Tikkun Olam in Tel Aviv-Jaffa was founded in 2004 as part of the Bina
b'Schuna project. Bina b'Schuna, which means Bina in the Neighborhood,
seeks to work within troubled neighborhoods to affect positive change
for those living there by having its volunteers truly become part of the
neighborhood by making their homes there. Tikkun Olam in Tel Aviv, as
the program was originally called, was founded to give young Jews from
outside of Israel the opportunity to take part in that exciting project.
In its first year, Tikkun Olam in Tel Aviv won the MASA Award for
Program Excellence – no small feat for a program just getting off the
ground. In its second year, the participants from Tikkun Olam helped
open the first Secular Yeshiva, located in southern Tel Aviv. Two years
later, the program expanded by offering a new 5-month option, and was
awarded a MASA Outstanding Volunteering award.
The next year, Bina welcomed new organizing partners, The Daniel
Centers for Progressive Judaism and the Union for Reform Judaism in
bringing young Jews to put tikkun olam into action in Tel Aviv, and
added the new Jaffa track. The program, now called Tikkun Olam in Tel
Aviv-Jaffa, offers more options to its participants, while greatly
expanding those participants' capacity to affect positive change in
Israel's largest metropolitan area.
For more information: Tikkun Olam.