, high schools and universities, organizations and other venues. She also gave recorded testimonials of her experiences to both the Spielberg Foundation and to Florida Atlantic University where they are archived along with those of other survivors who were willing to tell their tales.
I have the utmost respect for those who chose to keep silence. But I also have deep admiration for those who were able to speak. For my two daughters, more than synagogue attendance or Jewish summer camp, I think it was listening to their bubba's Holocaust interviews that convinced them deep in their bones that they were Jews.
"Both my parents having lost most of their families in the Holocaust, I dare not speak of it one way or the other. The subject of G-d and the Holocaust is best left to later generations, when the experience is not as raw as it still is to our generation."
Eve, we have a lot in common and, quite probably, both wish that we had none of it in common. My parents' paths first crossed at Auschwitz, and then they found each other once again following the war—after having learned that their spouses and most of their families had been murdered. My father NEVER spoke of his experiences during the Holocaust with anyone apart from two anecdotes that he shared with me during his very last days. My mother, on the other hand, kept silent until the 1970s, but then began to share her stories far and wide wherever she was invited to speak: synagogues, churches, high schools and universities, organizations and other venues. She also gave recorded testimonials of her experiences to both the Spielberg Foundation and to Florida Atlantic University where they are archived along with those of other survivors who were willing to tell their tales.
I have the utmost respect for those who chose to keep silence. But I also have deep admiration for those who were able to speak. For my two daughters, more than synagogue attendance or Jewish summer camp, I think it was listening to their bubba's Holocaust interviews that convinced them deep in their bones that they were Jews.
Absolutely, Sam. And I apologize for the misunderstanding. I did not mean that our parents should not have recounted their experiences, that was essential for record keeping. I just meant that for us, the next generation, it's too soon to try to make sense of it. Someday, two or three or more, generations later, they may be able to look back at it from the wider angle that passage of time enables, maybe, but for us, it's too close to home, so to speak. Our function, seems to me, is to make sure that our enemies don't succeed in making the world forget what it had done to the Jews and what blood curdling savagery "civilized" people are capable of. Most importantly, we must ensure that future generations of Jews don't forget.
Amen!
“The danger that lurks in the perilous quest to repair a broken world is inherent in its point of departure.
We are constrained to begin from a critical stance, i.e., what’s wrong with this picture? We are directed to focus all our attention on what needs to be fixed, changed, removed, destroyed. And we are exalted and inflated through our own self-selection as change-agents who are making the world a better place.”
Man, do those few sentences provide a fantastic springboard from which to make a truly deep dive!
I wish I could go further, but it’s late, I’m very tired, and my inclination to ‘elaborate’ would undoubtedly get the better of me tonight.
But I wanted to acknowledge and praise your work, and hope to explore several relevant points further in the near future.
In the meantime, may Adonai continue to bless, keep, guide, and prosper you!
Am Israel Chai!
One last comment, Sam;
From my perspective, you’ve come tantalizingly close to addressing the ‘root cause’ of this world’s tragic flaws and resulting ‘brokenness’. I can’t help wondering if you realize that, and are just holding back from ‘going there’ - or if you’re still grappling with various existential issues, seeking to come to a firmer conclusion and belief before doing so.
Regardless, you have piqued my interest, and I look forward to discovering more regarding your perspectives going forward.
G-d bless, Mike
Hi Mike! Thank you so much for your words of praise. You've also piqued my interest, and I'd love to hear more about what has engaged you so deeply in my essay.
For a more detailed exposition of my own beliefs about the nature of reality, human destiny, and our current struggles against our inhuman adversaries, please check out my recent book (on Amazon): "Paradigm Wars: A Brief History of Consciousness from the Insects to the Antisemites." I'll be very curious to know whether my conclusions align with what you anticipate.
In passing I was wondering where that statue of Christ is located, the one that you chose for your logo/avatar image? When it's expanded, it's quite an amazing work of art. When Christ is depicted with outstretched arms, it's almost always in the context of the Crucifixion. But here, the fully outstretched arms are extended by way of invitation, a loving, welcoming gesture. Wow!
