Tikkun Olam Mediation
Tikkun Olum is a concept in Judaism translated means “To repair or heal the world.” Mediation can be part of social justice. From time to time I will add to this section stories and questions that raise the issue of Tikkun Olum.
The Three Children
Mr. Goldsmith is a fiction, but we will pretend that he was a leading Jew in this community and that he died last week.
I have before me the will of the late Simon Goldsmith, I am his attorney and I must, in the presence of his three children, read you his will: “Know all by those present that I, Simon Goldsmith, being of sound mind and testamentary capacity, do hereby make and publish this following instrument and direct the following disposition of my property. My entire estate shall be given to whichever one of my children shall be deemed to be the best Jew. My attorney shall select a committee of representative Jews to make this determination. If the committee cannot agree or finds that none of my children is worthy to be called a good Jew, the money shall be divided among reputable Jewish and general charities.”
Richard, the eldest, owns a sports equipment manufacturing company. He became particularly wealthy when, years ago, he closed down his factories in the United States, which had employed 12,000 workers, and moved them to Pakistan. The newspaper has charged that he pays subnormal wages there and uses child laborers as young as eight years old. He is wealthy and is the largest single contributor in his community to the UJA and to the synagogue. He has endowed a generous scholarship fund at the nearby UAHC camp to subsidize children who cannot afford to pay for camp. He and his wife have three children. They go the temple regularly, and the children attend religious school and join in celebrating the Sabbath and Jewish holidays at home and in the synagogue.
When questioned about his business, he said: “Look, business deals with the bottom line, not social justice. A global market means producing goods as cheaply as possible and in order to compete and survive. Business is business and I am not Mother Teresa.
Rachel is a lawyer who once worked for the Legal Aid Society (which provides free legal assistance to poor people) and recently became counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union, defending the rights of minorities: African-Americans, the disabled, and gays and lesbians. Rachel is an atheist and so is her husband, Mark, a teacher in an inner-city public school. She explains that when she was small, her best friend was hit by a car and Rachel prayed desperately for her life to be saved. When she died, Rachel decided there was no God and refused to go to the temple or to pray any longer. Her two children, therefore, do not go to religious school.
At the same time, Rachel and Mark are passionate supporters of Israel generally and have been particularly strong supporters of efforts to help Ethiopian Jews settle in Israel. They raise large sums for Jewish causes. While they do not send their children to religious school, by their example they try to inculcate a love of Israel and of social justice in their children. They are personally generous, inasmuch as their income is supplemented by large gifts of stock from Richard and his company, and they support a vast number of Israeli and social justice causes.
Harry, the youngest son, is a scholar, teacher, and writer on Jewish themes. An inspiring teacher, he has enriched the Jewish lives of countless students at the congregation. He is married to a non-Jewish woman who remains actively committed to her own religion. They do not have children yet and are not certain in what religion they will raise them when they do have children. A serious person, Harry has read the Bible in its entirety five times and reads Jewish literature extensively. He writes a column in the local Jewish newspaper. In one such column, he challenged his brother: “I believe the essence of Jewish life is to do justly. Therefore, although I love my brother, I believe that exploiting children in sweatshop conditions is irreconcilable with Jewish values and that one identified with this evil should publicly disavow such endeavors and end these policies.”
Richard has not spoken to Harry since this episode. Harry's wife also disapproved of his action: “I thought that love of family was the most important Jewish value. And as you are so morally pure, how come we accepted money from Richard's stocks up until now and you never opened your mouth until it became a hot public issue?”
You need to decide. Which, if any, of the three children deserves the inheritance? Why?
Written by Vorspan & Saperstein from the book “Jewish Dimensions of Social Justice”