Dr. Juli Kramer is the Principal of Denver Academy of Torah (DAT) High School in Denver, Colorado and an Adjunct Professor in the Teacher Education Program at the University of Denver. Mrs. Naomi Lev is Assistant Principal and Director of Post-Secondary Guidance at Denver Academy of Torah (DAT) High School in Denver, Colorado.

Tikkun olam, literally defined as repairing or fixing the world, has come to refer to social action or hesed activities. Educating students about tikkun olam must be the start of a process of helping them to be aware of and understand social action, incorporating this knowledge into their sense of self and Jewish identity. By examining the meaning of this term, understanding its significance in Judaism, and applying the knowledge through service learning, educators have the opportunity to guide students on a journey of self-discovery to become thoughtful, caring Jewish people and productive members of society.

In the sixteenth century Kabbalist Isaac Luria coined the phrase tikkun olam to describe the role of Jewish people on this Earth. He taught that God created the world by designing vessels of light to hold His presence in this world. However, as He poured the light into the vessels, they shattered causing sparks to disperse throughout the world. The job of humans is to collect these shards, thereby repairing the world and bringing back God’s presence as a complete entity. This definition seems to indicate that tikkun olam is an individual’s responsibility, rather than simply a description of social policy protecting those less fortunate.

Another place we see these two words is in Aleinu (a prayer said three times a day) when we say, letaken olam bemalkhut Shaddai, translated as “to fix the world through the kingdom of God.” The combination of these three texts seem to indicate that tikkun olam is not only about social policy and repairing the world, but also about the importance of an individual doing mitzvot and avodat Hashem (service of God).

Schools sometimes offer a class on social justice, require community service hours in specific grades, or engage students in one-time experiences that embody these ideals. While these efforts are a great start to help students learn and grow, educators should begin to see them as a first step on the way to greater, more enriching experiences and knowledge. Students need to be guided on a journey of exploration, learning, identification, implementation, reflection, and then be supported to grow by integrating the ideals of tikkun olam throughout the curriculum. For the purpose of this article, we define tikkun olam as a collection of the three concepts described above and posit that, ultimately, tikkun olam is an individual responsibility to repair the world but also a fulfillment of avodat Hashem.

Repairing the world

One of the ways to accomplish this goal is for a school to implement a service-learning program. At Denver Academy of Torah High School, our students are engaged in a Chessed V’Avodah program to help foster this learning. As freshmen and sophomores, teachers guide students to begin to think about and engage in projects to help attend to needs in their communities. These communities are as narrow as the school and immediate Denver community, and as far-reaching as Jews across the country and around the world. Students and teachers analyze community needs, and discuss opportunities for meaningful interaction. Following each action, students process the experience with the participating teacher or group of teachers to help identify and understand individual student reactions to the experience.

Immediate communities

Within the school community, the students focus on care for the community space by recycling and taking on chores around the building. Caring for the physical space is one component, but also thinking about how we care for others is part of the school program. Open discussions help students cultivate strong individual relationships with one other, fulfilling the tenets of mitzvot bein adam lahaveiro. Learning to care for others, to create strong relationships with peers and faculty, and focusing on the school as a community help students internalize the concept of tikkun olam. As Isaiah 1:17 says, “Learn to do good. Devote yourselves to justice; aid the wronged…”

Students spend time focusing on the needs of the wider Denver community as well. The activities in which they’ve engaged allow them to learn more about different areas of needs, and to help them work with role models at a wide range of organizations. Some examples include bringing blankets to newborns in need at a local hospital, coordinating and participating in a multi-grade scavenger hunt to donate supplies to a women’s shelter, serving food to members of the homeless population in Colorado, helping with children living at poverty level in an after school homework program, and serving food at local shelters. More importantly, faculty members incorporate these activities into the curriculum, whether in Judaics or general studies courses. The more they do so, the more effective students are at shaping meaning and making connections. Getting at a deeper level of understanding comes through reflection, as we’ve learned from times when we’ve failed to support students with the reflection process. Only by talking about the significance of an action, or writing about it, do students begin to shape their self-concepts as caring, giving individuals with responsibilities to the community and God.