Bought the book Sam, and look forward to reading it. In the meantime, I’ll just say you and I appear to be tracking together closely on many things - and you did well to make Aliyah…
By the way, what area of Israel are you living in?
G-d bless, Mike
Mike, feel free to keep me in the loop and share your thoughts with me as you make your way through my book. We do seem to have substantial areas of shared interest, and I look forward to fruitful conversation.
I made Aliyah last year, but I'm still dividing my life between Israel and Italy which I moved to about 20 years ago. In Italy I live in Tuscany, and in Israel Tel Aviv is home base. In Italy my friends occasionally correct my pronunciation of some less-than-common word; in Israel they endure my Hebrew politely and switch into English at the earliest opportunity.
It keeps me humble.
Just a note to tell you I’m making my way through the book Sam… I keep copying passages to a file for later comment but there’s so many so far that it’s looking like it’s going to take awhile. You make many excellent points, and there’s rich ground for fruitful discussion throughout. So far, I’ve only read several chapters but it seems we’re tracking even closer than I expected…
Wish we could sit and talk this through sometime later. If I have a windfall, perhaps another trip to Israel would be in order!
G-d bless, Mike
I really appreciate conversations on these themes which I find so deeply interesting, but there are very few folks in my little village in rural Italy who would have any idea what I'm talking about—either in English or Italian! :-)
So, please do get in touch when you feel inclined to discuss any of the topics that I've addressed in the book. Perhaps we could arrange a Zoom chat at a mutually time.
My best,
-Sam
Thanks for the message Sam; I will definitely check out the book! I went down with extraordinarily excruciating headaches after my original post and just up from that experience now, so I’ll revert further tomorrow. But that picture is from Rio de Janiero. I had a very eclectic career, starting in the Merchant Marine, fortuitously ‘shifted’ into Offshore Engineering, Construction, & Installation, then ended up working for Jeff Bezo’s Blue Origin. Now retired, but travelled extensively throughout my working career, with the added blessing of being able to spend time exploring in quite a few places, including Israel - which I love above all others.
Incidentally, I also spent time in the only other place with such a statute on top of a mountain overlooking the sea; Puerto Plata, in the Dominican Republic. (Lisbon has one as well, but on a large hill, rather than a mountain.)
More later…
G-d bless, Mike
I've since realized that I had an album that featured that image of Christ on its cover. So, clearly I looked at it many times. But I saw it for the first time the other day.
Glad to hear that your headache has passed!
My best,
-Sam
Tikun Olam or social justice is an ersatz substitute for traditional Jewish values and focusing on Tikun Olam produces young Jewish men and women who are grossly illiterate in traditional Jewish values but who have swallowed woke Kool Aid on issues of race gender and climate and who will march for Hamas
Thank you, Steven. You've summarized the key argument beautifully in a single sentence. Bravo!
I should have said that I think I saw this somewhere in one of the sefarim based on the Torah of RYBS
Steven, I'm not familiar with the acronym "RYBS." Would you kindly elaborate your comment?
I posted it to the wrong thread but RYBS is a web abbreviation for Rsbbi Joseph Ber Soloveitchik a leading Rosh Yeshiva at Yeshiva University who also wrote many articles on Jewish law and philosophy
Thank you!
Yes, I know lots of tikkun olam Jews. Sympathising with Hamas and ambiguous about Israel. Hinduism takes the view that every individual is on his/her own path of evolution towards liberation and ( as the Gita says) disturbing others by preaching to them and trying to change them is a big mistake. Judaism and Hinduism are both non conversion religions. But today unfortunately both have produced lots of people who don’t know much about or appreciate their religion and are trying to change the world. One of my Jewish friends used to say that idealists are the most dangerous people in the world.
Hi Ruth! I visited your site, read your essay "Killing Indifference," and subscribed directly to your substack. Your writing style is simple, honest and engaging. And, sufficiently so, that I decided to trust you as a guide to what is for me unfamiliar territory.
