Lesson video

Hello there.

My name is Mr. Robertson.

I absolutely love RE, and I'm really, really excited to be working and learning with you today.

We've got a fantastic lesson today.

It's part of our big inquiry question, changing world.

how should the Earth's resources be used? And this question is all about how do different worldviews respond to ideas of the climate crisis and the environment.

In this lesson, we're gonna be focusing on the Jewish concept of Tikkun Olam and its role of personal responsibility.

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to explain the Jewish principle of Tikkun Olam and how it encourages personal responsibility to help fix the world.

We have three key words in our lesson today.

Our first words are Tikkun Olam, and these are Hebrew words and it's the Jewish value of fixing or repairing the world.

Our second words are personal responsibility, and that means doing your part to make the world better.

And our final words are steward or stewardship, and this is the idea of a duty of care for God's world or being a responsible carer.

By the end of this lesson, I'm really confident you will be able to use these words and understand their meaning.

So this lesson asks, the first part of the lesson asks the question, what is Tikkun Olam? So this lesson is a philosophy lesson, and we're going to be using the tools of philosophy to help us understand a bit more about this concept.

What do we mean about using philosophy in RE? Well, Sofia says, "Philosophy is interested in what we know and how we know it.

Philosophers ask questions about how people think or reason and how we can know what is true or real.

We can better understand worldviews by using philosophical tools like thought experiments, critical thinking, and reasoning." And what does that mean for this lesson? Well, in this lesson, we're going to look at the idea of personal responsibility and how Jews use the idea of Tikkun Olam to argue we should try to repair the world.

Here we have an image of our beautiful planet, the Earth, taken from space from a distance.

This world looks perfect and beautiful.

We can see land, and oceans, and clouds, but if we zoomed in, what would we actually see? Is this world really perfect and beautiful, or are there things happening which are threatening that? Some people say the world is broken and needs fixing? What do we mean by this idea of broken? We might think about ideas of war that disfigure the world and cause conflict between humans.

We might think about natural disasters that destroy buildings and livelihoods.

We might think about the climate crisis and how that is affecting animals, humans, and the whole world.

Are there any other examples of things that you can see that might be broken in the world and need fixing? Thank you for sharing your ideas.

So if we use a philosophical way of knowing, we might ask a big philosophical question.

We might ask if the world is broken, do we have a personal responsibility to fix it? And we might answer that question either yes or no.

If we answer the question yes, we might say, why do we have that personal responsibility? Where does this idea come from? Who are we responsible to or for? If we answer no, we might say, why don't we have that personal responsibility? Who does have that responsibility? Does anyone? So by asking these two questions and following an argument, we're going to come up with different answers.

We might say, even if we disagree about the idea of personal responsibility, what might happen if no one tries to fix anything? Are we happy just to carry on as we are? Is it gonna sort itself out by itself? Alex and Sam have been thinking about this idea of personal responsibility in a broken world.

Alex says, "No, I don't think it's our personal responsibility.

Huge problems like war or climate change need governments and big organisations.

One person can't really make a difference." Sam says, "But if everyone thought that way, nothing would change.

Change starts small, and we all share this world, so we each have a personal responsibility to help fix what's broken." So we can see that big philosophical question.

We have Alex and Sam showing their own personal worldview, thinking about this idea of personal responsibility and coming up with different answers.

I wonder who do you agree with? Do you lean more towards Alex? Do you lean more towards Sam? Do you think they both make good points? And why do you think what you do? Where do your own ideas of this idea of responsibility come from? What influences you? You might want to take a moment to ponder that now.

You may want to talk to other people about this.

Victoria has a Jewish worldview, and she explains why personal responsibility is a core value in her tradition.

She says, as a Jew, I believe in God, the creator of the world, but I also believe we have a personal responsibility to care for the world.

Jewish philosophers and rabbis have reflected on this profound question for centuries.

So this idea of the world and how we should be responsible for it is something that Jews have been considering throughout their history.

This is a really ancient idea.

And Jewish philosophers and rabbis have a long tradition of wrestling with big important philosophical questions like this.

Jewish scripture teaches that the Earth belongs to God and humans must care for it.

In Jewish teaching, God is the creator of the world, and humans are stewards, not owners.

Psalm 24 says, "The Earth is the Lord's and all that it holds," meaning the world belongs to God.

In the first book of the Torah, Genesis, God places Adam in the Garden of Eden.

We have an extract here.

God settle the human in the garden of Eden to till it and tend it.

I wonder what you think these verses show about the role of a steward or caretaker.

