tikkun olam
Pronunciations
Definitions
n. "Repairing (the) world," making the world a better place through volunteering, social justice work, and philanthropy.
n. Kabbalistic concept of mystically repairing the fabric of the world through the performance of mitzvot.
Example Sentences
"Helping the needy is an act of tikkun olam."
Languages of Origin
- Textual Hebrew
Etymology
תיקון עולם
- Religious: Jews who are engaged in religious observance and have some Jewish education
- Organizations: People involved in a professional or volunteer capacity with Jewish nonprofit organizations
- North America
- South Africa
- Australia / New Zealand
- The JPS Dictionary of Jewish Words, by Joyce Eisenberg and Ellen Scolnic, (Philadelphia, 2001).
- Dictionary of Jewish Usage: A Popular Guide to the Use of Jewish Terms, by Sol Steinmetz (Lanham, MD, 2005).
Who Uses This
Regions
Dictionaries
Alternative Spellings
tikun olam
Notes
The modern meaning came into usage among progressive American Jews in the 1970s and became widespread in the 1990s. See history of the word in rabbinic texts here: (source) and in Jill Jacobs' book There Shall Be No Needy.
Edit Something missing from this entry? Inaccurate? Feel free to suggest an edit.