[Avodah] Leshon haKodesh

[Micha Berger]

On Thu, Aug 12, 2010 at 10:59:48PM -0400, Poppers, Michael wrote:
: In Avodah V27n160#6, RZS wrote:
:> However, most siddurim have it with a kuf, and once again it means
:> "set in place", not "repair".
...
: In the subsequent digest, R'Micha wrote:
:> BTW, my off-list emailer poited out that in fact "Tikanta Shabbos" with
:> a kaf is either rare or non-existent. He checked siddurim from Germany
:> to Edot haMizrach.

: Which "siddurim from Germany" don't have it with a kaf??

That's because I misspoke, switching kaf and quf. I was trying to disagree,
not support, RZS's contention with what's said lemaaseh.

: FWIW, both Goldschmidt as quoted by RAKatz and Baer see little or no
: difference in meaning between "tikanta" and "tiqanta."...

There is also little or no difference between re-establishing something
that already exists and repairing it. And yet on this quibble, RZS
is asserting that lesaqein olam doesn't mean "repairing the world". I
therefore pointed out that it can't mean "re-establishing the world in
Shakai's kingdom" if there is no "re-".

The problem with the liberal take in Tikkun Olam is IMHO twofold:

1- It lacks bemalkhus Shakai. Look at context. The tefillah opens
Aleinu leshabeiach laAdon hakol. We then flow into the next paragraph
with "[ve]al kein" -- therefore. And when we describe the result of
lesaqein olam, we have "vekhol benei basar yiqre'u bishmekha".

RSMontagu wrote on Areivim:
> The claim that the term doesn't appear "in any Jewish source, in any
> context" doesn't stand up to 2 minutes Googling:
> http://www.google.com/search?q=%22%D7%AA%D7%99%D7%A7%D7%95%D7%9F+%D7%A2%D7%95%D7%9C%D7%9D%22+site%3Ahebrewbooks.org&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

> Judging by the title page, http://www.hebrewbooks.org/8637, seems to be at
> least within shouting distance of the R&C sense of TO as social justice.
> However, I don't want to press this point, since I think RZS' original
> statement that the non-O use TO as a replacement for Torah is accurate
> enough today, whatever the history of the phrase.

It is not enough to link TO to choshein mishpat. One must be ehrlach
*because* it's avodas haBorei.

Li nir'eh this is a plausible nimshal for the Ari's notion of tiqun --
to use olam hazeh al pi haTorah.

2- They use the term to mean social justice and ecology and other western
liberal values. Not having halakhah, they can't mean choshein mishpat
as the author of Aleinu intended.

:-)BBii!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             Never must we think that the Jewish element
micha at aishdas.org        in us could exist without the human element
http://www.aishdas.org   or vice versa.
Fax: (270) 514-1507                     - Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch