Tikkun Olam, Tzedak, and Terri Schiavo

Pursuing tzedek (justice) is a central religious obligation in Judaism, one that I connect to tikkun olam (repairing the world). Tzedek tzedek tirdof. Justice, justice shall you pursue (that you may thrive and occupy the land that the Eternal your God is giving you. Deuteronomy 16:20). I'm sure that this verse is singlehandedly responsible for 60% of the Jewish lawyers.

About Terri Schiavo -- I am quite certain that our elected representatives in the legislative branch and the fundamentalists who are exploiting this family's tragedy are not pursuing justice. If those fundamentalists actually believed that God would cause her brain to recover in spite of all of the medical evidence to the contrary, they would be just as likely to believe that God would supply her with nourishment once she was no longer being force fed, like a goose acquiring a fat liver.

I am not able to discuss her parents' behavior in a civil tone. But I can offer you a tale about tzedak offered by Cara.