What do you think they tell us about the world and how humans should care for it, look after it? you might have picked out words like till it and tend it.

This is very much the idea of someone caring and protecting.

Humans are trusted to protect and care for nature and not harm it.

Many Jews over years have used this to form the responsibility of a Jewish idea of how we should care for the environment.

Jewish law and tradition includes laws that show caring for the Earth is part of Jewish life.

For example, one example is Shmita.

Every seventh year the land must rest, meaning no farming or planting, so nature has time to recover.

So that's a really ancient idea back a long time in Jewish ancestry, which has continued this idea of letting the land rest.

Another example is Ba'al Tashchit, which teaches that people must not waste or destroy.

It began as a rule about not cutting down trees during war, but it has been expanded to avoid all wastes of food such as energy and harming nature without reason.

Jewish law also teaches kindness to animals.

Causing pain to animals without a good reason is not allowed.

These examples show that caring for the world as an important part of Jewish life.

So we have the idea within Torah of God creating humans to be stewards.

And then we have Jewish laws that have grown up over many centuries, which actually look at caring and tending for the land, not causing unnecessary suffering or pain to animals.

And this is not a new idea, but a very ancient idea.

Let's just check our understanding so far.

Which of the following is not a teaching from the Torah or a Jewish law about caring for the Earth? A, every seven years the land must rest without farming called Shmita.

B, it's forbidden to waste or destroy resources, known as Ba'al Tashchit.

C, humans own the Earth and can use it without limits.

D, causing pain to animals without reason is forbidden.

What do you think from what we've learned so far? Excellent.

It's C.

This idea of owning the Earth and using it without limits does not fit what we've said.

We've talked about ideas of stewardship and we've looked at specific Jewish laws that talk about caring for the Earth and caring for resources.

So the term Tikkun Olam, which is the focus of what we're thinking about today, originates from Hebrew.

It means to repair the world.

Here we have the words, Tikkun from the Hebrew word meaning repair or improve, Olam from the word meaning the world.

The concept of Tikkun Olam is not found directly in the Torah.

It comes from later teachings from rabbis that encourage making the world a fair place and good for everyone.

Some Jewish thinkers, especially mystical traditions, saw it as fixing the world's spiritual brokenness through religious practise.

But in the last hundred years, Tikkun Olam has come to include helping others and caring for the environment.

Today, many Jews see protecting the Earth and making good daily choices as a personal responsibility and part of their duty to help repair the world.

So we might talk about Tikkun Olam having various parts to it.

One is about working for justice and fairness.

Another might be about doing mitzvot, good deeds that help make the world a better and fairer place.

Another might be about helping people in need, and another might be about protecting and caring for the environment.

So Tikkun Olam is a big idea, which takes on many ideas of justice, fairness, doing good deeds, and particularly in Jewish thought now about protecting and caring for the environment.

A well-known Jewish teaching comes from Rabbi Tarfon, and it's in Pirkei Avot.

And it says, "It is not your duty to finish the work, but neither are you at liberty to neglect it." Really interesting phrase.

I wonder how you think that might relate to the concept of Tikkun Olam.

Remember we talked about that you have Tikkun Olam about the responsibility to care for and protect the world.

The Rabbi says it's not your duty to finish the work, but neither are you at liberty to neglect it.

What do you think it might mean and how might it relate? You might have talked about the idea that it suggests people should take action.

We can't do everything.

It's not an individual Jewish person's human responsibility to do absolutely everything, but we have a duty to try.

When he says you're not at liberty to neglect it, it means you can't do nothing.

You can't stand still.

You can't say, "It's too big for me, I can't solve it." Everybody needs to do something to help repair the world.

Victoria explains what Tikkun Olam means to her.

She says, "Tikkun Olam means fixing the world as God's partner.

It's not about waiting for miracles or getting into heaven, but taking responsibility now.

Judaism teaches we must act with compassion, courage, and justice to tackle suffering and unfairness.

God doesn't do it all for us.

We are here to help make the world better." So very much Victoria is talking about her role of personal responsibility as a Jew to do the best she can and make the world a better place as she can.

Okay, let's think about, again, what we've learned so far, a true or false question for you here.

Tikkun Olam means waiting for miracles and focusing on getting into heaven, rather than taking responsibility to fix the world with compassion and justice.

Think about what Victoria just told us.

Is that true or false? Excellent, it's false.

Why? Because Tikkun Olam means partnering with God, taking action now to repair the world, not waiting for miracles or focusing on the afterlife.

Brilliant if you got that right.

