The Concept of the Chosen People

 Parshat VaEtchanan

by Rabbi Avi Billet

At least twice in Va’Eschanan, Moshe makes a reference to the people of Israel being chosen by God. Anyone who can read would understand that the “chosenness” of which we speak is not a measure of “greatness” but is a measure of “mission,” meaning that the Jewish people were chosen to fulfill a particular mission in this world. 

 An essay which begins with such a pronouncement could go on for many pages, but since there is limited space here, we will explore how the selected verses in question demonstrate this notion, leaving out any judgments of peoples, of faiths, and of brainpower. The only “religious” component of chosenness is the basic tenet that there is one God. Anyone who serves or worships idolatry rejects the mission. And, to state what most of us know, while one need not become Jewish to exist in the community of God, there are virtually no barriers to entry to become Jewish, beyond the actual commitment to God, the Torah, and the Jewish people, which are basic requirements. 

 The first reference to chosenness comes in to the context of Moshe giving Advice about committing to lives of justice, being righteous, and not forgetting and veering from Godly ways…Don’t forget the miracles you saw… not to view heavenly beings (sun, moon, etc) as Godlike 

4:20 But you, God Himself took, and He brought you out of the iron crucible that was Egypt, so that you would be His heritage nation, as you are today. 

Moving on the in the same chapter, Moshe explains how God was angry with him because of the actions of the people and warns them to avoid the traps of idolatry, and teaching their children of idolatry. 

37 It was because He loved your fathers, and chose their children after them, that [God] Himself brought you out of Egypt with His great power. 38 He will drive away before you nations that are greater and stronger than you, so as to bring you to their lands, and give them to you as a heritage, as [He is doing] today. 

Did you notice that the other nations are “greater and stronger” than Israel? If there is an acknowledgement that they are “greater and stronger” why would anyone care that God has told Israel they are “chosen?” They are clearly chosen for a mission He has for them, and NOT because they are “better.” 

Towards the end of the parsha, in chapter 7, Moshe describes what arrival in the Promised Land will look like, including some important reminders such as how to deal with the inhabitants, avoid intermarriage and idolatry, etc 

 7:6 You are a holy nation to the Lord your God for God has chosen you to be his treasured nation of all the nations on earth. 7 It was not because you had greater numbers than all the other nations that God embraced you and chose you; you are among the smallest of all the nations. 8 It was because of God's love for you, and because He was keeping the oath that He made to your fathers. God therefore brought you out with a mighty hand, liberating you from the slave house, [and] from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt…. 11 Therefore keep and safeguard commandments that I am commanding you today to do. 

Never once does God say “You are better than My other children – all of humanity.” He DOES say “I loved your fathers” “You are of the smallest of nations” and “it was because of God’s love for you…” 

Around 25 years ago, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks presented a series of Faith Lectures, and one of them was titled, “Jewish Identity: The Concept of a Chosen People.” The following is an excerpt from the transcript of that lecture. 

 You know that Judaism is the world’s first monotheism. Is it the only monotheism? It gives rise to – Christianity, and then to Islam. And you know that both of them consciously acknowledge their debt to Judaism, Christianity through Tanach – what is called in Christianity the Old Testament; Islam, to Avraham and Sarah. They trace their descent through Ishmael. But one way or another they consciously acknowledge their debt to Judaism. They are variations on a theme, whatever. 

However, it is interesting that whereas both Christianity and Islam took over monotheism from Judaism, they did not take over from Judaism its single most striking feature – which makes it structurally rare. And, for all I know, structurally unique in the monotheisms of the world. Possibly Sikhism is that, but I don’t know. But that is a much more recent phenomenon. And here it is – that Judaism is a particularist monotheism which neither Christianity nor Islam is. 

Let us state what that means. Number one: the God of Judaism is the God of the whole world. But, number two, the faith of Judaism is not the faith of all the world. It never was intended to be. This is very remarkable. Christianity and Islam were both universal monotheisms. They said that since there is only one God, there is only true religion and, therefore, that there is only one way to find salvation. ‘Be one of us!’ Extra ecclesium non est salus – ‘Outside the church no-one is saved’. That is logic. Only one God; there is only religion. I just told you that Judaism is not logical. It is dialogical. It’s a different kind of approach to reality all along. That is why Judaism is unique amongst monotheisms in saying chassidei umot olam yaysh lahem chelek le’olam haba – You don’t have to be Jewish to get to Heaven. (It helps – but you don’t have to be Jewish!) One way or another. 

I’m sorry. You will forgive me for being slightly cavalier here, but I love that remark that Ted Turner made when we were together in the United Nations and he upset at least 2,000 religious leaders – which is a singular achievement, actually. He bounced on the stage and he said, “When I was a kid I used to go to Sunday School.” He was brought up in the Bible Belt. He’s a Southern Baptist. And he said, “We used to go to Bible School. They used to tell us that all of us are going to Heaven. The Catholics ain’t going to Heaven. The Muslims ain’t going to Heaven. And sure to heck the Jews ain’t going to Heaven. So I thought to myself, Hell, Heaven must be a pretty lonely place!” 

Anyway, we do not believe that you have to be Jewish to get to Heaven. The great of the nations of the world, the righteous, the pious, have a share also. In other words, Judaism is not an exclusive religion. It leaves space for others. Or – and here let me put it a bit more radically – again, I haven’t heard it said before but here it is. In Judaism – and I don’t know if this is true in any other faith – but in Judaism, God is bigger than religion. If there is only one God, and there are many faiths, many paths to His presence, God is bigger than religion. I have to say that that is a very profound remark, an extremely profound and important one. 

So the first strangeness about this fact of Jewish particularity is that it makes Judaism different from Christianity and Islam: Judaism has no desire to go and convert the world. The second is this: historians are so convinced that the inexorable movement of humanity is from the particular to the universal that when they came across this religion called ‘Judaism’, which has a universal God but a particular faith, they actually described it in the following terms. 

‘Judaism is a transitional phenomenon in human culture.’ First of all you had tribal religions, each of which had their god or gods. Tribal religions. Then you had Judaism, which is a sort of national religion. And then, later on, you had the more sophisticated religions – Christianity, Islam – which are about all of mankind. 

So Judaism, according to many historians, is a kind of interim thing on the way to universalism. And I am going to tell you that this is absolutely and fundamentally wrong. It cannot be the case. It is not that Judaism somehow preceded the birth of universalism which gave rise to Christianity and Islam. Judaism wasn’t born before universalism. Judaism begins with universalism. That is the story of the first 11 chapters of the Bible. That is the story of the covenant with Noah. That is the universal faith. But that, we say, is only the beginning, not the end. It is not the ultimate achievement. Far from being a stage on the way to a universal creed, Judaism is actually a protest against universal creeds. 

The main takeaway is that Judaism is unique – fundamentally because its adherents are part of a nation that is beyond borders, a family that is spread throughout the world, which has a set of laws that are binding that – in comparison to other groups – is 'defined' (loosely) as its 'religion.' But it is more than religion, it is a faith and a mission, and the source for a purposeful and meaningful life if its adherents could only tap into its greatest depths to uncover the treasure hidden beneath the surface – a surface too often limited by the purview of those trying to observe and understand it from the outside. 

In his essay "In the Eyes of the Nations," Rabbi Sacks pointedly notes "In the language of today: there is nothing special about Jews; there is everything special about Judaism."

We are chosen to represent God in this world through our Judaism. Our challenge is to know what that means and to give our greatest effort to succeed in our mission.