View source for Tikkun (magazine)

{{Short description|American magazine}}
{{About|the Jewish left-progressive magazine|the French philosophical journal|Tiqqun}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2013}}
{{Infobox magazine
| title = 
| image_file = Tik0701.jpg
| image_size = <!-- 220px (the default if no size is stated) -->
| image_alt = 
| image_caption = January/February 2007 issue
| editor = [[Michael Lerner (rabbi)|Michael Lerner]]
| editor_title = 
| previous_editor = 
| staff_writer = 
| frequency = quarterly
| circulation = 18,000<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/new_york/liberal_lion_autumn|title=A Liberal Lion In Autumn|website=Jewish Week|author=Jonathan Mark|date=March 14, 2011|access-date=October 6, 2016}}</ref>
| category = 
| finaldate = May 2024
| company = 
| publisher = [[Duke University Press]]
| founded = {{Start date|1986}}
| country = United States
| based = [[Berkeley, California]]
| language = 
| website = {{URL|http://www.tikkun.org}}
| issn = 0887-9982
}}
'''''Tikkun''''' was a quarterly [[Jewish left|progressive Jewish]] and [[Interfaith dialogue|interfaith]] magazine and website published in the [[United States]] that analyzed [[Culture of the United States|American]] and [[Israeli culture]], politics, religion, and history in the [[English language]]. The magazine consistently published the work of [[Israelis|Israeli]] and [[Palestinian people|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]]''<ref>{{cite journal|title= Spiritual Coverage: Tikkun |journal=Utne Reader|date= January–February 2007 |access-date=March 4, 2016|url= http://www.utne.com/issues/2006_139/features/12371-1.html |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080907065256/http://www.utne.com/issues/2006_139/features/12371-1.html |archive-date=September 7, 2008|quote= 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}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|title= Winners of the 2011 Utne Independent Press Awards |journal=Utne Reader|date= April 12, 2011 |access-date=March 4, 2016|url= http://www.utne.com/Utne-Independent-Press-Award-Winners-2011.aspx|quote= Illuminated by the Jewish faith but accessible to all, Tikkun aims to 'mend, repair and transform the world'}}</ref> for its analysis of the inability of many progressives to understand people's yearning for faith and the American [[fundamentalist]]s' political influence on the international conflict among religious [[zealots]].

The magazine was founded in 1986<ref>{{cite news|author=Joseph Berger|title=New Liberal Jewish Magazine Aims Fire at Commentary and Stirs Internal Protests|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/10/21/us/new-liberal-jewish-magazine-aims-fire-at-commentary-and-stirs-internal-protests.html|access-date=February 10, 2017|work=The New York Times|date=December 21, 1986}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=Steve Black|title=Life spans of Library Journal's "Best Magazines of the Year"|journal=Serials Review|date=2009|volume=35|issue=4|pages=213–217|doi=10.1080/00987913.2009.10765248|s2cid=60969160 }}</ref> by [[Michael Lerner (rabbi)|Michael Lerner]] and his then-wife, Nan Fink Gefen. From 2012 onward, its publisher was [[Duke University Press]]. Beyt Tikkun Synagogue, with Michael Lerner as its rabbi, was loosely affiliated with ''Tikkun'' magazine. It described itself as a "[[Halakha|hallachic]] community bound by Jewish law".<ref name="Founding">{{cite web|url=http://www.beyttikkun.org/fmd/files/FoundingPerspective.pdf|title=Founding Perspective|work=Beyt Tikkun|access-date=February 6, 2008|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20081002001335/http://beyttikkun.org/fmd/files/foundingperspective.pdf|archive-date=October 2, 2008|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

In April 2024, the magazine announced it was ceasing publication due to a lack of funding and the poor health of Lerner (who could not find a successor).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lerner |first=Michael |date=2024-04-11 |title=Tikkun is Closing |url=https://www.tikkun.org/tikkun-is-closing/ |access-date=2024-07-26 |website=Tikkun |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Esensten |first=Andrew |date=April 10, 2024 |title=Tikkun magazine to close after nearly 40 years |url=https://jweekly.com/2024/04/10/tikkun-magazine-to-close-after-nearly-40-years/ |access-date=July 26, 2024 |website=J. The Jewish News of Northern California}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Green Kaiser |first=Jo Ellen |date=2024-04-15 |title=What losing Tikkun means to me — and to the rest of the Jewish world |url=https://forward.com/culture/602833/tikkun-magazine-closing-tikkun-olam-michael-lerner/ |access-date=2024-07-26 |website=The Forward |language=en}}</ref>

