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weitendorftoday at 6:43 PM0 repliesview on HN

A formative moment for me was reading Richard Stallman's writing on the GNU website and seeing him quote [0] Rabbi Hillel [1]:

"If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?"

This inspired me to seek out more about Rabbinic Judaism and its theology more deeply, and I found the language and analogies concerning the idea of "repairing the world" (which you referenced, but which I think at first glance aren't necessarily something most people would identify as a specific core doctrinal theme) particularly inspiring [2]. To me it's frankly beautiful and something I recommend anybody interested in metaphysics or ethics/morality looking into; it also ties into the Kabbalah. IMO this aspect of Jewish theology deserves to be more widely known because it's something all of us can learn from.

[0] https://www.gnu.org/gnu/thegnuproject.html

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillel_the_Elder

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tikkun_olam