Tikkun (magazine)

Last updated

Tikkun
Tik0701.jpg
January/February 2007 issue
Editor Michael Lerner
Frequencyquarterly
Circulation 18,000 [1]
Publisher Duke University Press
Founded 1986 (1986-month)
CountryUnited States
Based in Berkeley, California
Website www.tikkun.org
ISSN 0887-9982

Tikkun is a quarterly interfaith Jewish left-progressive magazine and website, published in the United States, that analyzes American and Israeli culture, politics, religion, and history in the English language. The magazine has consistently published the work of Israeli and Palestinian left-wing intellectuals, but also included book and music reviews, personal essays, and poetry. In 2006 and 2011, the magazine was awarded the Independent Press Award for Best Spiritual Coverage by Utne Reader [2] [3] for its analysis of the inability of many progressives to understand people's yearning for faith, and the American fundamentalists' political influence on the international conflict among religious zealots. The magazine was founded in 1986 [4] [5] by Michael Lerner and his then-wife Nan Fink Gefen. Since 2012, its publisher is Duke University Press. Beyt Tikkun Synagogue, led by Rabbi Michael Lerner, is loosely affiliated with Tikkun magazine. It describes itself as a "hallachic community bound by Jewish law". [6]

Contents



Origin and meaning of the name

The magazine's title comes from mystical Hebrew concept tikkun olam (Hebrew : תיקון עולם; "healing or restoring the world"), emphasizing both humanity's and God's co-responsibility "to heal, repair and transform the world".

Publisher

Initially, Nan Fink Gefen, at the time married to Lerner, devoted financial resources and served as a hands-on publisher until she left as their marriage ended in 1991. [7] [8] In 1997 a fellow 1960s-activist Danny Goldberg, a major music industry figure heavily involved in the ACLU, became co-publisher with his father, Victor. During these years, prominent journalists such as Jack Newfield interviewed national and international leaders such as Mario Cuomo and Haiti's embattled President Aristide to bring more credibility to the growing influence of the magazine. From 2001 through 2010, Lerner's sister, Trish Vradenburg, and her husband George Vradenburg served as co-publishers. [9] [10] [11]

In April 2024, the magazine announced its closing due to a lack of funding, and the poor health of its founder Michael Lerner, who could not find a successor. [12]

Editorial policy

Founded in 1986, the magazine's editorial policy was shaped by Nan Fink Gefen, Michael Lerner, and Peter Gabel. According to the founding editorial statement, [13] political concerns of the 1960s civil rights, anti-war, and feminist movements and psychological studies of workers in the 1970s and 1980s were their most direct influences. Among authors who contributed to the magazine's interfaith character were the historian Christopher Lasch, philosopher Cornel West, and Harvey Cox of Harvard Divinity School.

Obliquely confronting more conservative American Jewish community's Commentary Magazine, which caused some members of the Editorial Board, including Elie Wiesel, to resign, [14] [15] the magazine introduced itself with prominent ads placed in leading intellectual papers and journals declaring a new voice for the Jewish Left. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel's legacy of "prophetic" Jewish activism has been honored and analyzed from the first issue onward. In every issue, it is stated that its articles "do not necessarily reflect Tikkun's position on any issue", [16] and its editor, Rabbi Michael Lerner, has written that he "often consciously seeks to print articles with which he disagrees". [17]

Network of Spiritual Progressives

In 2001 the magazine's interfaith activist community's website, the Network of Spiritual Progressives , initially named the Tikkun Community, was established by founders that include Sister Joan Chittister, a Benedictine nun, and Cornel West, a Princeton University professor of religion, in order to engage readers in broader activism and broaden the magazine's appeal to non-Jewish readers. [18] Challenging the anti-religious and anti-spiritual biases within liberal culture and "replacing world domination with generosity" are among the ideas that are supported by the community.

Reception

In her book, If I Am Not For Myself: The Liberal Betrayal of the Jews , American conservative author Ruth Wisse argues that Tikkun is one of a group of left-of-center Jewish organizations and publications founded in the 1980s without explaining why a new, Jewish publication was needed to cover issues already covered by such existing publications as Dissent. Wisse argues that the actual motivation was a need felt by highly educated Jews to counter rising antisemitism on the left by means of "public avowals of kindliness and liberalism." [19]

Accusations of antisemitism

In 2005 Manfred Gerstenfeld cited an article published by Tikkun Joel Kovel’s "On Left Anti-Semitism and the Special Status of Israel" (May/June 2003) as one of two examples of "essays of Jewish authors using anti-Semitic arguments". [20] In his article, Kovel described Israel as a racist state that "automatically generates crimes against humanity and lacks the internal means of correcting them", adding that such a state "cannot have that legitimacy which gives it the right to exist". [21]

In a 2006 column, Alan Dershowitz wrote that "Tikkun is quickly becoming the most virulently anti-Israel screed ever published under Jewish auspices" and that "support for Tikkun is support for the enemies of Israel". [22] Dershowitz and his books have been the targets of criticism in the pages of Tikkun (for example: May/June 1997, September/October 1997, November/December 1997, January/February 1999).

