The Chosen Nation

May 13, 2008 · Filed Under Jewish Thought ·

Written by: admin

Hello everyone, my name is Aliza, and I’ve just recently been recruited to write for Tzipiyah.com. I’ve done some guest posts here, from my own blog http://www.torahtopics.blogspot.com, and now I’m here to write on a regular basis. Wonderful! This post was originally posted at the opening of my own blog, but I want to share it with a wider spectrum of readers. So, here it is!
___________________
Do people ever ask you why Jews are G-d’s “chosen nation”?
Do they ask what makes us so special that we are “above” everyone else?

Are we really chosen?
I don’t think so.

Now, wait a second. I don’t think we are the chosen nation?!
Yeah, I would think I was crazy, too, if I were you :p

Originally, Adam and Chava were supposed to be the start of Am Israel.
Then they sinned and missed that opportunity.
So, from the time of Adam and Chava until the time of Avraham and Sarah there were 10 generations in which HaShem searched for someone who would merit being Israel.

Yes, there were tzadikim in those generations, and they followed HaShem’s ways and tried to show people His greatness.
Then why weren’t they chosen?
Sure, Noah was a great Tzadik; HaShem even saved his family from total destruction!
But why wasn’t he chosen?
He would tell people of HaShem’s greatness, that is true. But he never really said it without being asked.
He would tell the people of the generation about HaShem and what he would do to them and what was going on only when they asked him why he was building the ark.

He didn’t show his love and dedication to HaShem in the right way.

But wait, was HaShem doing the choosing or were the people doing the choosing?

Derech HaShem by the RaMChaL states that HaShem did not choose Avraham Avinu, Avraham Avinu chose HaShem.
Avraham Avinu loved and dedicated his entire life and being to HaShem.
Every second of every day was spent talking about HaShem, His glories and wonders and how he created everything whatnot.
He never backed down from saying these things, and never waited to be asked.
He would tell anybody who would listen, and even those who would not!

This was the ultimate dedication to and servitude of HaShem.
Thus, Avraham Avinu was not chosen. His dedication and servitude was HIS way of choosing HaShem.
So that is why he merited becoming Israel, not the other tzadikim of the 10 generations before him.

So, are we HaShem’s chosen people?
Nope
We choose HaShem with our actions.
Through our daily mitzvot, we show our dedication to HaShem.
Everyday when you say a bracha, when you daven, when you learn Torah, that is a decision.
Life is full of choices - and the ultimate one is to choose HaShem.

What do you think of this concept? Do you agree? Or does this sound like a load of garbage?

You liked this post? Here is a list of related posts:

- A separate personal growth or a unified national growth? by Dan Illouz
- Chosen: Better? Different? Human? by Zemer
- Lech Lecha- A Personal Mission by Florence
- The History of Eretz Israel - Eretz Israel and Avraham Avinu by Dan Illouz
- Forever his Nation by Dan Illouz
- The Dream of a Nation by Dan Illouz
- History of Eretz Israel - From Creation until the Flood by Dan Illouz

Anonymous Says:
May 13th, 2008 at 9:24 pm

Interesting
But since Avraham was chosen there was no need for jews to practice mitzvot to become “chosen”. After this initial choice, we’re all “chosen” whether we practice torah umitzvos or not.

The other thing is that there are many midrashim which point to the fact that Am Israel existed before the world even came into being. According to that, our chosenness is not based on merit. I think the Ramchal would explain those midrashim by saying that even then it was clear someone would become Am Israel because thats needed for the world, it was just not clear who that someone would be. Avraham made it clear.

The other thing though is that after being “chosen”, even according to the Ramchal who said this was based on merit, once the relationship has been established, there is no need for merit anymore. So, for example, the torah was not given to us because of our merit. The torah was given to us because we are the Jewish Nation. and its not because we have torah that we’re the jewish nation but quite the opposite, because we are the jewish nation that we have torah (Asher Bachar Banu Mikol Haamim, and just after, natan lanu et torato).

Anyways, interesting topic. The only thing i seem to disagree with is the idea our chosenness, now that avraham, itshak and yacov were already chosen, is based on merit. Its not. The most secular jew is still chosen, he’s still a member of the jewish people, the chosen nation.

Aliza Perez Says:
May 14th, 2008 at 2:36 pm

Thank you, Anonymous!

I’d just like to clarify that I didn’t mean that we have to choose Hashem now in that same way that Avraham did. I meant in our everyday lives, on our level, relative to our times, we have to choose Hashem.

I meant really that serving Hashem and doing mitzvot has to be a conscious decision and it’s something we do every day.

I see now that I didn’t really explain properly in my post, so thank you for bringing this out.

הצעיר שלמה בן רפאל לבית שריקי ס"ט Says:
May 20th, 2008 at 2:09 pm

Aliza:

Hi. I just want to point out that you never really seem to have responded to anonymous’s main point, and personally feel it is one of the greatest enigmas of Judaism(!); namely that we see clearly in the writings of the נביאים (prophets) that G-d seems to have chosen Israel (and his descendants) no matter what. How in the world could that be? How can it be that a filthy-minded crooked Jew like Howard Stern (if you’re a fan, then sorry!) is more ‘chosen’ by G-d than a Christian or a Muslim who have only purity and G-dliness in their hearts?! David Hamelekh reminds us: “קרוב ה לכל קוראיו” (G-d is ‘close’ to ANYONE who calls upon him…not just people who are or become Jewish). (?)

Happy finals week by the way! (if it is that for you)