I know almost nothing about present-day India's political challenges, and even less about India's history. But, while living for many years in the San Francisco Bay Area, I had the good fortune to experience mind-blowing Indian music and dance performances, and the less-than-thrilling experience of collaborating with Indian programmers in the high-tech arena. :-)
India is the favorite travel destination for many of my Israeli friends, and I almost got there once myself before work and family began impinging on travel plans. The potential for fruitful alliance between Israel and India against common enemies intrigues me. You seem to have a foot in both the eastern and western worlds, So, I'm looking forward reading your dispatches and filling in some of the blanks!
Thank you so much for writing. Great to be in touch. The majority of Indians are Hindus and the majority of Hindus support Israel. Judaism and Hinduism have a lot in common despite the obvious differences. And India is one of very few places where Jews lived for centuries, along with Hindus, Muslims and Christians, but faced no persecution. Of course, that is changing now, thanks to importation of Jew-hatred by Islamists and leftists. I am a Hindu from India but have lived and taught at a university in the US for a long time. I moved here from India when I was 40 so half my heart is in India and I spend a lot of time in India. In America, most of my friends are Jews (not coincidentally, I think) and I am married to a Jew. Am going to visit Jerusalem in August. I've been to Tel Aviv briefly but not Jerusalem.
Tel Aviv is quite hot in August, but it should be a lovely time to visit Jerusalem. There's much to see but one highlight not to miss is the tour of the underground world that has been excavated in recent decades. Quite amazing!
Looking forward to reading your dispatches and learning more about Hindus and Jews and the things we hold in common.
Brilliant
Excellent piece. I once wrote a comment on a Vancouver gay man's posting who always castigates progressives for being antisemitic that his hammering away at them does not good because progressivism (i.e. tikkun olam) always leads to totalitarianism. He was aghast and continues to tilt against windmills. Very important what you wrote about taking time to see the wealth we have inherited instead of defacing paintings and banning classics. In sociology, my beloved master Niklas Luhmann constantly stressed the importance of seeing, of knowing from where you see what you see and of knowing as well that you cannot see what you cannot see. Needless to say, we followers of Luhmann are a minority cast into the outer Hebrides. And I especially liked your comment about the benefit of Jewish prayer, having started late in life to recite my morning prayers! Thanks for the post.
It's interesting that I also had two teachers along the way who stressed the importance of seeing: one was a retired Shakespeare professor who led poetry writing retreats, and the other was a psychologist who taught us how to work with dream images. I took what learned from them and applied it to working with Renaissance paintings and sculpture when I started leading tours in Italy. I wrote a book that I think would be right up your alley based on what you've shared about your work with your mentor. I focused on 15th century Florentine masterpieces that everyone looks at and no one sees. It's called "The Renaissance of Imagination" and it's on Amazon.
Given present circumstances I have shifted my focus from art to current events. But I'm just an old dog trying to apply the tricks I've learned along the way to new terrain.
Stephen, it would be lovely to have you as a neighbor to chat with over morning coffee. But I'm pretty sure you don't live in rural Tuscany, so that's not an option. Anyway, I'm very grateful to have such a thoughtful reader!
Excellent essay and analysis. Small edit - the phrasing of “to repair the world beneath sovereignty of God” - לתקן עולם במלכות שדי - is (to the best of my knowledge) in the Aleinu prayer that concludes the daily morning and evening worship and not the Amidah. Thank you for your writing and teaching !!
Thank you for the correction, Mark!
Thankfully I wuz spared the wurst reaper-cuss'uns of Tikkun Olam comin' from a very practical home an' fer reasons unknown, an' equally practical Reform temple.... where none'a this wuz pushed (bein' a "help" wuz good but it never extended to "Yenimsville!"
Thus, the golden rule was not, therefore, ta save the Whirled or even be CONcerned 'bout the misfortunes of every nayshun (even tho' I had ta clean my plate b/c childrin were starvin' in Chynna...which makes no sense...never did!)...BUT our own golden rule wuz DSD i.e. "do sumthin' dummy!"
