The beauty of Judaism lies in the moral code it offers the world, not in progressive advocacy.
Hillel's institutional priorities tell a similar story. Each year, the Hillel International General Assembly presents an Exemplar of Excellence Award to employees
"whose remarkable passion and outstanding devotion to the Jewish campus community sets a standard for all to emulate." In 2024, the award went to a rabbi whose professional biography highlights her coordination of
"Jewish social justice education programs."
At the same time, Hillel International's Jewish Sensibilities: An Interactive Guide-intended as a manual for campus educators-does not mention
"Zionism" even once. Yet its chapter titles include
"Jews and Social Justice: A Covenant of Responsibility" and
"Tikkun Olam: Can We Repair a Broken World?" The prominence of tikkun olam reflects a distinctly American, progressive reinterpretation of Judaism. The concept speaks to cultural illiteracy because the term is not central to Judaism, and it does not, in fact, even appear in the Bible. Its likely origin in the Aleynu prayer-l'taken olam b'malchut shaddai (
"to establish/fix the world under the kingdom of God")-concerns the rejection of idolatry, not social-justice activism.
The beauty of Judaism lies in the moral code it offers the world, not in progressive advocacy. And Judaism certainly did not survive millennia of persecutions by neglecting education or by following whatever happens to be in fashion.
Christopher L. Schilling is a lawyer and political scientist and the author of The Japanese Talmud: Antisemitism in East Asia (Hurst) and The Therapized Antisemite: The Myth of Psychology and the Evasion of Responsibility (De Gruyter).
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