==Origin and meaning of the name==
The magazine's title came from mystical Hebrew concept ''[[Tikkun Olam|tikkun olam]]'' ({{langx|he|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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Tikkun Magazine – Nan Fink Gefen |url=https://www.nangefen.com/publishing-tikkun/ |access-date=2023-03-11 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/nan-fink/stranger-in-the-midst/ |title=STRANGER IN THE MIDST {{!}} Kirkus Reviews |language=en}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2017-07-06 |title=Be Trish |url=https://www.usagainstalzheimersaction.org/blog/be-trish |access-date=2023-03-11 |website=UsAgainstAlzheimer's Action |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Roberts |first=Sam |date=2017-04-19 |title=Trish Vradenburg, Crusader Against Alzheimer's, Dies at 70 |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/19/us/trish-vradenburg-dies.html |access-date=2023-03-11 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | editor1=Lerner, Michael |title=Trish Vradenburg z'l 1946–2017: In Memorium |url=https://read.dukeupress.edu/tikkun/article-abstract/32/3/8/130508/Trish-Vradenburg-z-l-1946-2017In-Memorium?redirectedFrom=fulltext |access-date=2023-04-04 |website=read.dukeupress.edu | date=August 2017 | volume=32 | issue=3 | pages=8 | doi=10.1215/08879982-4295135 | url-access=subscription }}</ref>

==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,<ref>{{cite book|title=Tikkun 5 Year Anthology edited by Michael Lerner|publisher=Tikkun Books|year=1992|isbn=978-0935933031|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/tikkuntohealrepa00mich}}</ref> 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,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2016-07-04 |title=A variety of perspectives on Elie Wiesel - Tikkun |url=https://www.tikkun.org/a-variety-of-perspectives-on-elie-wiesel/ |access-date=2023-04-03 |website=www.tikkun.org |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Goren |first=Biranit |date=2016-07-13 |title=Critics Still Targeting Wiesel |url=https://www.jta.org/2016/07/13/ny/critics-still-targeting-wiesel |access-date=2023-04-03 |website=Jewish Telegraphic Agency |language=en-US}}</ref> 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 was stated that its articles "do not necessarily reflect ''Tikkun's'' position on any issue",<ref>{{cite news|title=Disclaimer|publisher=Tikkun|page=4}}</ref> and its editor, Rabbi Michael Lerner, has written that he "often consciously seeks to print articles with which he disagrees".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tikkun.org/rabbi_lerner/ask_the_rabbi_form|title=Ask the Rabbi|access-date=February 7, 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061231025743/http://www.tikkun.org/rabbi_lerner/ask_the_rabbi_form|archive-date=December 31, 2006|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

==''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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=History |url=https://spiritualprogressives.org/who-we-are/history/ |access-date=2023-03-11 |website=The Network of Spiritual Progressives |language=en-US}}</ref> 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 (American magazine)|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."<ref name="Wisse">{{cite book |last1=Wisse |first1=Ruth |title=If I Am Not For Myself: The Liberal Betrayal of the Jews, pp. 29 ff. |date=1992 |publisher=Free Press}}</ref>

===Accusations of antisemitism===
In 2005 [[Manfred Gerstenfeld]] cited an article published by ''Tikkun'' &mdash; [[Joel Kovel]]’s "On Left Anti-Semitism and the Special Status of Israel" (May/June 2003) &mdash; as one of two examples of "essays of Jewish authors using anti-Semitic arguments".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jcpa.org/phas/phas-30.htm |title=Jews against Israel |first=Manfred |last=Gerstenfeld |publisher=Post-Holocaust and Anti-Semitism |date=March 1, 2005 |access-date=February 7, 2007}}</ref> 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".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=3597|title=On Left anti-Semitism and the Special Status of Israel|author=Joel Kovel|work=Tikkun|date=May–June 2003|access-date=February 7, 2007|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929130547/http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=3597|archive-date=September 29, 2007|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

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".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/module/displaystory/story_id/30647/edition_id/575/format/html/displaystory.html|title=The accusation: 'Moral pervert' hit piece shouldn't have been spread|author=Alan Dershowitz|work=The Jewish News Weekly of Northern California|date=October 20, 2006|access-date=February 7, 2007}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jewishsf.com/content/2-0-/module/displaystory/story_id/5763/edition_id/107/formathtml/displaystory.html |title=Tikkun editor calls letter-writing policy 'a mistake' |date=March 21, 1997|author=Leslie Katz|work=Jewish News Weekly of Northern California|access-date=September 30, 2010}}</ref>