DSD meant in the immediate...in a situation that affects you, yer fambly, yer neighbors (regardless of faith) an' of course yer fellow joos. In real life this 'splains why I'd stand by the kid that wuz bullied at skool, but wuz not all "ginned up" 'bout third whirled injustice (which soitenly wuz real). It 'splains why I--an' four other joos, made up 25% of the self-assembled team in our ol' Brooklyn neib fightin' ta stop the introoshun of a dangerous LPG pipeline ta pump fracked gas inta Canada--where it wuz legal (the creation of which also would'a closed local stores) an' / too, to fight a local toxin-spewin' superfund site on which (hold yer breath!) they wanted ta build a skool! All local concerns that affected me / my fam BUT in this velly non-jooish neib (Hispanic/Polish ta spessyfry), I find it funny as heck that somehow of about 20 puttin' in sweat-time ta address these velly real issues a quarter were joos!.... Wuz that Tikkun Olam? Wuz it just DSD? Dunno.
As a little kid I member puttin' pennies (pennies! soon ta disappear!) inta paper tubes fer my adorable gran'ma who went 'round the neib with her "Hadassa sisters" collectin' 'em for Israel. THIS wuz considered local! Israel wuz local (lol).
When we fail ta put our oxygen masks on first...we git the sad/sorry/shameful idiots with SO much empathy fer Gazas an' SO little fer their fella joos that they march ta destroy Israel (oy) an' depict the rest of us as bloodthirsty moidererz. From this (not frum this tho') comes Tikkun Olam at its worst. Like I said, it wuzn't a thang (thankfully) fer us/our fam tho' along the way I met some so-deluded/delooted. HOWEVER I do recall some Tikkun Olam connection with Purim...like makin' a food basket fer yer elderly neighbor who would not, otherwise, enjoy delicious hard dough (godferbid) in the form'a Hamantaschen or....schneken! (Life withouth schnecken would INDEED be sad!)
Let's hope the deluded (an' clearly delooted too as they always shell out fer their "causes") will realize their mission-mistaken an' return ta sanity. An' fer the rest of us, I think Do Sumthin' Dummy suffices just fine!
Words of wisdom, thank you, Miss Daisy! Life without schnecken would certainly be sad, but would help keep us from getting too big to squeeze into our britches. And that's not only a literal problem, but also sometimes a metaphorical one, as I've alluded to in this essay. Coincidentally, albeit irrelevantly, my mother once told me that, after emigrating to America, when she was first learning English, she always used to confuse "schnicken" and "chicken." To me there was a world of difference between the two and I couldn't fathom how she could possibly confuse them, but she swore up and down that it was so, and how can anyone argue with another person's choice of what confuses them? Now you'd be well within your rights to point out that "schnecken" and "schnicken" may look a lot like each other, but they too are worlds apart and as different as breakfast and dinner, so bringing schnicken into the conversation was hardly kosher. But I couldn't help myself.
Now that we have that out of the way, I'd just like to add that your family's practice of DSD certainly has points in common with Tikkun Olam. But as you have pointed out, size does matter. And scale too. Performing random acts of kindness in your neighborhood never hurt nobody, but rounding up the neighbors and getting them to kick the Jews or block rush-hour traffic for whirled peas—well, that's a horse of different color. My mother didn't speak French so she never read Voltaire or she probably would have agreed with his conclusions about do-gooderism: "Il faut cultiver nos jardins."
btw, where and what is "Yenimsville?" That sailed right over my head.
ha ha, wull I think when it comes ta schnecken & not gettin' too big fer our britches (that'd be gotkehs!), it's all 'bout moderation in both cases! Small scale, keep it local yokel! An' in a sense Tikkun Olam COULD be 'bout moderation in terms of "doin' good" close-by--eggzactly, helpin' yer neighbors, yer own fam, yer friends (jooish 'er naught)... an' that duz make the world a better place (leetle by leetle, small repairs make the structure stand a mite better). I'd argue that the diaspora helpin' Israel could be included in Tikkun Olam since it's "home" ;-) I think it's in the genes/jeans ta do a little tailorin'--a fix here, there, it looks bettah. But we don't have ta clothe the world!
