For twenty years,
Tikkun Magazine has challenged its readers with an unexpected mix of politics and spirituality. In wide-ranging essays,
Tikkun's contributors have demonstrated that, in a time of unprecedented culture wars between religion and secularism, it is still possible to ground progressive politics in religious values and religion in progressive values.
Tikkun has also provided a refreshing and necessary forum where the conventional wisdom in the Jewish community on Israel and American Judaism might be questioned and where voices silenced elsewhere could finally be heard. (David Biale )
Tikkun is more than a magazine, and
Tikkun Reader is more than a book. It is a gateway to re-visioning the world transformed by justice, compassion, and humility. Enter and walk on boldly. (Rabbi Rami Shapiro )
As a political and religious moderate, I knew twenty years ago, when I lent my name to
Tikkun's Editorial Board, that I would not agree with everything published, or maybe even most of it; but I wanted to support a creative, liberal voice in Jewish discourse to balance the conservative voices articulated in other Jewish magazines. This collection demonstrates that
Tikkun has fulfilled that critical function admirably well. Like me, readers of this volume will not necessarily like the positions taken in its articles; but I suspect that they will share my gratitude for the thoughtful intellectual and moral challenges it poses. (Dorff, Elliot )
In its twenty years of life,
Tikkun might not have fixed the world, but it surely has infused the debate on its redemption with informed, provocative viewpoints. It shows that politics should not be an exercise in empty rhetoric, and most importantly, it has sought to bridge the gap between the spirit and the intellect—with hopeful results. This sampler is proof of its range. (Ilan Stavans )
This collection of essays truly represents the "best of
Tikkun," as a magazine devoted to the Jewish and ecumenical traditions of spiritual healing and prophetic transformation. In this selection of essays we see the profound depth and breadth of the vision of
Tikkun which overcomes the split between spirituality and politics and addresses the many aspects of the human crisis of the 21st century. (Rosemary R. Ruether )
Michael Lerner is a visionary with the brain of an elephant and the heart of a lion. He inspires us to reveal and to share the best in us in order to heal the world and, in the process, ourselves. (DEAN ORNISH, M.D. )
Tikkun Reader offers a substantive examination of many aspects of contemporary life, asking us to weigh its questions, to engage intellectually and spiritually with large issues facing our world. It is a clarion call to consciousness at a time when it couldn't be more urgently needed. (
L A Times )
An erudite rejoinder to the religious right. (
Utne Reader )
Named one of
Utne's 100 American Visionaries,
Michael Lerner is the founder and editor of
Tikkun magazine and the author several books, most recently
The Left Hand of God: Taking Back Our Country from the Religious Right. He is also the author of
Jewish Renewal,
Jews & Blacks,
The Politics of Meaning,
Spirit Matters, and
Healing Israel / Palestine. He lives in Berkeley, California.