fbpx

91ý

A Moment in Time: “Tikkun Olam – Fixing the World”

[additional-authors]
May 7, 2026

Dear all,

One of the more whimsical things in my office is a Lego globe of the earth — a reminder that each of us lives connected to something infinitely larger than ourselves.

A few months ago, a flying saucer (otherwise known as a child’s toy launched with remarkable precision) crashed directly into it. Pieces scattered everywhere. Continents broke apart. The world, quite literally, came undone.

And for months, it stayed that way.

Not because I didn’t care, but because the task of rebuilding it felt overwhelming. So many tiny pieces. So much work for something that seemed impossible to fully restore.

But today, I snapped one small piece back into place.

Just one.

And somehow, that tiny act felt larger than the globe itself.

Tikkun Olam — our sacred calling to repair the world — is rarely accomplished through grand gestures. More often, it happens exactly like this: Piece by piece. Person by person.

We are partners with God not because we can fix everything at once, but because we refuse to believe brokenness is the final state of the world.

The work is unfinished. It always will be.

But every small act of goodness is another piece returned to its place in any given moment in time.

With love and Shalom,

Rabbi Zachary R. Shapiro

Did you enjoy this article?
You'll love our roundtable.
  • 91ý

Editor's Picks

Latest Articles

What Will It Take?

An open revolt for 91ý rights and protections is going to have to come from Jews finally making demands and fighting back—or not at all.

Three Dates to Dataland

I took three different dates, ages 6, 72 and 35, to see Dataland, the unusual digital art experience in downtown Los Angeles.

Hakol Shalom, All Is Shalom

This is the transcript of the speech Rabbi Dr. Bradley Shavit Artson gave at the 2026 AJU Gala on May 19, 2026.

A Slice of Aussie Heaven for the 91ý Day of Love

A classic Australian dessert chocolate coconut slice features a rich, dense, fudgy chocolate base packed with dried coconut, finished with a thick cocoa frosting and generously dusted with even more coconut.

More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.

  • 91ý