As fer "Yenimsville"--ok, the ville I found is likely "velt" or from it, but I sawr that others online were equally bemused origin-wise (you'll see from pronunciation) because a lot of yiddish speakers used it an' nobuddy knows from where it came except it means "nowhereland/da boonies"...
https://www.reddit.com/r/Yiddish/comments/7kzklm/is_yemensvelt_a_yiddish_word/
These two seem kinda apt:
1. "yenems" is the genitive masculine form of "yener", which roughly translates to "the other one" or "that one" (as opposed to 'this one', "doziker"). velt is world. yene velt means ~the otherworld (or: the distant world); yenems velt means ~the world of the other one.
2. יענע װעלט yene velt—the world to come, hereafter, a far away place
ville (town) vs velt (world) seems ta come from kinder mis'hearin' parents or "AmeriKanizin'" what makes sense?!
A commenter offered his own version of nowhereland which is hilarious: "kennishkocke!"
An' yup, nous devons cultiver nos propres jardins peut-être aidant nos voisins de temps en temps, mais Voltaire, certainement, n'a pas compris les juifs,* malheureusement, ni notre sens du devoir fraternel ;-) (francophile anywayz!)
*puttin' it mildly!
I didn't intend to disparage the positive aspect of Tikkun Olam which certainly exists and deserves respect. I think we see eye-to-eye on that matter. But it's the negative aspect which is hardly ever noticed, so I harped away on that.
Yes, it's sad but true that Voltaire was a bit of a Jew-hater. But if I had to pull all the books off my shelves where some respected intellectual said incredibly mean and stupid stuff about the Jews, there would be lots of bare shelf space on my bookcases, and even the GoodWill stores don't want any more books these days cause there's only about a half dozen people left who actually read them.
Thanks for the erudite etymological breakdown of Yenimsville. I'm glad I asked. I never would have figured that out on my own. It brought to mind one of my favorite tunes by the Yeedles, with its melancholy refrain: "He's a real YenimsMensch living in a Yenimsvelt."
Too-da-loo for now!
Zis iz troo! ve like Wagner an' fret not at all over "the Dickens"--full shelves, we accept the nasty bits cuz the cherce cuts are jus' too darn good ;-)... E.E. Cummings--an'nuddy one I recently larned 'bout. So in the same boat, a.k.a. "ve too"...
Now indeed ye didn't dis-peer-rage Tikkun Olam attal attal--I agree that the imModerate GOOD-DO-NIKS became fool-heart-y GoodDon'tNiks (or GoodEunuchs ta which I say nichts!) yeesh. I don't wreck-og-nize these folks... they didn't grow up with me. An' what did it all get 'em? Breakin' bread with the Weather Underground, yikes! I heard the Black Panthers took Lenny Bernstein fer quite the ride (much to the embare-ass-mint of many around 'im... similar de-loush-uns). In trooth, noboddy told joos ta save the woild... ta set a good example, yes! Like Hillel said, help yerself foist! (an' not just to the brisket!)
Ve cannot eat da "beetles" (so much fer the NWO dietary lawrs) but we do DO justice to the Beatles!
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/xvzBJW0XdVo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vk3MkiOm79o (I love Bikel's cover!)
an' this band is SURPRISIN'LY GUT (a new meanin' of "longhairs!":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laFlmWtWxyM
too-da-loo back at'cha Sam
ps fwiw Batman "gits" it right--limitin' his heroism ta savin' Aunt Harriet, his pal Robin, & even with his high-tech 'e didn't stray beyond Gotham City Limits (standin' in fer Prague!). Caped Crusader was exceptional due ta lived trauma (his parents murdered...a nod ta WWII fer the writers Bob Kane & Bill Finger ) his schmart kopf--unique inventions in da bat cave! NOT bein' super human! (tho' Superman also saves locally--in Metropolis!)
