Divine Profiling? Exploring The “Chosen People” Doctrine

It’s The Jews Again!

Jerusalem (SatireWire.com) Update – Jews, who’s troubled, 10,000-year term as G-d’s “Chosen people” finally expired last night, woke up this morning to find that they had once again been hand-picked by the Almighty. Synagogues across the globe declared a day of mourning.

Asked if the descendants of Abraham shouldn’t be pleased about being tapped for an unprecedented second term, Jerusalem Rabbi Ben Meyerson shrugged. “Of course, you are right, we should be thrilled,” he said. “We should also enjoy a good swift kick in the head, but for some reason, we don’t.

“Now don’t ask such questions until you watch the news, or read history, or at least rent ‘Fiddler on the Roof’.”

Much of the world’s re-blessed Jewish community shared that feeling. “It’s always been considered a joke with us. You know, ‘Please G-d, next time choose someone else,’ ha ha,” said New York City resident David Bashert.

According to a worldwide survey of faiths, not a single group expressed an interest in being chosen, and the only application submitted before last night’s filing deadline, on behalf of the Islamic people, proved to be a fake.

“Somebody filled out a form and signed our name to it, but I guarantee it wasn’t us,” said Imam Yusuf Al Mohammed of Medina, Saudi Arabia. “I’m not going to say who it was, but the application was filled out in Hebrew.”

“Oh, don’t be such a Kvetch,” responded Meyerson. “It’s only 10,000 years. Trust me, after a few Diaspora, you would have gotten used to the universal hatred thing.”

Due to the absence of voluntary candidates, G-d’s Law stipulated that the Almighty had to choose a people at random to serve out the next 10-millenia term. Elias Contreau, director of the International Interfaith Working Group, said he wasn’t surprised it came to a blind drawing.

“According to the Bible, G-d promised to bless Abraham and those who came after him,” said Contreau. “Who knows, maybe that sounded good at the time, or maybe ‘blessed’ meant something different back then, than ‘Short periods of prosperity interrupted by insufferable friggin chaos, whatever, I think it’s safe to say that people didn’t know what they were agreeing to.”

Now they do, Contreau added, which he said explains why so many religions had lately been exalting G-d’s existence, but downplaying their own.

“We were not avoiding Him. We just told our parishioners that if anyone asks, we’re out,” insisted Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. George Carey, who had called off services during February. “Besides, we weren’t the only ones. I didn’t see the Hindus raising their hands.”

“Now look, it’s like we told the ethereal vision who dropped off the application, ‘Sure, we have a strong shared faith and all that, but I wouldn’t exactly say we’re a ‘People.’”

“Not really,” recalled Hindu leader Samuldrala Swami Maharaj of Calcutta. “Plus, you know, I told him we had a lot of other commitments. We’d like to help, honestly, another time, maybe.”

In Jerusalem, Jewish leaders said they will propose an amendment to G-d’s Law prohibiting a people from having to serve more than two consecutive terms. “Hopefully, G-d will hear our prayer,” said Meyerson. “No, wait, that’s what got us into this.”

Americans, meanwhile, expressed outrage at the decision, saying they had assumed they were G-d’s chosen people. However, explained Archbishop Carey, “It only seems that way because so many people don’t like you.”

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In the 1930s, as the Nazis were tightening the noose around the necks of German Jews, George Bernard Shaw remarked that if the Nazis would only realize how Jewish their notion of Aryan superiority was, they would drop it immediately.

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Did you ever see a Jew run in to a bank and head straight to the front of the line saying: “Excuse me; you’ll all have to wait while I take care of my business? You see I’m Jewish, you know that ‘Chosen’ thing. Membership, after all, has its privileges.” Have you ever heard of a Jew paying less for something because of his special “Jew Discount”? (This, of course, should not be confused we our knack for bargaining). The answer is obviously no.

The Jew has never thrust his chosen-ness upon anyone; asking for something in return, nor does he care whether the rest of the world believes in it or not. For the Jew it is an internal belief, between him and his G-d. He has never sought to derive material benefit from his chosen status and has never tried to shirk it off when it brought upon him bitter resentment and persecution.

The Jew has forever worn this distinction like a girdle around his loins and yoke upon his shoulders with dignity and pride. He paid for the honor with sweat blood and tears. I ask you to bare this in mind as we attempt to explore the controversial “Chosen people” doctrine.