Finding a good fit

For some students, interacting with humans proves to be difficult, and hinders their ability to connect with the concepts of bein adam lahaveiro. To help students feel inspired and motivated to get involved, we make sure to provide a wide variety of activities. To that end students have painted homes for families that are homeless, planted trees, repaired walls, built bear boxes, cleaned a public park, and so much more. These activities are done in Colorado, Wyoming, and Israel. By engaging in lessons of tikkun olam, as seen through the lens of repairing the world, the students, regardless of where we travel, realize that these activities are part of being a caring, Jewish member of society. They are not stand-alone activities that have no intrinsic value, rather they are an integral part of being a Jewish person.

Through this diverse sampling of opportunities, students begin to recognize and appreciate the breadth of needs in a community. Teacher guided and independent reflection allows students to pinpoint comforts and discomforts when working with different populations. Some students recognize that working with people can be very uncomfortable, whereas working with animals feels like a better fit. Others learn that they enjoy getting into the dirt and working with their hands. One student commented, “Serving food in a homeless shelter was difficult for me, but I enjoyed being able to get dirty in the field picking potatoes for needy families.” Some students discover that for them it really was all about the social interactions with people. Through the experiences and discussions, students begin to recognize how to engage with the broader community in a way that focuses beyond the needs of a single teenager.

Individual responsibility

Drawing upon seeds planted during their freshmen and sophomore years, students research and select an organization to which they dedicate their time twice a month. In addition to identifying possible programs for which to work, students conduct research to broaden their understanding of why service learning is important. These reflective pieces serve as a springboard for conversations about community needs and the individual’s role in meeting those needs. One of the students, when describing his involvement in one avodat Hashem activity, began to realize the strength of his personal involvement and writes, “I felt a sense of accomplishment…I wasn’t standing on the sidelines, waiting for something to happen.” The students realize that their actions are vital in making a difference. The person lies at the heart of tikkun olam, an individual taking personal responsibility to meet social needs, fulfilling the service of God, and repairing the world to be a place worthy of the light and presence of God. “One who gives generously ends with more” (Proverbs 11:24).

Avodat Hashem

Avodat Hashem, serving Hashem, can be accomplished through tefillah, Torah learning, and observance of mitzvot. We focus on mitzvot and how to develop and cultivate individual responsibility for our maturing teenagers. Schools have an opportunity to help guide children and teenagers to incorporating avodat Hashem into their sense of Jewish self.

Building avodat Hashem with adolescents

Although adolescents in the United States exhibit a wide array of positive strengths, as a rule they tend to focus inward on what they need or want. They generally have a lack of awareness in regards to their community, including its needs and challenges. Helping adolescents to broaden their gaze at this time, to instill the values of tikkun olam as they develop their Jewish identities emerges as a critical, sometimes challenging, but exciting opportunity. At this stage of development, students start to think more abstractly, seeing shades of gray versus black and white. They still need adult guidance to help them make decisions, even while they tend to resist and argue about adult recommendations. It’s a delicate dance between opening up opportunities and honoring their burgeoning sense of self while providing just the right amount of support.

Integrating tikkun olam across the curriculum through hands-on experiences, allows us to communicate to students how and why tikkun olam matters, and that it’s not an add-on. We guide students to see its value. Allowing them to get involved and active with different projects, we help them find their voice about how they want to help others. Also through this process, students see over and over how others dedicate their lives to myriad causes, gathering the shattered shards to serve God and make the world whole. They feel inspired and empowered to be change agents, no matter how seemingly small the actions they take. Additionally, by rooting this learning in students’ daily lives and studies, they understand how important this idea is in general and to their Jewish identity specifically.

However, only taking action falls short of achieving an understanding of how their efforts serve God. Written reflections help students think more deeply about the process. Sometimes they may write that what they are doing is pointless, and in fact students may truly not see the value at this time in their lives. Other times they are extraordinarily impressive with the deep, heartfelt passion that overflows from their words. After assisting volunteers at organizations – one a wolf sanctuary and another an organization that helps homeless families – one of students wrote this moving reflection:

There are many types of inspiration and we experienced almost every one. The silent inspiration of marveling at the beauty of nature; feeling a connection to another creature, and seeing its strength and beauty; watching volunteers work tirelessly for others; feeling a powerful connection to G-d while thanking Him for the blessings that you have just begun to realize and appreciate; seeing people’s resilience even in the hardest situation; and, for me, looking into the eyes of a nine-year-old who has experienced more hardship than anyone should ever have to in a lifetime and seeing her smile at me. That is inspiration. (Freshman student, 2010)

Both types of reflection serve the important purpose of uniting where students are at this moment to their potential. These reflections should be directed on occasion, helping students focus on topics that might not be foremost on their minds. For example, asking them to reflect on the passion of the adults with whom they worked brings up a different set of ideas than if they only look at their own responses and commitment. Querying students about how the organization or people involved reflect Jewish values might get at the heart of the lesson, versus keeping it on the fringes.