No frets as my guitar gently sings about marshmallow skies and yellow submarines while U2 boats fly swastika pigs, but in Jerusalem all the Jew hatred melts away. As for those nasty intellectual antisemites (and there's no shortage of them) I like the response of someone who was asked: "What can say when you encounter Jew-hatred in a towering figure like Thomas Stearns Eliot"? Answer: "Fuck you, Tom."
On another, less discordant note, while we're discussing Beatles cover bands, I strongly suspect that you're familiar with the crème de la crème of this genre: The Rutles. But, if not, voila: https://youtu.be/ePaHG6g7uFw?feature=shared
And, if this tickles your fancy, the long extended play version is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEwySvgfwLE
lol re TSElliot to whom I'd say, "at KATZ's ya don't git ta cut the line--in"fect" you'll wait in bek an' no half-sour fer YOU rott'n Mr. Mistoffelees!"
An' Oh yessm, me an' mah goils are huge fans of The Rutles! (They're crackin' good brilliant as they'd say over the pond--which ain't so typical fer a cover band...but then again, they ain't yer average cover band at'all!) Love the moovie! ;-)
pps odd co-inkydink...
so I'm readin' my mornin' nooze which includes a lovely story 'bout the jooish fire fighters in NYC (a fraternal org) an' the leader mentions how every chew must "repair the world" an' again I went OY. This tall-muddy dict-tum has become a cudgel... Puttin' out fires at yer peril is indeed needed, a mitzvah, yer doin' good daily, locally as a FDNY member (no arguemint thar)--but ta pair this up with fixin' a "broken" world (which trooly "we" didn't break...ok a few've us may have helped :-( -- becomes a task impossible an' a guiltin' soul-gnaw nobuddy needs....
“Every Jew has this responsibility to heal the world. So we’re all drawn to the fire department, while still serving those roles of advocacy and camaraderie,” said Ner Tamid’s president, Deputy Chief Yonatan Klein."
https://unpacked.media/meet-the-jewish-fdny-firefighters-serving-as-a-bright-light-for-new-yorkers/
THANKFULLY.... yer not the only one onta sumthin' here--sumbuddy wrote a book 'bout just this kinda mixed up "Kool Aid" (a drink that's neither "kool" nor "helpful!" of course)
https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/book/to-heal-the-world-how-the-jewish-left-corrupts-judaism-and-endangers-israel
https://www.amazon.com/Heal-World-Corrupts-Judaism-Endangers/dp/1250160871
I DO believe mebbe there's sumthin' to it cuz the "Left I Left!" seemed plagued with an "outbreak" of misdirected T.O. (still iz!) an' it's the Left that needs healin'! (ain't too cozy on da "Right" an' their ain't no "center")
It's a humbling experience to realize that the original insight you had and turned into an essay was already had by someone else seven years earlier who turned it into a book. Oh well, we're so damn deep in nested responses that probably no one will ever find out!
And, while we're here, I want to acknowledge just one of your eloquent phrases: "a guiltin' soul-gnaw nobuddy needs..." Wow, what a line that is! It's something that Lady Macbeth could have said at a Shakespeare Festival in Appalachia. It's taken me some time to gain proficiency in parsing your locutions and to appreciate some of your word-plays. Your prose style with its complex puns and multiple levels actually picks up where James Joyce left off.
Speaking of which, Marshall McLuhan loved to quote Joyce's response when a critic sneered that some of Joyce's puns were trivial. "Yes, some of them are indeed trivial. But others are fully quadrivial."
No. But you can read a more useful analysis of Tikkun Olam here: https://open.substack.com/pub/theurbanrabbi/p/the-end-of-tikkun-olam?r=1i65pf&utm_medium=ios
Dear Rabbi Daniel,
Thank you for sharing your essay which I very much enjoyed. My goal in what I wrote was not to disparage the good works that many undertake in the spirit of helping their fellow man. My intention was to call out the young fools who march under the banner of Tikkun Olam, literally and figuratively, while supporting the hate brigades who would happily destroy the Jewish people and Western civilization along with them.
