Posted on 01/16/2006 11:10:45 AM PST by Sabramerican
Healing an injured phrase
Rabbi Avi Shafran
"One of the 613 Mitzvot is 'tikkun olam,' to heal or repair the world," declares the Social Action Committee of a Massachusetts temple. The assertion is characteristic of the widespread ignorance these days about Jewish basics, not to mention the misrepresentation of the term tikkun olam.
There are indeed 613 mitzvahs, or religious duties, in the Torah, but none of them is tikkun olam — a phrase that, of late, is as frequently invoked (Google reports 226,000 references) as it is erroneously defined.
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.. , Maimonides informs us, there is yet another meaning to tikkun olam, the authorization of a nation's leader to do whatever is necessary, "according to the needs of the time" — even suspend the ordinary rules of evidence in capital cases — to preserve the security of his society from those who seek to disrupt it.
No Jewish king exists today but, still — in the spirit of liberal-mindedness — we might engage in a little "expansion of definition" ourselves and consider how the Maimonidean concept of tikkun olam might pertain to our own society, leaders and times.
Reasonably, it would seem to advocate the right, in fact the responsibility, of the chief executive of a country threatened by murderous elements to take strong and unusual action to undermine those enemies of civilized society — even if some personal rights may be compromised in the process.
So, interestingly, the concept of tikkun olam would seem to argue most eloquently today for things like, say, the imprisonment of enemy combatants, secret wiretaps, surveillance of citizens.
It might not please those who enjoy waving tikkun olam like a flag, but the concept, accurately applied, would seem to more heartily support the Patriot Act than a ban on Alaskan oil drilling.
(Excerpt) Read more at jewishworldreview.com ...
Poor liberals, foiled by facts again.
Bush could do a lot worse than have RamBam has an advisor.
Interesting. This corresponds with the duty or responsibility of the person whom Protestant theologians usually call the "magistrate"--king, president, ruler, responsible official--to protect the people, by force if necessary.
The magistrate is portrayed as wielding the sword of justice and holding the scales of justice. The sword represents the power of the magistration to punish criminals and protect citizens by keeping order.
The magistrate also has the power to declare a just war, in order to defend citizens against unjust enemies.
St. Paul says something to the effect that all citizens should obey the "powers that be," because the power that be are of God. That is, appointed, elected, or annointed rulers hold their offices with the power and permission of God, as long as they act justly.
The term "Tikun Olam" is universally (and erroneously) used by Jewish liberals as a supposed obligation of Jews to engage in leftwing political action. The most egregious misuser of this term is Michael Lerner, who has named his entire leftwing movement "Tikkun."
Jews who use this term that way simply do not know what they are talking about. There is no such obligation in the Torah, the Talmud or anywhere else.
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But wasn't Paul necessarily referring both to the Herodian kings, who certainly weren't anointed in the Biblical sense like Saul and David, and to the emperors of Rome? Whose imperium wasn't godly, but borne on the shields of their legions.
It's amazing that any liberal would advocate "repairing" the world, when the world is the result of random meaningless chance and thus cannot ever be said to be broken in the first place (in fact, we're lucky we're here at all).
At that point, the authority of the Scriptures, given by the breath of God Himself, have the supreme and overriding authority and must be followed even if it means rebelling against the earthly authority, as when the Maccabees drove out Antiochus Epiphanes or when the early Christians refused to bow down to or burn incense to or otherwise worship the image of Caesar, even though it meant their deaths.
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