We cannot, he says, both insist that tikkun olam and social justice are central and also embrace serious Jewish education and Jewish practice. But we can, and in fact, we must. To do one without the other is to retreat from the world and distort Judaism’s very essence.
http://www.jta.org/news/article/2011/08/01/3088799/op-ed-judaism-is-always-tikkun-olam-and-more
Suggested Discussion Questions:
1. Why might someone believe that social justice and Jewish education and practice cannot both be central parts of one’s Jewish identity?
2. Why does Rabbi Yoffie disagree with this belief? Why are Jewish practice and social justice work both central to one’s Jewish identity?
Time Period: Contemporary (The Yom Kippur War until the present-day)