Like the boy in this photograph, many children don't have shoes to protect their feet from the hard rocky ground, beds to sleep in at night, or enough food to eat. Parents try to give their children what they need, but they don't always succeed. Sometimes wars separate families, and sometimes droughts or other natural disasters make it impossible to grow crops or raise cattle. Why do you think our tradition teaches that it is our responsibility to help such people?

God doesn't create loaves of bread. God provides resources such as seeds, soil, air, sunshine, and rain, from which wheat can grow. People do their part by planting the seeds, harvesting the wheat, grinding it into flour, and preparing and baking the dough. In addition, Judaism teaches that it is our responsibility to make sure God's resources are used to benefit everyone.

Not only are we required to share a portion of our food with those who are hungry, it is also our duty to help them grow their own. That is why it is a mitzvah to work with others to irrigate land in countries suffering from drought, and to teach developing nations how to renew soil and protect crops from insects and disease.

Without the Bible and Talmud there would be no instructions for tikkun olam. Without community we would have no one to work with to make our dream of a better world come true.

REPAIRING AND IMPROVING THE WORLD
Our sages taught that people were created to enjoy and care for the world. We study the wisdom of the Torah, Prophets, and Talmud to learn how to repair damage when it occurs. By doing our share, we participate in a very important part of Jewish life called tikkun olam--repairing the world.