ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a historicised phenomenological account of the two dominant forms of social justice within Judaism: tzedakah and tikkun. While major philanthropy is conducted through the normal system of cheques and bank transfers, the tzedekah box, or pushke, as it is called in Yiddish, is an iconic symbol of the practice of charitable giving. The practice of keeping a special box to collect coins for charitable distribution originated among the Hasidim of Eastern Europe in the early nineteenth century. The popularisation of tikkun olam in modern Jewish discourse can be traced back to the work of Gershom Scholem, the great historian of Jewish mysticism; the use of the phrase to denote political action dates to the interwar period. The rationale of the 1977 resolution is entirely grounded in the language of civil rights, rather than halakah: the Reform movement rejects discrimination; homosexuals are discriminated against; therefore the Reform movement rejects discrimination against homosexuals.