Improprieties regarding letters to the editor

In 1997 former Tikkun editors accused Lerner of publishing pseudonymous letters to the editor that he himself had written. While many of the letters were laudatory ("Your editorial stand on Iraq said publicly what many of us in the Israeli peace camp are feeling privately but dare not say."), a few were critical ("Have you gone off your rocker?"). Lerner admitted that he had written the letters but said his only mistake was not informing readers that the authors' names were pseudonyms. [23]

Contributors

Notable contributors have included Sidra DeKoven Ezrahi, [24] Everett Gendler, [25] Arthur Waskow, [26] and Jeremy Ben-Ami. [27]

Notable interviews

Awards

Tikkun won the Magazine of the Year: Overall Excellence award from the Religion Newswriters Association in 2014 and 2015. [32] [33] [34] The magazine also received the Simon Rockower Award for Excellence in Special Sections or Supplements in 2009. [35]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Lerner (rabbi)</span> American political activist, editor, and rabbi (born 1943)

Michael Lerner is an American political activist, the editor of Tikkun, a progressive Jewish interfaith magazine based in Berkeley, California, and the rabbi of Beyt Tikkun Synagogue in Berkeley.

The Dershowitz–Finkelstein affair was a public controversy involving academics Alan Dershowitz and Norman Finkelstein and their scholarship on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict in 2005.

<i>The Case for Israel</i> 2003 book by Alan Dershowitz

The Case for Israel is a 2003 book by Alan Dershowitz, a law professor at Harvard University. The work is a response to common criticisms of Israel. The Case for Israel was a New York Times bestseller.

The Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), formerly known as the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC) until 2003, founded in 1873 by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, is the congregational arm of Reform Judaism in North America. The other two arms established by Rabbi Wise are the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion and the Central Conference of American Rabbis. The current president of the URJ is Rabbi Rick Jacobs.

New antisemitism is the concept that a new form of antisemitism developed in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, typically manifesting itself as anti-Zionism. The concept is included in some definitions of antisemitism, such as the working definition of antisemitism and the 3D test of antisemitism. The concept dates to the early 1970s.

<i>Moment</i> (magazine)

Moment is an independent magazine which focuses on the life of the American Jewish community. It is not tied to any particular Jewish movement or ideology. The publication features investigative stories and cultural criticism, highlighting the thoughts and opinions of diverse scholars, writers, artists and policymakers. Moment was founded in 1975, by Nobel Prize laureate Elie Wiesel and Jewish activist Leonard Fein, who served as the magazine's first editor from 1975 to 1987. In its premier issue, Fein wrote that the magazine would include diverse opinions "of no single ideological position, save of course, for a commitment to Jewish life." Hershel Shanks served as the editor from 1987 to 2004. In 2004, Nadine Epstein took over as editor and executive publisher of Moment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Self-hating Jew</span> Pejorative label implying antisemitism

The terms "self-hating Jew", "self-loathing Jew" and auto-antisemite are pejorative terms used to describe a Jew whose viewpoints on any specific matter are perceived as antisemitic. In recent decades, the term has been widely deployed pejoratively, especially by people with right-wing views, against fellow Jews with left-wing views or otherwise with views perceived as contrary to one's own political view.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Jewish Congress</span> Nonprofit organization

The American Jewish Congress (AJCongress) is an association of American Jews organized to defend Jewish interests at home and abroad through public policy advocacy, using diplomacy, legislation, and the courts.

The Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) is an American non-profit pro-Israel media-monitoring, research and membership organization. According to its website, CAMERA is "devoted to promoting accurate and balanced coverage of Israel and the Middle East." The group says it was founded in 1982 "to respond to The Washington Post's coverage of Israel's Lebanon incursion", and to respond to what it considers the media's "general anti-Israel bias".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Network of Spiritual Progressives</span>

The Network of Spiritual Progressives(NSP) is an international political and social justice movement based in the United States that seeks to influence American politics towards more humane, progressive values. The organization also challenges what it perceives as the misuse of religion by political conservatives and the anti-religious attitudes of many liberals. In the international sphere, the NSP seeks to foster inter-religious understanding and work for social justice.

Spiritual left refers to a spiritually or religiously based position that shares the social transformative vision of the political left and its commitment to social justice, peace, economic equality, and ecological consciousness, but who base their commitment on spiritual or religious traditions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ruth Wisse</span> Canadian scholar of Yiddish literature

Ruth Wisse is a Canadian academic and is the Martin Peretz Professor of Yiddish Literature and Professor of Comparative Literature at Harvard University emerita. She is a noted scholar of Yiddish literature and of Jewish history and culture.