The Book of Numbers begins with the Divine command to take a census count of the Jewish Nation: “Count the heads of all the congregation of the Children of Israel, by their families, by the houses of their fathers, by the number of names, every male by their heads.” [Numbers 1:2]

Further-on we come across a decree for an additional count of the Children of Israel, this one is found in the Parsha of Pinchas in the very same book of Bamidbar. No wonder that Bamidbar is known as Sefer HaPekudim – the Book of the Counting, or the Book of Numbers.

If that is not enough, Rashi calls our attention to some earlier census requirements that were mandated by Divine decree. In contemplating G-d’s apparent fascination, as it were, with counting the children of Israel, Rashi points to G-d’s evidential love for the Jewish people: “Because of how dear they were to Him, He counted them constantly. When they went out of Egypt, He counted them, and after the sin of the Golden Calf, He counted the fallen to know how many remained. And now, in this week’s Parsha, He counts them yet again.”

The concept of G-d’s extraordinary love for the nation of Israel echo’s the familiar motto of “The Chosen People.” Indeed, the chosen people phenomenon occupies a central place in Jewish tradition and liturgy. It is arguably a central and defining quality of Judaism.

The special relationship between G-d and the Jewish people is summed up when in the book of Exodus G-d refers to us as “My son, my eldest, Israel.” We are not firstborn in any literal sense, however, your eldest child is the one to whom you leave the most responsibility and the most reward.

An integral part of G-d’s love for His chosen people, hence, revolves around His unique and precious gift to them, namely, the Torah. The latter is precisely what the upcoming holiday of Shavuos is all about – the celebration of our receiving the Torah – the object and the act by which the Almighty consummated His relationship with His people.

The unique bond created between G-d and His people by means of the proverbial gift, is reflected in the blessing that Jews recite over the reading of the Torah: “Blessed are You, Lord our G-d, King of the Universe, who has chosen us from all the peoples and given us His Torah. Blessed are You, Lord, Giver of the Torah.”

Also consider the blessing recited as an introduction to the reading of the ‘Shema Yisrael:’ “You have loved us with abounding love O Lord our G-d, you have shown us great and overflowing tenderness… And you have chosen us out of all nations and tongues, and brought us close to your great name in truth…’ Blessed are you, Lord, who chooses His people Israel in love.

While this may sound beautiful to some, the sad reality is that not everyone tends to appreciate the beauty. The Chosen People phenomenon has in fact only too often served to provoke antagonism from some of our fellow non-­Jewish earthlings.

The most damaging anti-Semitic document in history, the forgery known as “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” is entirely predicated on the very idea of an international conspiracy by the “Chosen People” to rule the world.

In light of such hostility, it is not surprising that some of the more secular oriented Jews chose to do away with the belief in Jewish chosenness. The idea of chosenness as a central tenet of Judaism has come under particular attack with the opening of the gates of Jewish inte­gration within modern societies.

Our ability to reconcile Jewish uniqueness with the case for social and political accep­tance had become a tricky and contentious issue. Baruch Spinoza, for example, vehemently rejected the traditional chosen doctrine because it implies Jewish superiority.

Indeed the idea of the “Chosen People” remains, if only unspoken, a highly sore, historical, theological, psychological and sociological issue vis-à-vis Jewish-Gentile relations and hence to many; Jews included, an embarrassing menace.

The most noted effort to do away with Jewish chosenness was undertaken by Mordecai Kaplan, founder of the Reconstructionist movement. Kaplan advocated dropping chosenness for two reasons: to undercut accusations of the sort made by Bernard Shaw that the Chosen People idea was the model for racist ideologies, and because it went against modern thinking to see the Jews as a divinely chosen people. Kaplan proposed a Judaism that rejected, in his words, the “Anachronistic” and “Arrogant” concept of the Chosen People, which perpetrated “Race or national superiority.”

In a Commentary Magazine symposium on the state of Jewish belief, of several years ago, almost none of the Jewish theologians (barring the Orthodox) were prepared to affirm the concept of Jewish chosenness, despite the Torah’s constant reiteration of our selection as “A kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”

Early Reform thinkers began to play down the exalted Jewish status by introducing the “Mission People” concept as a modern take on the chosen people concept. In 1885, the Reform movement in America adopted the “Pittsburgh Platform” declaring that they did not wish to be a nation at all and thus reinterpreting the concept of chosenness as part of a moral mission to help the world.

