Turning Tikkun Olam into Action

W I N T E R 2 0 1 1 W W W. T I K K U N . O R G T I K K U N 5 Turning Tikkun Olam into Action A Note from the Sunny Side FROM THE PUBLISHERS BY GEORGE VRADENBURG O n its twenty-fifth anniversary, Tikkun is wise to reflect on further steps that might be taken to enable practical implementation of its vision of generosityandcaring. Since leaving business (AOL/Time Warner) several years ago, I have lived in the world of philanthropy and civic engagement. This world is full of extraordinaryindividualsandinstitutionsthathavesettheirgoals andmeasuredtheirsuccessbytheextenttowhichtheyhavehada positiveimpactonthelivesofothers. Justasmallsamplingoftheactivitiesofthepeoplewithwhom Iworkonadailybasisdemonstratestherangeofsocialconditions (“social” being defined broadly) in need of attention: they are engaged in emergency medical/response work to restore communitiesimpactedbymanmadeornaturalhazards ;curing,treating,or supportingthoseimpairedbyphysicalormentalillness;educating and feeding children in conditions of poverty; bringing the joy, creative inspiration, and healing powers of great works of visual and performance art to those unable to afford access; protecting humanrights;improvingenvironmentalconditions;andincreasing skills and job opportunities for those struggling to find productiveandsatisfyingwork . The vast scope of human needs reflects the great challenge of tikkunolam.Simplyenactingalawrequiringalltopledge“tikkun olam”won’tdoit.NotwithstandingthegenerosityoftheAmerican people, there is a scarcity of resources to meet all human needs, there are competing needs to be served, and there are few tools available to assess the relative social impact of different philanthropic and civic investments. Is an investment in potential cures forAlzheimer’smoreorlessproductivethan I have left it to others to give well-deserved tributestoTikkunmagazine.Asforme,Ionlysignedonto be publisher because I knew the editor—my brother, Michael.Itturnedouttobeaverysmartchoice. Michael and I are both writers, though 180 degrees different in our approaches. I am a comedy writer— predominantly sitcoms in La La Land; my brother is the intellectual one. And nothing proves that more clearly than Tikkun magazine. Tikkun is a cerebral, logical, scholarly magazine.IamalwayslookingfortheaccompanyingCliffNotes. We came from a very political family. Whereas I could usually see the sunny side to locusts and vermin, Michael was tortured by the world’s injustices and his inability to instantly right them. His goals have always outpaced the reality of his society. The class revolution Michael was expecting in the sixties simply didn’t pan out. So that just meant he had to look deeper and work harder to developavisionthattheAmericanpublicwouldembrace. It has not been an easy road. Apparently compassion coupled with financial generosity is not a simple sell. Taking away money from any class—lower, middle, upper—is not a popular position, despite the fact it may be the morally right one. It would seem everyone thinks he is going to win the lottery and so he wants to makesurehistaxeswon’tbetoohigh. MichaelandIgrewupinthesamefamilywiththesameexperiences in the same Jewish familial craziness, and yet we often had different interpretations of those realities—I was right, of course, butwhynitpick?Itcouldhavebeenthedifferenceinourage:Iwas vastly younger than he—OK, three years, three months, two days, twenty-one hours—but to a kid that’s a lot. But though we may have a different take on the world, our moral standards are generallythesame. I have been proud to support Tikkun. Proud to be Michael’s sister. Proud to share the same core values. Michael is sure of his truths. He stands by his convictions and his principles. He will not be moved. It is good to have at least one Michael in your family. I GeorgeandTrishVradenburgareco-publishersof Tikkun. BY TRISH VRADENBURG (continuedonpage94) 94 T I K K U N W W W. T I K K U N . O R G W I N T E R 2 0 1 1 the other hand there is that tragic acknowledgement of one’s own inevitable failureandpollution,thatpeeringintothe pit of nothingness over the edge of which, so one hopes (but with absolutely no guarantees), something affirmative mightfinallycrawl.Tragichumanismsees the need for this breaking and remaking, as liberal humanism does not. And this is in my view one of the most important ethical and political conflicts today. Oedipus, the beggar king, stands before Athens. As he once returned an answer to the Sphinx, now his own presence poses a question to the city-state. Is it to gather this unclean thing, this stinking pieceofnothingness,toitsheart,orisitto cast it out as so much garbage? What is civilization...