The Wicked Son: Anti-Semitism, Jewish self-hatred, and the Jews is a collection of essays by playwright David Mamet, published by Nextbook/Schocken in 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Criticism of Israel</span> Disapproval towards the Israeli government

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trish Vradenburg</span> American dramatist

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Vradenburg</span> American attorney (born 1943)

George Vradenburg is an American attorney, who has been chief counsel at America Online Inc. and CBS Inc., and senior executive at AOL Time Warner and Fox Broadcasting Company. He is co-founder and chairman of USAgainstAlzheimer's (USA2), an Alzheimer's advocacy organization., and co-publisher of Tikkun, an English-language magazine with a progressive viewpoint.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jewish left</span> Movement of activists whose Judaism informs their support left-wing or liberal causes

The Jewish left consists of Jews who identify with, or support, left-wing or left-liberal causes, consciously as Jews, either as individuals or through organizations. There is no one organization or movement which constitutes the Jewish left, however. Jews have been major forces in the history of the labor movement, the settlement house movement, the women's rights movement, anti-racist and anti-colonialist work, and anti-fascist and anti-capitalist organizations of many forms in Europe, the United States, Australia, Algeria, Iraq, Ethiopia, South Africa, and modern-day Israel. Jews have a history of involvement in anarchism, socialism, Marxism, and Western liberalism. Although the expression "on the left" covers a range of politics, many well-known figures "on the left" have been of Jews who were born into Jewish families and have various degrees of connection to Jewish communities, Jewish culture, Jewish tradition, or the Jewish religion in its many variants.

Nadine Epstein an American journalist and author.

<i>If I Am Not For Myself</i> 1992 book by Ruth Wisse

If I Am Not For Myself: The Liberal Betrayal of the Jews is a 1992 book by Ruth Wisse.

Zionist antisemitism or antisemitic Zionism refers to a phenomenon in which antisemites express support for Zionism and the State of Israel. In some cases, this support may be promoted for explicitly antisemitic reasons. Historically, this type of antisemitism has been most notable among Christian Zionists, who may perpetrate religious antisemitism while being outspoken in their support for Jewish sovereignty in Israel due to their interpretation of Christian eschatology. Similarly, people who identify with the political far-right, particularly in Europe and the United States, may support the Zionist movement because they seek to expel Jews from their country and see Zionism as the least complicated method of achieving this goal and satisfying their racial antisemitism.

References

  1. Jonathan Mark (March 14, 2011). "A Liberal Lion In Autumn". Jewish Week. Retrieved October 6, 2016.
  2. "Spiritual Coverage: Tikkun". Utne Reader. January–February 2007. Archived from the original on September 7, 2008. Retrieved March 4, 2016. In November, Rabbi Michael Lerner's erudite rejoinder to the religious right released Tikkun Reader: Twentieth Anniversary (Rowman & Littlefield) to showcase memorable essays from the bimonthly magazine's all-star cast of contributors
  3. "Winners of the 2011 Utne Independent Press Awards". Utne Reader. April 12, 2011. Retrieved March 4, 2016. Illuminated by the Jewish faith but accessible to all, Tikkun aims to 'mend, repair and transform the world'
  4. Joseph Berger (December 21, 1986). "New Liberal Jewish Magazine Aims Fire at Commentary and Stirs Internal Protests". The New York Times. Retrieved February 10, 2017.
  5. Steve Black (2009). "Life spans of Library Journal's "Best Magazines of the Year"". Serials Review. 35 (4): 213–217. doi:10.1080/00987913.2009.10765248. S2CID   60969160.
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  8. STRANGER IN THE MIDST | Kirkus Reviews.
  9. "Be Trish". UsAgainstAlzheimer's Action. July 6, 2017. Retrieved March 11, 2023.
  10. Roberts, Sam (April 19, 2017). "Trish Vradenburg, Crusader Against Alzheimer's, Dies at 70". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved March 11, 2023.
  11. "Trish Vradenburg z'l 1946–2017: In Memorium". read.dukeupress.edu. Retrieved April 4, 2023.
  12. https://jweekly.com/2024/04/10/tikkun-magazine-to-close-after-nearly-40-years/
  13. Tikkun 5 Year Anthology edited by Michael Lerner . Tikkun Books. 1992. ISBN   978-0935933031.
  14. "A variety of perspectives on Elie Wiesel - Tikkun". www.tikkun.org. July 4, 2016. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  15. Goren, Biranit (July 13, 2016). "Critics Still Targeting Wiesel". Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Retrieved April 3, 2023.
  16. "Disclaimer". Tikkun. p. 4.
  17. "Ask the Rabbi". Archived from the original on December 31, 2006. Retrieved February 7, 2007.
  18. "History". The Network of Spiritual Progressives. Retrieved March 11, 2023.
  19. Wisse, Ruth (1992). If I Am Not For Myself: The Liberal Betrayal of the Jews, pp. 29 ff. Free Press.
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  23. Leslie Katz (March 21, 1997). "Tikkun editor calls letter-writing policy 'a mistake'". Jewish News Weekly of Northern California. Retrieved September 30, 2010.
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