Source: R. Heschel, The Prophets (1962); Aleinu prayer (medieval); Tikkun magazine (Michael Lerner, 1986); World Union for Progressive Judaism.

Ancient origins in the Aleinu prayer’s eschatological vision (l’takken olam b’malkhut Shaddai) and Lurianic Kabbalah. In the late 20th century, dramatically democratized and politicized. R. Heschel marching with Martin Luther King Jr. at Selma (1965) — ‘I felt my legs were praying’ — becomes paradigmatic: social justice activism as teshuvah. His The Prophets reads Amos, Isaiah, Micah’s justice demands as the authentic heart of biblical religion. Tension within contemporary Judaism: between classical Lurianic meaning (individual mystical repair through mitzvot) and progressive meaning (collective social justice activism).