Tikkun Olam: ISRAEL VS COVID 19, Book Review

Tikkun Olam: ISRAEL VS COVID 19: How is One of the Planet's Smallest Countries Helping to Tackle the World's Biggest Challenge? by Jodie Cohen is headed with: "Tikkun Olam." I found the book fascinating, but I wonder if Tikkun Olam was the true impetus for the early successes of Israeli start-ups and science/medical researchers in the "fight against" corona virus aka COVID 19.

Tikkun Olam literally means "repairing the world."

Tikkun Olam: In Jewish teachings, any activity that improves the world, bringing it closer to the harmonious state for which it was created.
Tikkun olam implies that while the world is innately good, its Creator purposely left room for us to improve upon His work.
All human activities are opportunities to fulfill this mission, and every human being can be involved in tikkun olam—child or adult, student or entrepreneur, industrialist or artist, caregiver or salesperson, political activist or environmentalist, or just another one of us struggling to keep afloat.

Tikkun Olam is a popular label, rationale. Many Jews of all persuasions tend to adopt/embrace philosophies, politics, visions and aims far removed from Traditional Jewish Values, label them as "Tikkun Olam" and then promote them as if Gd commanded. That's why I try to avoid that label.

As Israeli medical researchers and scientists quickly rushed into Olympic finals for innovations and cures to banish the dangers of COVID 19, I think it was more the pragmatic A Cure Needs to be Found and the innately Israeli competitive instinct We Must Win or We Die rather than Tikkun Olam. Don't forget that Israel's medical industry is a big money-maker, and you make more money when you're first.

Sorry for this negative sounding introduction. It's not to put down all that amazing facts listed in Jodie Cohen's Tikkun Olam: ISRAEL VS COVID 19: How is One of the Planet's Smallest Countries Helping to Tackle the World's Biggest Challenge?

Tikkun Olam: ISRAEL VS COVID 19: How is One of the Planet's Smallest Countries Helping to Tackle the World's Biggest Challenge? tells the stories behind the scenes in the quest to find cures. Cohen also mentions various Israeli organizations that help people all over the world in numbers and effectiveness far beyond our small numbers. This unique combination of competition, "do-gooding," improvisation and risk-taking is very much the Israeli persona.

Having spent half a century living in Israel, we made aliyah (moved here) as newlyweds, I take Israel's success as "normal." To me, the rest of the world suffers some sort of "disability," and that includes the Jews who still reside there.

I recommend ISRAEL VS COVID 19: How is One of the Planet's Smallest Countries Helping to Tackle the World's Biggest Challenge? because I like to brag about the great things we're doing here in Israel. And even more, it's food for thought, definitely not limited to a dry science report.

When thinking of Israel as a "start-up nation," it's important to examine the wide range of patents and breakthroughs Israelis can be credited with. This information, as of June, 2020, will be found in  ISRAEL VS COVID 19: How is One of the Planet's Smallest Countries Helping to Tackle the World's Biggest Challenge?

Product details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Minterne (June 12, 2020)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9655992217
• ISBN-13: 978-9655992212
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.3 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.7 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)