== Contributors ==
Notable contributors have included [[Sidra DeKoven Ezrahi]],<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ezrahi |first1=Sidra Dekoven |title=A Great Yearning Fills Them All… |url=https://read.dukeupress.edu/tikkun/article-abstract/25/6/64/99968/A-Great-Yearning-Fills-Them-All |access-date=2023-04-04 |journal=Tikkun |date=2010 |volume=25 |issue=6 |pages=64–66 |doi=10.1215/08879982-2010-6024 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> [[Everett Gendler]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Everett Gendler - Tikkun |url=https://www.tikkun.org/author/a_gendlere/ |access-date=2023-04-04 |website=www.tikkun.org |date=January 2011 |language=en-US}}</ref> [[Arthur Waskow]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=Rabbi Arthur Waskow - Tikkun |url=https://www.tikkun.org/author/a_waskowa/ |access-date=2023-04-04 |website=www.tikkun.org |language=en-US}}</ref> and [[Jeremy Ben-Ami]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=The New Zionist Imperative Is to Tell Israel the Truth |url=https://read.dukeupress.edu/tikkun/article-abstract/25/5/53/81292/The-New-Zionist-Imperative-Is-to-Tell-Israel-the |access-date=2023-04-04 |website=read.dukeupress.edu}}</ref>

=== Notable interviews ===

* [[Noam Chomsky]]<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-07-19 |title=Interview with Noam Chomsky - Tikkun |url=https://www.tikkun.org/interview-with-noam-chomsky/ |access-date=2023-05-02 |website=www.tikkun.org |language=en-US}}</ref>
* [[Ehud Barak]]<ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-06-10 |title=Interview with Ehud Barak (former Prime Minister of Israel) and Steve Zunes' response - Tikkun |url=https://www.tikkun.org/interview-with-ehud-barak-former-prime-minister-of-israel-and-steve-zunes-response/ |access-date=2023-05-02 |website=www.tikkun.org |language=en-US}}</ref>
* [[Nicholas Kristof]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=October 1 - 15, 2005 Global News Monitor - Prevent Genocide International |url=http://www.preventgenocide.org/news-monitor/2005oct1.htm |access-date=2023-05-02 |website=www.preventgenocide.org}}</ref>
* [[Jim Moran]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=Judis |first=John |date=October 3, 2007 |title=Moran Down: The Groups Who Cried Anti-Semitism |url=https://carnegieendowment.org/posts/2007/10/moran-down-the-groups-who-cried-anti-semitism?lang=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201217093432/https://carnegieendowment.org/2007/10/03/moran-down-groups-who-cried-anti-semitism-pub-19646 |url-status=live |archive-date=December 17, 2020 |access-date=May 9, 2023 |website=Carnegie Endowment for International Peace}}</ref>

== Awards ==
Tikkun won the Magazine of the Year: Overall Excellence award from the [[Religion Newswriters Association]] in 2014 and 2015.<ref>{{Cite web |title=2014 RNA Contest Winners |url=https://rna.org/2014-rna-contest-winners |access-date=2023-06-12 |website=Religion News Association |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=2015 RNA Contest Winners |url=https://rna.org/2015-rna-contest-winners |access-date=2023-06-12 |website=Religion News Association |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2015-10-02 |title=Tikkun cited for best religion coverage |url=https://jweekly.com/2015/10/02/tikkun-cited-for-best-religion-coverage/ |access-date=2023-06-12 |website=J. The Jewish News of Northern California |language=en-US}}</ref> The magazine also received the [[Simon Rockower Award]] for Excellence in Special Sections or Supplements in 2009.<ref>{{Cite web |title=AJPA - 2009 Competition |url=https://www.ajpa.org/2009-Competition |access-date=2023-06-12 |website=www.ajpa.org}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist|colwidth=35em}}

==External links==
*{{Official website|http://www.tikkun.org/magazine}}
*[https://www.tikkun.org/nextgen/the-tikkun-archive ''Tikkun'' magazine archives] 
*[https://www.tikkun.org/tikkundaily/ Tikkun Daily] - ''Tikkun'' magazine's daily blog
{{Organized Jewish Life in the United States}}{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tikkun (magazine)}}
[[Category:Political magazines published in the United States]]
[[Category:Quarterly magazines published in the United States]]
[[Category:Duke University Press academic journals]]
[[Category:Interfaith dialogue]]
[[Category:Jewish magazines published in the United States]]
[[Category:Judaism and other religions]]
[[Category:Magazines established in 1986]]
[[Category:1986 establishments in California]]
[[Category:Magazines published in the San Francisco Bay Area]]