Tikkun Olam

G'milut Chasadim is one of BJBE's five core values. It is the Jewish obligation to give away three things: time (to make the world a better place), money (to ease someone's pain), and kindness (to heal a world that is broken).  In keeping with Reform Judaism's long tradition of tikkun olam (healing the world), BJBE pursues a variety of both social action and social justice activities that have a positive impact on our local communities and across the country. 

Social Action and Social Justice: Distinct but Complementary

Social action meets the world where it is, with love and sandwiches. It provides critical assistance to those experiencing troubles. Social justice is transforming the world as it is into the world as it ought to be. It seeks to address and remove the root of the troubles.

Social justice’s power is created through building relationships, strengthening communities, creating alliances with other across lines of difference, and forming coalitions. Issue campaigns can include many components including, phone calls, emails, lobbying, and advocacy.

You have likely heard the saying, “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.” A modified version shows how social action and social justice complement each other: “Give a person a fish, so she can eat today, and then go petition the owner of the lake for the right to fish whenever she wants."

Social justice is about changing the rules of the game, to make them fairer for everyone.