1. According to this text, why should we seek good instead of evil? Does this reasoning surprise you?
2. How does this text connect to your own idea of good and evil? What about your sense of reality - do those who choose good live, and those who choose evil perish? How can we reconcile this apparent contradiction?
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We bring Torah into the world when we strive to fulfill the highest ethical mandates in our relationships with others and with all of God’s creation. Partners with God in tikkun olam, repairing the world, we are called to help bring nearer the messianic age. We seek dialogue and joint action with people of other faiths in the hope that together we can bring peace, freedom and justice to our world. We are obligated to pursue tzedek, justice and righteousness, and to narrow the gap between the affluent and the poor, to act against discrimination and oppression, to pursue peace, to welcome the stranger, to protect the earth’s biodiversity and natural resources, and to redeem those in physical, economic and spiritual bondage. In so doing, we reaffirm social action and social justice as a central prophetic focus of traditional Reform Jewish belief and practice. We affirm the mitzvah of tzedakah, setting aside portions of our earnings and our time to provide for those in need. These acts bring us closer to fulfilling the prophetic call to translate the words of Torah into the works of our hands.
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1. How does Tikkun Olam function as a guiding principle for Reform Judaism?
2. According to this text, what is the role of embracing diversity in pursuing justice?
3. What does it mean to "reaffirm social action and social justice as a central prophetic focus?"
4. Are there any social justice issues that you would add to this guiding principle?
1. Examine this Mishna piece by piece. What is Hillel saying?
2. What is the overall guiding moral and ethical principle of Hillel’s teaching?
3. How can we translate this teaching into our social justice work today?
1. What does it mean to "do good"?
2. How can we devote ourselves to justice?
1. In what ways do we learn our parents' values and behaviors?
2. In what ways is our generation paying for the mistakes of our parent's generation?
3. Will our community be remembered for its righteousness or its wickedness? Why?
1. Who is speaking in this text? What is the significance of "and all the people shall say amen"?
2. What is assumed about the blind person, the stranger, the fatherless and the widow?
3. What effect does the curse have? Is it a deterrent or a punishment or both?