Tikkun - Get Your Hebrew Right

I first saw this letter which was informative:-

I was interested to read that Leawood, Kan., a suburb of Kansas City, is the home of Shabbat in the Hood (“Challenging Tradition, Young Jews Worship on Their Terms,” news article, Nov. 28).

When I was growing up in another Kansas City suburb in the 1950s and early 1960s, my Jewish family was not welcome to live in Leawood. With very few exceptions, this no-Jews exclusion was ably enforced, without much fuss, by the developer and real estate agents who sold homes there.

This approach reflected the kind of delicate, white-glove “I’m sure you can understand” anti-Semitism that was so prevalent in the heart of the Midwest at that time and that determined what clubs and sororities I could belong to — vital matters to an unsophisticated adolescent.

When I moved to New York City in my 20s, I was happy to find that I didn’t need to play down my Jewishness and that to the extent I ever encountered anti-Semitism, it was of the much easier to deal with, in-your-face variety.

Judy Liebman
Tucson

which led me to the original article:-

Challenging Tradition, Young Jews Worship on Their Terms

It's an okay Jewish article, if you're into "cultural Judaism" which means copy what the Goyim are doing but do it in Hebrew on Shabbat and Festival days.

But there is one thing these young people with their guitars, etc., should know about this section in the piece:-

Members of the minyanim are looking for “redemptive, transformative experiences that give rhythm to their days and weeks and give meaning to their lives,” said Joelle Novey, 28, a founder of Tikkun Leil Shabbat, whose name alludes to the Jewish concept of tikkun olam, or repairing the world. It is an experience they are not finding in traditional Jewish institutions, she said.

Actually, I think, Joelle is mistaken. Tikkun Leil Shabbat is probably adopted from the ancient (not modern) custom of staying up all night on Shavuot eve and also Hoshanna Rabba eve and learning from the ancient works, you know, the Bible, the Talmud, the Zohar, etc.

The word Tikkun in that context has nothing to do with Tikkun Olam. It simply means the corpus of texts to study as was fixed for that evening.

These kids, as well-meaning as they are in trying to keep Judaism alive, should at least know Hebrew.