Woven tenderly into the spiritual tapestry of Judaism is the mending thread of tikkun olam, a phrase which has to do with repairing the world, making things better for the whole human family and all creation.
Tikkun olam, a call to care for the common good, what the singer/songwriter Iris DeMent calls, “Workin’ On a World.”
As an identifiable phrase, tikkun olam appears to be around 2,000 years old. But the spirit the phrase names is evident as early as that familiar moment in the creation story when God is reported to have declared humans perpetually responsible for the continuing care of the whole creation (Genesis 1:26-28), a general call to care that soon becomes very specific when, for example, we are instructed in Exodus 23:9 to be especially hospitable to immigrants and in Leviticus 19:9, where the people of God are told to leave the edges of their fields and vineyards for those who are living in poverty. Leviticus 19:18 summarizes the spirit of tikkun olam with the Great Commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” reinforced soon after by Leviticus 19:34, which says, “You shall love the immigrant as yourself.”
Chuck Poole
Then comes Leviticus chapter 25, which must be among the most tikkun olam chapters in all of Scripture, calling, as it does, for the sabbath season of a jubilee year when rest and relief are provided for the whole creation and the whole human family, a passage that includes the humbling reminder in Leviticus 25:23 that, “Porque toda la tierra del mundo pertenece a Dios, en los ojos de Dios todos somos inmigrantes.” Or, “Because all the land in the world belongs to God, in the eyes of God we are all immigrants.”
Then comes Deuteronomy 15:7-11 (from which Jesus quotes in Matthew 26:11, Mark 14:7 and John 12:8) which says that since “the poor will always be with us” we must ever open our hearts in compassion and our hands in generosity. Followed by Deuteronomy 24:14,which calls for laborers to be fairly compensated and Deuteronomy 27:19,which calls us to sit down with and stand up for those who are most vulnerable and voiceless.
These are just a few of the many Torah voices that embody the original spirit of the eventual phrase tikkun olam.
Beyond the Torah, there are of course the prophets, calling the people of God to tend and mend, live and love, walk and work in the compassionate way that eventually came to be called tikkun olam. Isaiah 1:17 says, “Seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan and plead for the widow.” Isaiah 56:1-7 intentionally and specifically includes in the family of God all people previously excluded for being sexually different (“eunuchs”) and ethnically different (“foreigners”). Isaiah 58:6-10 calls the people of God to a life of active empathy for and solidarity with those who are unhoused, those who are without adequate nutrition and those who suffer beneath the weight of injustice. Amos 5:24 calls for a world where “justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” Amos 8:4-7 demands an end to the oppression of those who live in poverty. And, of course, that simple summary sentence which so completely captures the essential spirit of tikkun olam, Micah 6:8 — “What does the LORD require of us but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with our God?”
“The tikkun olam way of kindness and justice, mercy and care has a close cousin in the Hindu principle of Ahimsa.”
Although the phrase tikkun olam rises from and belongs to Judaism, the tikkun olam way of kindness and justice, mercy and care has a close cousin in the Hindu principle of Ahimsa, which calls people of faith to live lives of empathy for and solidarity with the whole human family. Islam says something similar when the Quran commands kindness and care for neighbors and strangers alike. Sikhism also has its own version of tikkun olam, admonishing Sikhs to practice the virtue of Vand Chakna, selfless care for all others.
And, of course, for Christians that tikkun olam kind of life is most fully embodied in the words and works of Jesus, a Jew who may or may not have used the phrase tikkun olam but who, according to the four Gospels, lived each new day in that world-mending way, sitting down with and standing up for whoever was most vulnerable and voiceless, ridiculed and excluded, marginalized, ostracized, victimized, stigmatized, demonized and dehumanized, overlooked, left out, hurting and alone.
Jesus, spending his life and giving his life in that world-embracing, creation-healing, tikkun olam way; embodying the relentless, boundless love of God for the whole human family and all creation. Jesus, living as he died and dying as he lived, arms out as wide as the world in a boundless embrace of healing grace for the whole human family and all creation.
Across the Christian centuries, evolving Christian doctrine has made Jesus primarily about a problem (our sinful alienation from God) and how to fix it (Jesus’ atoning sacrifice to God). But to read the four Gospels is to know that Jesus was primarily not about a problem and how to fix it but a life and how to live it, a love and how to give it.
“To read the four Gospels is to know that Jesus was primarily not about a problem and how to fix it but a life and how to live it.”
Which is why the people in our lives who are the most serious about trying to follow Jesus so often become so predictable, in that repair-the-world, heal-the-hurting, love-the-neighbor, welcome-the-stranger, tikkun olam kind of way.
Here is something the world needs to understand about people who are serious about trying to follow the Jesus of the four Gospels: When we stand up for immigrant people by standing up against mass deportation and family separation, it isn’t because we have made an ideological decision to be progressive; it’s because we have made a spiritual decision to follow Jesus.
When serious Jesus followers keep lobbying, year after year, for full Medicaid expansion so no family is left to struggle and suffer in the health care coverage gap, that is not a politically partisan red or blue thing but a morally clear right and true thing.
When Jesus followers oppose Christian nationalism’s culture war quest for political power and cultural hegemony, it isn’t in spite of the fact that we are serious Christians but because we are serious Christians.
When Jesus followers stand against the oppressive signs and symbols of white supremacy, that isn’t political correctness, that is gospel correctness, Jesus correctness, Holy Spirit correctness.
When Jesus followers implore governors and lawmakers to please not make life harder for nonbinary people and to treat gay people and straight people absolutely equally, that isn’t wokeism, it’s baptism.
All of which finds its spiritual home all the way back in Micah 6:8, “What does the LORD require of us but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with God?”
“People of all faiths whose lives are most fully, deeply, prayerfully open to the spirit of God eventually become so beautifully predictable.”
And in Leviticus 19:18, “Love your neighbor as yourself” and Matthew 7:12, “Treat all others as you wish all others to treat you.”
All of which is looking forward to and working quietly for the promise of Acts 3:21, which promises “the universal restoration” of all things, the world mended, repaired, healed and whole — all of which travels in that beautiful old phrase, tikkun olam.
Which helps explain why people of all faiths whose lives are most fully, deeply, prayerfully open to the spirit of God eventually become so beautifully predictable. When we hear of or read about some new injustice or unkindness, exclusion or discrimination, xenophobia or persecution, we don’t ever have to wonder how those whose lives are most filled with the Spirit will respond. We already know exactly where they will stand: on the side of kindness and courage, welcome and blessing, compassion and justice, mending and repair. That is what they do because that is who they are.
Their God is love. Their creed is kindness. Their default position is empathy. They are the world menders who, to borrow a phrase from the synagogue, get up every morning and live a tikkun olam kind of life.
Until tomorrow, when they will get up and do the same all over again.
Chuck Poole retired in 2022 after 45 years of pastoral life, during which he served churches in Georgia; North Carolina; Washington, D.C.; and Jackson, Miss. He has served as a visiting preacher and teacher on the campuses of multiple universities, seminaries and divinity schools. He was the founding teacher of the Wood Street Bible Class in Jackson, which he led for 21 years. The author of nine books, numerous published articles, one gospel song and the lyrics to three hymns, Chuck has served as a “minister on the street” and as an advocate for interfaith conversation and welcome. He and his wife, Marcia, now live in Birmingham, where he serves on the staff of Together for Hope.
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