The Tikkun Reader

Reviews / Votes

For twenty years, Tikkun Magazine has challenged its readers with an unexpected mix of politics and spirituality. In wide-ranging essays, Tikkun's contributors have demonstrated that, in a time of unprecedented culture wars between religion and secularism, it is still possible to ground progressive politics in religious values and religion in progressive values. Tikkun has also provided a refreshing and necessary forum where the conventional wisdom in the Jewish community on Israel and American Judaism might be questioned and where voices silenced elsewhere could finally be heard. -- David Biale, editor of <I>Cultures of the Jews: A New History<I> Tikkun is more than a magazine, and Tikkun Reader is more than a book. It is a gateway to re-visioning the world transformed by justice, compassion, and humility. Enter and walk on boldly. -- Rabbi Rami Shapiro, author of The Sacred Art of Lovingkindness As a political and religious moderate, I knew twenty years ago, when I lent my name to Tikkun's Editorial Board, that I would not agree with everything published, or maybe even most of it; but I wanted to support a creative, liberal voice in Jewish discourse to balance the conservative voices articulated in other Jewish magazines. This collection demonstrates that Tikkun has fulfilled that critical function admirably well. Like me, readers of this volume will not necessarily like the positions taken in its articles; but I suspect that they will share my gratitude for the thoughtful intellectual and moral challenges it poses. -- Elliot Dorff, author of <I>The Way Into Tikkun Olam<I> In its twenty years of life, Tikkun might not have fixed the world, but it surely has infused the debate on its redemption with informed, provocative viewpoints. It shows that politics should not be an exercise in empty rhetoric, and most importantly, it has sought to bridge the gap between the spirit and the intellect-with hopeful results. This sampler is proof of its range. -- Ilan Stavans, Lewis-Sebring Professor in Latin American and Latino Culture, Amherst College This collection of essays truly represents the "best of Tikkun," as a magazine devoted to the Jewish and ecumenical traditions of spiritual healing and prophetic transformation. In this selection of essays we see the profound depth and breadth of the vision of Tikkun which overcomes the split between spirituality and politics and addresses the many aspects of the human crisis of the 21st century. -- Rosemary R. Ruether Michael Lerner is a visionary with the brain of an elephant and the heart of a lion. He inspires us to reveal and to share the best in us in order to heal the world and, in the process, ourselves. -- Dean Ornish M.D., founder and president, Preventive Medicine Research Institute; Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco; author of Dr. Dean Ornish's Program for Reversing Heart Disease Tikkun Reader offers a substantive examination of many aspects of contemporary life, asking us to weigh its questions, to engage intellectually and spiritually with large issues facing our world. It is a clarion call to consciousness at a time when it couldn't be more urgently needed. * L A Times * An erudite rejoinder to the religious right. * Utne Reader *