The Tikun Movement for Social and Cultural Renewal in Israel, established in December 2012 and led by Dr. Meir Buzaglo, unites a select and diverse group of influential leaders in Israel's educational, social and academic domains with extensive professional experience in heading organizations dedicated to social change, Jewish renewal and the establishment of a sustainable and just society. Together, we seek to influence and inspire the leading and influential public figures who shape Israel's society, education and culture.
The Tikun membership shares the understanding that the urgent need for change in Israel goes beyond any specific domain or program. In view of the challenges faced by the Jewish people in general and by Israel and its citizens in particular, Jewish traditions and symbols need to be brought up to date. Current issues of faith and liberty in Israeli society impact the entire Jewish world and require clarification today more than ever before. Such clarification and renewal would bring a boon to the social, identity issues we face and contribute to the development of a genuinely shared society - between Jews of different religious streams and ethnicities as well as between Jews and Muslims. Of no less significance, it would provide an exceptional opportunity to expand and enrich Jewish meaning in our day.
The Tikun Movement's Mission
Tikun seeks to advance social and cultural change in Israeli society on the basis of Jewish and democratic values of social justice; to transform, reframe and renew Israel's social and cultural values in terms of the universal human values fundamental to Judaism through the renewal of Jewish symbols in Israel's public sphere and their reinterpretation in contemporary and relevant terms.
Tikun promotes the cultivation of diversity in identity, empowering the masorati [traditional] identity and highlighting the Sephardi and mizrachi Jewish experience as a prime example of the rich potential to be found in breaking down the dichotomies that dominate Israeli society.
The discourse on representation and recognition does not even nearly exhaust the potential to be found in the cultural heritage of Jews from Islamic lands. The Jewish-Arab cultural heritage carries the promise of a bridge that can mediate shared existence between Arabs and Jews – in Israel, the Middle East region, and throughout the world.
By empowering and promoting tolerant, traditional (masorati) Jewish identity and highlighting the shared culture of Jews and Muslims, Tikun rallies a broad spectrum of Israel's diverse population that professes loyalty to Jewish tradition towards a new consensus on shared existence with Israel's Arab population and neighboring countries.
Renewing Jewish Symbols: Shabbat as a leading example
The renewal and implementation of fundamentally Jewish human values require new conceptualizations of ancient traditions. Among Tikun's avenues of social action is the enhancement of the public's understanding of the potential role of Shabbat in Israeli society. Both the Halachic understanding of Shabbat and the vitriolic discourse on religious coercion overlook the beneficent potential of Shabbat for family life, community development and personal growth. We consider the Sabbath to be an essential component of human dignity and justice in the establishment of a sustainable and balanced society in Israel, and maintain a
prominent and activist presence in the discourse on the issue led in the Knesset, media and Israel's civil society organizations.
Tikun has been instrumental in consolidating leading initiatives in the recent renewal of Shabbat in Israel's public sphere as a shared and contemporary value. Knesset members, Jewish Renewal leaders and social change organizations and philanthropic foundations (notably the Avi Chai Foundation's new program) are now joining efforts in a new conceptualization of Shabbat values that will cultivate social sustainability, progressive employment rights and duties, and shared culture by maintaining mutual respect between members of different religious convictions.
Cultivating Jewish – Muslim Friendship: Mimouna in Renewal
For Jews of the Maghreb, the last night of Passover and its following day have been a celebration of redemption, renewal and friendship for many centuries. The Mimouna celebrations have since become an integral part of popular Jewish Israeli culture. As part of our collaboration with Alliance – Kol Israel Haverim, Tikun produced a series of cultural events (including study sessions, lectures, panels and publications), focused on expanding the Mimouna concept as a celebration of Jewish-Arab friendship to serve as an inspiration for increased social awareness of a shared Israeli society. The nation-wide Mimouna events were led and produced in collaboration with the Tikun Young Trustees.
Current programs
The Voices from the Maghreb conference Tikun held during the summer of 2014 was a first strategic step in an innovative program aimed to reestablish the unique and historic affinity between the Jews - in Israel and throughout the world - and Muslims of the Maghreb. We intend to build upon this affinity and to join forces in establishing a covenant against the alarming trends we are witnessing in our region and beyond, and to provide a leading example of shared existence between our respective peoples and religions.
In January 2017 Tikun launched the first Matrouz conference, hosting a delegation of Muslim cultural, educational and social leaders from Morocco in Israel and attended by over 250 individuals. The conference's six seminars each hosted over 30 leading academics, educators, social activists and artists, and its delegation was welcomed in the Knesset by a group of 9 Knesset members.
Matrouz was a pioneering effort and pilot program that will be followed by additional and larger scale international encounters, aimed at generating a new dialogue to promote peace in the region. Tikun's objective is to articulate avenues of potential collaboration in joint projects highlighting Jewish and Arab common ground that will capitalize on the promise of a renewed Jewish-Arab friendship for the future of shared existence in the Middle East.