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Thought for the Day: Mitzvos, Ratzon HaShem, and תיקון עולם

Sigh... תיקון עולם has been so overused that Google Translate yields: Tikkun Olam. My sigh... is because our mission statement and reason for existing in this world has been reduced -- at best -- to a hackneyed phrase; and at worst into yet another excuse for everything from promoting recreational drug use to ethnic cleansing.

Let's talk about their "Tikkun Olam". The פלא יועץ addresses their idea of tikun olam in very strong terms of condemnation. The Chafeitz Chaim made a one verse in Psalms more famous than any other in all of the Bible (Psalms 34:13): מי-האיש החפץ חיים; אוהב ימים, לראות טוב; which is translated as: Who is the one that desires life, to love days and to see good? Of course what follows immediately is one must refrain from Lashon HaRa. According to the פלא יועץ, the punctuation is wrong.

The פלא יועץ reads: Who is the one that desires life? To love days and to see good?!

Are you kidding me? All you want is to enjoy life and see goodness? The פלא יועץ even gives an example: You want to see your grandchildren? (That's really going for the jugular, rabbi.) So, basically you are saying you are a hedonist. Not a creepy, evil hedonist... a nice hedonist; but a hedonist none the less. If that's your whole desire, then you don't want life; you want Olam HaBa, where the barest whiff of someone else's banquet will bring you more pleasure than all of the pleasure in  this world. That's also not תיקון עולם. That's being the guy the doctor tells to boil water to keep you out of the way while he and his team do the real work of healing.

So what is תיקון עולם? Well.. HaShem made the world, He made you, He loves you and has a purpose for you. There is one and only one way to know what you need to do to effect תיקון עולם -- fulfill Ratzon HaShem; HaShem's Will. Easy, right? Sure, 613 Mitzvos; the practical implications of which are encoded in the 1,705 chapters in Shulchan Aruch, along with the thousands and ten-thousands of commentary and explanation.

Yes, it's a lot. I have no idea how to get all this done. I do know one thing; failure to do anything guarantees failure. Let's get started.
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