Posted on July 31, 2011
An important point that is brought up by Eric Yoffie, in his response to Joel Alperson, titled “Judaism is always ‘tikkun olam’ and more,” is that, “Anyone who has urged college students to care about Jewish survival knows that they will respond with indifference, incomprehension and contempt. They are not interested in being Jewish so that we can survive. They need to hear the opposite message: Jews do not observe Torah in order to survive; they survive in order to observe Torah. And — this is they key for such students, and for most North American Jews — observing Torah means much more than worrying only about our own souls.” Reaching out to fellow Jews must be in a way that is relevant to them. Telling college students about surviving for the sake of surviving in the future doesn’t always make sense to them or seem relevant to their own lives. Judaism must be relevant to a person’s life and working in the community and doing tikkun olam is a great way for anyone, including Jews to feel meaning and purpose in their lives.