Building avodat Hashem at the elementary school level

Although we describe a high school model, using tikkun olam to help fashion students’ Jewish identity can, and should, begin even in elementary school. Children show signs of empathy from very early ages, making it possible for educators to set up opportunities for them to learn how to care for the world and make a difference. Direct, tangible relationships prove important for younger children. They should be able to see clearly the problem they are going to address; they should then see how their actions addressed part, or all, of the problem. For example, if the park where they play on the weekends has a problem with trash, students could see the trash (the beginning problem) and how clean the park looks after they pick it up (the end result of their actions). If they learn about children in their community, or some other place in the world, who do not have shoes, seeing pictures of these children and hearing what life is like without safe footwear would help make the problem tangible. Holding a shoe drive would then help them see a specific number of shoes collected, a definite solution. Ideally, getting pictures of the children with the donated shoes would help students make an even stronger connection. The key is to identify authentic problems that student actions can help solve directly.

Attaching these types of student efforts to Jewish texts is critical when striving to build Jewish identity and works best through stories. What similar problems and solutions happened in Tanakh, Talmudic sources, or throughout Jewish history that could inspire the students? How are they continuing a legacy of tikkun olam? Equally important, teachers must help tell the story of the students’ efforts. Whether making a photo album or book with captions or having students create a skit to tell the story, students need to recognize and celebrate the concrete impact of their work. Relating these “storytelling” components back to the Jewish texts helps them see a direct link and begins assimilating tikkun olam into their budding Jewish identities.

To illustrate this concept, consider this example: A teacher is teaching her elementary school students about hakhnasat orhim (welcoming guests) through the lens of Abraham. Students then invite less fortunate neighbors to their classroom for a feast. Students in this setting have now learned that concepts from Jewish texts are relevant to their lives and they are being guided towards incorporating these lessons into their understanding of being a Jewish person.

Ideas on how to get started

Some practical suggestions to help your school begin to implement a culture of tikkun olam and service learning include:

• Have students keep a journal for two weeks jotting down ideas they notice about needs in the community. This can be done through guided writing assignments and observations. For younger students, teachers may lead the process for the entire class, allowing students to talk about needs they see or ones identified by the teacher.
• Partner with a local organization to identify needs and how your students can help fill them. Older students can conduct research on their own, whereas teachers will have to do so for younger children. Websites that match organizations and volunteers might be helpful to generate ideas.
• Start a Hesed va-Avodah club. Students can come together to participate in semester long, year long, or one-time projects to help build awareness and commitment. Students at all levels could participate in a club; the level of teacher involvement and guidance would change depending on developmental needs.
• Teachers are a great resource of creativity and inspiration. Have each teacher commit to carrying out at least one hesed va-avodah project with his or her class, or classes.
• Some specific ideas to jump start your process:
  • Is there a local park that you could adopt to clean?
  • Is there a food bank nearby that needs donations? Some food banks will open their doors for students to personally stock the shelves.
  • Would a local soup kitchen need volunteers for cooking and/or serving?
  • Does a local branch of Tomchei Shabbat (an organization which delivers food to needy Jewish families) need volunteers?
  • Is there a local animal shelter that needs student volunteers?
  • Could students volunteer or participate in social activities with local children who are sick or who have special needs?
  • Contact a local nursing or assisted living home to find out what their needs are. Do residents want to learn Skype or e-mail? Can students interview residents and record oral histories?
  • Is there a city or community farm or garden that needs help?

May we all merit to inspire our students to live generously, demonstrating kindness for others, and gathering the shards of light through individual and communal action. “If you have done a big kindness for your neighbor, let it be to your eyes a small matter” (Avot deRabbi Natan 1:41).