Okay, so we've been thinking about this question, what is Tikkun Olam? I'd like you to explain what it means in Judaism and how it links to this idea of personal responsibility.

Here are some possible sentence starters for you.

You might say Tikkun Olam means.

what does it mean? Can you remember what that Hebrew meant? Personal responsibility means.

What do we actually mean by that? You might want to include some terms like Tikkun Olam, personal responsibility and stewardship.

You might want to explain where these ideas come from.

If you remember, we looked at ideas from the Torah and Jewish laws, but we also had that wonderful quote from the Rabbi about not trying to do everything but not neglecting either.

And you might also want to think about what Victoria said her view meant.

See if you can sum up some of those ideas and use those sentences to help you.

Wow, some brilliant work there.

Thank you so much for thinking about it.

So you may have said things like this.

You might have talked about Tikkun Olam meaning repairing the world, coming from the Hebrew.

Many Jews believe this includes caring of the environment.

We said it was a big concept and environment's part of it.

We talked about the idea that humans are stewards of God's creations and not owners, and they need to take care of the world as God intended.

We also talked about personal responsibility about not waiting for others, including God, to act.

The Pirkei Avot rabbi talked about not neglecting your duty, doing something.

Jews like Victoria talked about herself as a partner, repairing and improving the world through protecting the environment, helping others, working for justice, and doing good deeds.

If you've managed to explain some of those ideas, brilliant thinking and well done.

In this second part of the lesson, we're going to be thinking about this idea of Tikkun Olam.

And we're gonna focus in particularly on an organisation called World Jewish Relief, and looking at what they do to put some of these ideas into practise.

So World Jewish Relief is a charity that supports people in crisis around the world.

It began in 1933, rescuing over 65,000 Jews in Nazi Europe.

Over time, it helped Jewish communities affected by war and poverty.

But since 2004, it's becoming a global agency, and it helps people of all backgrounds facing disasters, poverty, and displacement World Jewish Relief put into practise the principle of Tikkun Olam in response to human suffering and global challenges.

Some of their work include helping people from all backgrounds who are in need, supporting people affected by natural disasters, helping refugees rebuild their lives and tackling poverty in vulnerable communities, making communities more climate resilient.

So you can see that they're taking lots of these ideas of Tikkun Olam about justice, compassion, and the environment in the work that they do.

And we're gonna look in more specific detail now at some work that they've done recently.

But before we do that, let's just check our understanding, which of the following are examples and non-examples of Tikkun Olam carried out by World Jewish Relief.

So I want you to think about whether this is an example of Tikkun Olam or isn't.

Providing emergency food and supplies to people in crisis, only helping those from Jewish communities, rebuilding homes and infrastructure after natural disasters, supporting policies that make climate change worse, helping refugees settle into new communities, supporting job training programmes for vulnerable people.

If we think they are an example, we can give it a tick, a non-example, we give it across.

So, excellent thinking.

Emergency food and supplies, definite example of Tikkun Olam.

Only helping those from Jewish communities, no.

Rebuilding homes and infrastructures, yes.

No, supporting policies making climate change worse.

Helping refugees settle into new communities, yes.

And supporting training programmes for vulnerable people.

All examples of work World Jewish Relief do.

So, one of the things that World Jewish Relief have done is support refugees.

When war broke out in Ukraine, millions of people had to flee their homes.

World Jewish Relief helped refugees settle safely in the UK.

Through a project called STEP Ukraine, people received English lessons, job training, and support to rebuild their lives.

One woman, Anna, arrived with her daughter and no job.

World Jewish Relief helped her gain confidence, find work, and support others like her.

Over 13,000 Ukrainian refugees have been helped to start again with dignity, safety, and hope for the future.

And so that is an example of putting Tikkun Olam into practise repairing the world broken by war and offering compassionate support for people who, not Jews themselves, but helping them in a strange country to adjust.

Another action within World Jewish Relief is disaster relief.

In 2023, a deadly earthquake struck remote mountain villages in Morocco, thousands of homes were destroyed.

World Jewish Relief worked with local teams to deliver emergency help where others couldn't reach.

Families were given strong tents, heaters, solar lights, food, and clean water.

This support helped 'em to survive the cold nights and stay safe.

By acting quickly and staying to help longer term, World Jewish Relief gave people the strength to recover and rebuild after losing almost everything in the disaster.

I wonder how you think this example shows Tikkun Olam.

What can you think? You might again have thought about this idea of brokenness with natural disaster and how World Jewish Relief is trying to fix that brokenness by helping people who've been affected by acting with compassion, acting with fairness.

