Column by CRUSY SA/TO Vice President Jacob Hutt

When I began my term as Regional SA/TO Vice President, I realized that this question is one that most people don’t really have an answer to.  My job is to figure out the answer to that question, and I hope you’ll accept what I’ve come up with.  SA/TO for Social Action/Tikkun Olam.  Some people may tell you that social action means community service and that tikkun olam means raising money.  Sure a “TO program” raises money, and a “social action project” usually means going out into the community, but these should not be mistaken for definitions.  Let’s take it one word at a time.  “Social” refers to human relations, and “action” is a purposeful process.  Therefore, there’s nothing about social action that automatically means it’s a good thing.  I could incite a group of people to riot in downtown Cleveland and that would be social action.  Let’s continue… “Tikkun” is a Hebrew word which translates into mending a flaw, and “olam” is the Hebrew word for world.  Easy enough, right?  Mending flaws in the world is a correct definition of Tikkun olam.  But the beauty of SA/TO is the slash.  I love the slash, because the slash is what links the two.  To me, it seems clear that this action we are taking on society is done for the purpose of perfecting our world.  Tikkun olam is just something we can study and talk about until we take the action. SA is nothing but action without TO, and TO is nothing but an idealistic hope without SA.  SA/TO is a brilliant way for us to make changes in the problematic world of today.