I much admire the work you've undertaken in Baltimore. I actually put one foot into the neighborhood were you are based about 30 years ago. At the time, I was working on my Ph.D dissertation on Charles Baudelaire and Edgar Allen Poe, and I took advantage of the opportunity to visit Poe's former residence while I was on a business trip to DC. It was a rough neighborhood, to put it mildly. The taxi driver was uncomfortable even driving there, and after pointing out Poe's house, he was happy to get out of there.
On the other side of the ledger, I fell in love with downtown Baltimore. The waterfront area had been recently redeveloped and the restaurants and cafes were bustling with life. Street musicians performed along the wharf and crowds would gather to enjoy the performances. I remember being struck by how completely comfortable and casual black people and white people were hanging out together. We had nothing at all like that in San Francisco where I was living, nor in Newark, NJ, where I had grown up.
Based on the photo of you and the others in your cleanup crew, it looks like some elements of that interracial harmony have survived. Kol HaKavod for the work you are doing in your community to weave the webs of friendship in your neighborhood.
My best wishes,
Sam Hilt
I appreciate your comments, Sam, and that you took the time to read my essay. I get that your writing style is different than mine, and your goal may be to provoke as a method of raising awareness. I, too, have been concerned about the way Jews are excluded from progressive spaces, and I'm very concerned about the reduction of Judaism to only social justice, whether it's called tikkun olam or (as I suggest) takhlit olam.
But I also think your conclusion offers a false choice:
"When Judaism is reduced to Tikkun Olam, we can join with others near and far who also subscribe to the universalist dream of making the world a better place. We can share interfaith prayer breakfasts, march together for worthy causes, donate money to alleviate suffering in distant lands. We can free ourselves from the myopic vision of concern with our own well-being, with our own ethnicity, with our own actual history and our national aspirations. All we have to give up to join the antisemitic universalist choir is our self-respect, our decency and our own identity as Jews."
I see no reason when we can't join interfaith prayer breakfasts and march together for worthy causes (as many of us did Shabbat afternoon against the tyranny of Donald Trump and his enablers) -- while also retaining our identity, self-respect, and our capacity to condemn antisemitic words and violence no matter the source. The ghetto has not been good for Jews, whether the walls are constructed by others or by ourselves. I for one want to be in the world and trying to make it better -- for them and for us.
Thanks again for engaging and wishing our people here and in Israel a safer today and tomorrow.
Forgive me, Rabbi, but when I read words like "the tyranny of Donald Trump and his enablers," I realize that there's no reasonable chance here for meaningful exchange. Your inability to recognize the greatness of Donald Trump and the historic importance of his passionate support of Israel and the Jewish people indicates to me a critical failure of vision and understanding that outweighs all the Tikkun Olam that you undertake, no matter how sincere.
Fair enough, Sam. I’m not enthusiastic about the possibilities for meaningful exchange in comments or social media threads anyway. I bet we could have a meaningful exchange over a cup of coffee or a beer. Oh well. Perhaps I’ll see you in shul someday.
May it be so. My best wishes!
All very nice but open your eyes and see what you’re doing in Israel. Genocide is not pretty. Displacing a people is not pretty.
Something is missing. Some Jews have no humanity.
True Christians know what is REALLY in the hearts of all men. True Christians know that this is a fallen world. True Christians also know that their faith is rooted in the Jewish God, His people and His scriptures!
Yes, Reform started out with some good ideas and intentions. But they do seem to have really lost track of the plot. If they had any sense, they would lay off the interfaith prayer breakfasts and stop saying Kaddish for the poor Hamas terrorists who have died. At least until the Pals release the hostages that they're still starving and tormenting. But clearly the Progressive do-gooders can't bring themselves to give up virtue signaling for such an extended period of time.