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NEW YORK — In a popular joke, a group of American Jewish tourists in Israel ask their tour guide, "How do you say tikkun olam in Hebrew?"

Tikkun olam, of course, is a Hebrew term, one that describes the Jewish obligation to repair the world.

The joke's humor lay in the fact that many American Jews are more literate in social activism than in Hebrew.

But according to a new study, most American Jews not only don't know tikkun olam is Hebrew, but aren't even familiar with its meaning.

And with only 31 percent reporting that Israel is personally very meaningful to their Jewish identity, chances are they won't be asking Israeli tour guides much of anything, much less visiting.

The findings were two pieces of a recent study measuring American Jewish attitudes toward "social justice," a somewhat vague term that can fit a variety of causes, depending on one's politics.

The study's major finding — that American Jews remain strongly supportive of predominantly liberal social justice causes — is being used to promote the new organization that commissioned it.

Amos: The National Jewish Partnership for Social Justice, was officially launched in April. It aims to place social justice higher on the Jewish communal agenda and to provide training and other support for Jewish groups that want to address social justice issues.

Amos' founding comes as a number of people tout social justice and community service as a means of engaging unaffiliated young Jews. Their efforts include:

*Partnership for Service, a new organization in its planning stages, seeking to increase community service rates among young Jews while teaching what Jewish tradition has to say about volunteering.

*Tzedek Hillel, a project through which several campus Hillels are focusing on volunteer efforts, including spring break programs where students do things like build houses for the poor.

*A Jewish Peace Corps, in which several Jewish organizations would join forces to get recent college grads to commit to a year or two of service, combined with Jewish learning.

The study, based on phone interviews with 1,002 U.S. Jews, indicates strong Jewish support for social justice. But it also reveals a fundamental paradox that likely will affect Amos and similar efforts.

The overwhelming majority of American Jews say social activism is important to their identity as Jews, and they feel proud that Jewish organizations do social justice work. Some 56 percent say social justice is more important to their Jewish identity than Torah or text study.

Nonetheless, a clear majority — 74 percent — don't care whether their own social activism falls under Jewish or secular auspices.

"If you don't perceive your community as sponsoring social justice activities, you're not going to say you prefer to do them with other Jews," said Leonard Fein, the founder of Mazon, a Jewish hunger-relief organization and one of Amos' architects.

Jewish organizations need to address the "big issues of our time" to show Judaism's relevance, Fein said.

However, not everyone interprets the survey as a clarion call for more social justice activities.

When Elliott Abrams sees surveys showing that for many Jews, the meaning of Jewish identity is social justice, "I worry, because among other things that doesn't tell you why you shouldn't marry a Unitarian," said the president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, a conservative think-tank in Washington. "I don't know that spending more energy on those activities is an effective strategy for Jewish continuity in America."

Abrams, who serves on the advisory committee of the American Jewish Committee, said selection of social justice causes should be done on the basis of "the higher the Jewishcontent, the better."

"Jewish groups have to be very careful not to allow partisan politics or ideological politics to creep in," he said.

It is not yet clear how Amos will manage to assist Jewish organizations and champion social justice while avoiding controversy over its choice of causes.

Amos' survey indicates that American Jews' favorite causes include abortion rights, fighting anti-Semitism, obtaining access to affordable health care and strengthening gun control laws.

Few causes enjoy complete consensus, though.

In recent years, a number of Jewish leaders, particularly Republicans, have questioned community activism on issues that are not explicitly of Jewish concern.

In 1999, top leaders with UJA-Federation of Greater New York urged the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, which coordinates the policies of Jewish organizations on social issues, to narrow its focus to issues of direct concern to the Jewish community, such as elder care and Jewish rescue.

The JCPA and the United Jewish Communities, the federation umbrella organization, still are hammering out what role each should play on social justice issues.

However, Hannah Rosenthal, the JCPA's executive director, downplayed the lack of consensus.

A recent survey conducted by the JCPA showed that the "overwhelming majority of Jewish federation donors support social justice public policy and efforts," she said.

In particular, Rosenthal said, there is widespread support not just for aiding Jews living in poverty, but for "public policy that deals with the poor throughout the country."

Diana Aviv, the UJC's vice president for public policy and a board member of Amos, said, "As the federation system thinks about what its own mission is, the scope of the work it engages in relative to its resources may be a subject for federations to talk about, but federations do embrace social justice.

"We work on immigration issues not just so Soviet Jewish refugees can come, but so that we have generous policy for all," Aviv said. "When we work for better conditions in our nursing homes, it's for all recipients, not just for Jews."

It is not yet clear how large Amos will be, how it will be funded or how many organizations it will work with. It has a preliminary arrangement to work with the JCPA on poverty-related issues, and for now is being funded primarily by three private Jewish foundations.

Rabbi Sid Schwarz is founder and director of the Washington Institute for Jewish Leadership and Values, which offers teen and adult seminars on the connection between Judaism and social activism. He said he welcomes Amos.

However, Amos needs to stick to its mission of training and consulting, and not champion specific causes, Schwarz said.

"Some of the principals in Amos, when they see issues they just start to salivate," Schwarz said. "Unless they discipline themselves in this area, they'll quickly become a shadow of the JCPA."

Rosenthal said she thinks Amos will augment, not duplicate, the JCPA's work by helping to train leaders and mobilize resources.

"They are the increased capacity that local communities cannot afford," Rosenthal said. "It's a perfect fit."

For more JTA stories, go to http://www.jta.org