Again, these communities are not Jewish communities in Morocco, but providing support.

They can't do everything but actually going in there and helping made an immediate difference to those families.

And our final example is linked to the idea of the climate crisis.

So in rural Nepal, climate change has made farming unpredictable and food has become increasingly scarce.

World Jewish Relief works with local communities to improve farming using climate smart methods.

Families are taught to grow crops that need less water and can survive drought and provide better nutrition.

They receive seeds, tools, and training to grow enough to eat and sell.

This support means that children can return to school, families can earn an income, and whole villages can become stronger, more self-reliant, and better prepared for the future.

And again, I wonder how you think this work shows the concept of Tikkun Olam.

So again, we might have thought that this really brings out the environmental idea here because we're talking about a world that's affected by climate change.

Again, it shows World Jewish Relief working with people who are not necessarily Jewish, but they're providing crops to try and rebalance the world, growing crops in a more environmentally friendly way and helping people with compassion so that they can earn their own living and not be dependent on aid and actually have a future.

Daniel is a British Jew and he talks about his role volunteering with World Jewish Relief.

He says, "As a British Jew, I support World Jewish Relief by donating money to their projects and volunteering in my town with Ukrainian refugees, I help families settle in, sometimes just by sharing tea, listening or doing something simple like shopping or paperwork.

It's not just practical help.

It's human connection.

That's Tikkun Olam for me, repairing the world through kindness and presence." So we can see what Daniel's doing there.

He's doing some really practical things, isn't he? Like donating money and helping people, but he's also just being there and being a human person aside another human being at a time of difficulty.

And for him, that is what Tikkun Olam is, repairing the world through kindness and presence.

Okay, so we've thought about this incredible organisation, World Jewish Relief, and the amazing work that they do all over the world.

We've also been looking at the beginning of the lesson at this idea of Tikkun Olam, where the idea comes from and what it means.

What I'd like you to do now is this, please.

I'd like you to think about some three problems that we've got here.

We have war, natural disasters, and the climate crisis.

And I'd like you to look at the examples in the case study we've looked at, and think about how does World Jewish Relief show Tikkun Olam? You might want to go back in the slides and look at this.

You might want to read the supporting materials in a bit more detail, but can you think how the actions they do, so you might want to list them, how they show Tikkun Olam repairing the world.

And you might wanna think about those different ideas we looked at about caring for the environment, about compassion, about doing good deeds, about making the world a fairer and juster place.

Really looking forward to seeing what you come up with.

Wow, some brilliant thinking.

I'm sure you come up with loads of brilliant ideas of your own.

Here are some of my ideas.

So the example of war, we looked at refugees from Ukraine and how World Jewish Relief had helped bring people to England and offered them English lessons, job training, and support.

And that links to the idea of Tikkun Olam about helping people rebuild their lives, giving them dignity and hope, and acting with compassion.

In terms of natural disasters, we looked at the earthquake in Morocco and we talked about World Jewish Relief giving people things like tents, heaters, food, and clean water.

And that takes the idea of repairing the world by protecting life, helping people survive and recover after losing everything.

And in our final bit of the case study, we looked at the climate crisis and we looked at how in places like Nepal, World Jewish Relief was helping farmers grow food using less water.

And that helped families feed themselves and adapt to climate change.

And so this helped repair the world through long term solutions.

So bringing out that climate change and environmental justice aspect of Tikkun Olam.

If you've put some ideas like this, and you may have had many ideas of your own, that's absolutely brilliant.

So let's summarise what we've been learning about today.

We've talked about that within Judaism, God is seen as a creator and people as stewards of the Earth.

We talked about how these ideas are very ancient and that Jewish teaching laws and traditions have stressed the importance of protect the environment, including caring for animals, avoiding waste or destruction, and letting the land rest.

We talked about this idea of Tikkun Olam and how it meanings helping to repair the world.

And we talked about how many Jews see this as a religious duty and take personal responsibility to make a difference, not just leaving everything to other people or God.

And then we looked at a case study of World Jewish Relief and how they as a charity try to put Tikkun Olam into action for helping people affected by war, natural disasters, and the climate crisis.

Thanks ever so much for being with me in this lesson today.

I hope this has helped you understand one way in which people have come up with thinking about protecting the Earth.

I hope you've enjoyed learning about this Jewish idea of Tikkun Olam, and maybe there's something for you to reflect for yourself here.

Going back to that rabbi statement about we can't do everything, but neither should we neglect our duty.

What small actions can we all take to try and make a difference to make this world a better and fairer place? Thank you very much.