Tikkun olam — perfecting the world — is the belle of the ball of
modern Jewish thought. And perhaps it deserves to be. The Jewish
teaching that this planet can and will be transformed into a
world of justice, equality, peace and human dignity has had a
revolutionary impact on human history. But the coming holiday of
Shavuot reminds us of an overlooked though no less important
contribution that Judaism seeks to make — namely, a method of
how to get there. For more than 200 years, violent revolution —
often aimed at perfecting the world — has been a dominant force
in world affairs. Sadly, more people have been killed, hurt and
oppressed in the name of equality and progress than ever before
in human history. Why did the thrust for redemption go so wrong?
The answer is that the method defeated the goals; the ends were
subverted by the means. The Torah offers a very different method
of moving toward perfection: covenant (in Hebrew, brit), which
means a partnership. More precisely, covenant is a partnership
based o