During the aftermath of the Yom Kippur War In 1973, Yakov Malik, the Soviet ambassador to the United Nations, said: “The Zionists have come forward with the theory of the Chosen People, an absurd ideology. ‘That is religious racism!’”

So, what is the truth about the Chosen Doctrine? Is it a central reality of Judaism – a pivotal part of the Divine master plan? Or is it simply religious racism?

There are many valid arguments to support the Torah reality vis-à-vis chosenness, as one Rabbi asserted: “We are not discussing a dogma incapable of verification, but the recognition of sober historical fact. The world owes to Israel the idea of the one G-d of righteousness and holiness and for its awareness of it.”

Does not the Torah’s accurate prediction of the horrendous Divine curses to befall Israel serve as sufficient proof of the Torah’s accuracy and authority on the subject of Israel’s role and destiny in the world?

American Jewish writer Will Herberg has rightfully observed that to deny the possibility of a chosen people is to deny individuality as well. We have no trouble recognizing that every individual is unique, and most of us choose a life partner based on his or her particular personality and suitability for what we deem our mission in life. Why then is it so hard to believe that G-d too chose one nation, on the basis of its unique character, to be His partner – the vehicle for His revelation to mankind?

It is furthermore interesting to note that the Chosen idea is not indigenous to the Jewish people. Billions of people around the world define their religion, nation, tribe, or even their sports teams as the chosen ones. It is entirely natural for nations and religions alike to regard theirs as special, and rightfully so. If a person did not believe in the superiority of his religion or cause, what is he doing there? Why not belong to the other one? Is it just a blind decision?

In truth, all of humanity tends to indulge in the “Chosen” concept. Nations like religions all see themselves as special. Believe it or not the word China means “Center of the universe.”

Nineteenth century and early twentieth century Americans believed in their “Manifest destiny” to rule the North American continent. Other nations such as India, Spain, Germany, France, and Britain also believe in their chosen status.

Both Catholicism and Protestantism maintain that while G-d originally chose the Jews, 2000 years ago, he backed out of the original deal and entered instead into a new covenant with Christianity. During most of Christian history, Christian chosenness meant that only Christians go to heaven.

Mohammed, likewise, didn’t deny Avraham’s chosenness. He simply claimed that Avraham was a Muslim, and he traced Islam’s descent through the Jewish Patriarch. It seems that the only ones who don’t believe in the idea of chosen are those who don’t believe in a chooser. It is almost like saying: “Since I don’t have a G-d to choose me, why should you?

After speaking to a group about the related prophetic events regarding the end of time and the exalted promises that G-d makes with regard to the Jewish nation, a participant came over to shake hands. Upon departure he paused for a brief moment then stated: “I wouldn’t serve a G-d that favors one people over another!”

His statement caught me by surprise, but I quickly realized his sincerity in making that remark. I looked him in the eye and replied, “Well, sir, I wouldn’t either!”

The man’s statement which carries the stigma that G-d prefers one nation over another is not quite fair. It is a mistaken point of view. This attitude also diminishes the role of Israel in historical prophecy.

The fact is that G-d didn’t simply choose an existing nation over another existing nation when entering into a covenant with Avraham.

The reality is that there weren’t any defined nations with established and defined borders or cultures such as are common today. G-d had only recently judged the entire world of nations with the Great Flood. When the Almighty called unto Avraham to leave his native land of Ur and embark on a journey into another land, the world consisted of colonies such as the ones Nimrod established as part of his evil empire.

It was for the purpose of establishing a true model of a G-d serving nation, as a testimony of the one true G-d that the creator sought out Avraham. So in essence, G-d chose Avraham and Avraham chose to accept. Or better yet, Avraham chose G-d and G-d chose to accept.

That does not constitute G-d favoring one people over another. G-d loves every nation, and every tribe, and every family. It was precisely because of his love for all humanity that he chose Avraham and his descendants to bring His teachings and blessings to the world.

In 1975, Reform Judaism made a decisive break with its own past and restored much of what its predecessors had eliminated. Reform Judaism now reaffirms belief in chosenness. This ideological shift reflects a broader shift back to traditional beliefs. It is indeed proof of an eternal G-d whose vision is infinite.

This Shabbos as we read about G-d’s love for his people through counting them and upon the upcoming holiday of Matan Torah, may we reaffirm our sacred status as the Chosen People through our receiving the Torah anew B’simcha U’bipmimious. May we renew our dedication to our holy mission as the Chosen People and hasten thereby the arrival of the righteous Moshiach BBA.