The phrase “Tikkun Olam” literally means “world repair.” It is commonly used to refer to the pursuit of social action and social justice. However, few realize that the phrase and the concept behind it originate in kabbalah, in the teachings of the 16th century mystic Isaac Luria.
How nice that Obama would associate the garbage of a mystic with God’s plan for the world. It is written in God’s holy word and it will happen only as God has told us.
http://www.cross-currents.com/archives/2007/05/04/the-hijacking-of-tikkun-olam/
...Interestingly, the Reform trajectory is almost indistinguishable from that of liberal Protestant denominations, which also jettisoned Tradition for Good Works in the name of a G-d Who reinvented Himself as “Love”...
...The problem isn’t so much that Mayor Bloomberg’s [or Obama’s] usage differs from the way centuries of Jews understood it, but that his understanding is the polar opposite of what the phrase always meant.
Let’s start with the a familiar phrase from davening “to perfect the universe through Hashem’s sovereignty”, with the emphasis on “through.” Klal Yisrael understood that no amount of human effort or enterprise will ever cure the world of its flaws and faults.
This does not devalue every small contribution to making life a bit better for an individual, a community, or a continent. It does mean that all such efforts are band-aids relative to the big fix, which is bringing the Shechinah closer to the world.
Perhaps it is not inaccurate to suggest that to a serious Reform Jew, one brings Hashem closer to the world by making it a better place; to a traditional Jew, bringing Hashem closer is what will make the world the place He and we want it to be...