75: Does Tikkun Olam Mean What You Think?

The PloughCast

Zohar Atkins discusses the real meaning of tikkun olam. Susannah and Zohar discuss the contemporary progressive vision of this idea, which means (or does it?) “to repair the world.” Where did that contemporary interpretation come from? And what was the original meaning?

They go through the Rabbinic concept of Tikkun as equity, as a kind of emergency legal decree to be used when the law as written would lead to socially destructive outcomes. They discuss the mystery of how this legal concept became the contemporary vision of Tikkun olam as, essentially, a progressive vision of social justice.

Zohar gives a brief description of the development of Rabbinic Judaism after the fall of the Second Temple in 70 AD, and relates it to the later development of the Jewish mystical tradition of Kabbalah.

Then they discuss the progress of the idea of Tikkun olam through the Kabbalistic tradition, when Tikkun becomes an endeavor to repair the shattered world.