Editing Jews as the chosen people (section)

==Rabbinic views==
Most Jewish texts do not state that "God chose the Jews" by itself. Rather, this is usually linked with a mission or purpose, such as proclaiming God's message among all the nations, even though Jews cannot become "unchosen" if they shirk their mission. This implies a special duty, which evolves from the belief that Jews have been pledged by the covenant which God concluded with the biblical patriarch [[Abraham]], their ancestor, and again with the entire Jewish nation at [[Mount Sinai]].<ref name=":0">[https://www.britannica.com/topic/chosen-people "Chosen people."] ''Encyclopedia Britannica''.  20 February 2018.</ref> In this view, Jews are charged with living a holy life as God's priest-people.

In the [[Siddur|Jewish prayerbook (the Siddur)]], chosenness is referred to in a number of ways. The blessing for reading the [[Torah]] reads, "Praised are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, Who has chosen us out of all the nations and bestowed upon us His Torah." In the "[[Kiddush]]", a prayer of sanctification, in which the [[Shabbat|Sabbath]] is inaugurated over a cup of wine, the text reads, "For you have chosen us and sanctified us out of all the nations, and have given us the Sabbath as an inheritance in love and favour. Praised are you, Lord, who hallows the Sabbath." In the "Kiddush" recited on festivals it reads, "Blessed are You ... who have chosen us from among all nations, raised us above all tongues, and made us holy through His commandments." The [[Aleinu]] prayer refers to the concept of Jews as a chosen people: <blockquote>"It is our duty to praise the Master of all, to exalt the Creator of the Universe, who has not made us like the nations of the world and has not placed us like the families of the earth; who has not designed our destiny to be like theirs, nor our lot like that of all their multitude. We bend the knee and bow and acknowledge before the Supreme King of Kings, the Holy One, blessed be he, that it is he who stretched forth the heavens and founded the earth. His seat of glory is in the heavens above; his abode of majesty is in the lofty heights.<ref>Translation by Philip Birnbaum, "High Holyday Prayerbook"</ref></blockquote>

Sometimes this choice is seen as charging the Jewish people with a specific mission—to be a light unto the nations, and to exemplify the [[Covenant (biblical)|covenant]] with God as described in the Torah. This view, however, does not always preclude a belief that [[God]] has a relationship with other peoples—rather, Judaism held that God had entered into a covenant with all humankind, and that Jews and non-Jews alike have a relationship with God.
Biblical references as well as rabbinic literature support this view:  Moses refers to the "God of the spirits of all flesh",<ref name="auto"/> and the [[Tanakh]]<ref>[[Hebrew Bible]]</ref> also identifies [[prophet]]s outside the community of Israel.  Based on these statements, some rabbis theorized that, in the words of [[Natan'el al-Fayyumi]], a Yemenite Jewish theologian of the 12th century, "God permitted to every people something he forbade to others...<nowiki>[and]</nowiki> God sends a prophet to every people according to their own language."<ref>Levine, 1907/1966</ref> The [[Mishnah]] states that "Humanity was produced from one man, Adam, to show God's greatness. When a man mints a coin in a press, each coin is identical. But when the King of Kings, the Holy One, blessed be He, creates people in the form of Adam not one is similar to any other."<ref>Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5</ref> The Tosefta, a collection of important post-Talmudic discourses, also states: "Righteous people of all nations have a share in the [[Olam Haba|world to come]]."<ref>Sanhedrin 105a)</ref>

===Further interpretations===
:''The following section contains information from the Jewish Encyclopedia, originally published between 1901–1906, which is in the public domain.''

According to the Rabbis, "Israel is of all nations the most willful or headstrong one, and the Torah was to give it the right scope and power of resistance, or else the world could not have withstood its fierceness."<ref>Beẓah, 25b</ref>

"The Lord offered the Law to all nations; but all refused to accept it except Israel."<ref>Mek. Yitro, Pes. R. K. 103b, 186a, 200a</ref>

How do we understand "A Gentile who consecrates his life to the study and observance of the Law ranks as high as the high priest", says R. Meïr, by deduction from Lev. xviii. 5; II Sam. vii. 19; Isa. xxvi. 2; Ps. xxxiii. 1, cxviii. 20, cxxv. 4, where all stress is laid not on Israel, but on man or the righteous one.<ref>Sifra, Aḥare Mot, 86b; Bacher, "Ag. Tan." ii. 31</ref>

[[File:Maimonides-Statue.jpg|thumb|Monument to [[Maimonides]] in [[Córdoba, Andalusia|Córdoba, Spain]]]]
[[Maimonides]] states: ''It is now abundantly clear that the pledges Hashem made to Avraham and his descendants would be fulfilled exclusively first in Yitzchak and then in Yaakov, Yitzchak son. This is confirmed by a passage that states, "He is ever mindful of His covenant ... that He made with Avraham, swore to Yitzchak, and confirmed in a decree for Yaakov, for Yisrael, as an eternal covenant."<ref>Tehillim 105: 8,9</ref>''<ref>Avraham Yaakov Finkel. ''The essential Maimonides. Translations of the Rambam'', [[Jason Aronson Inc]], Northvale New Jersey London</ref>

The Gemara states this regarding a non-Jew who studies Torah [his 7 mitzvot]{{clarify|date=May 2012}} and regarding this, see Shita Mekubetzes, Bava Kama 38a who says that this is an exaggeration.{{clarify|date=May 2012}} In any case, this statement was not extolling the non-Jew. The Rishonim explain that it is extolling the Torah.

Tosfos explains that it uses the example of a ''kohen gadol'' (high priest), because this statement is based on the verse, "''y'kara hi mipnimim''" (it is more precious than pearls). This is explained elsewhere in the Gemara to mean that the Torah is more precious ''pnimim'' (translated here as "inside" instead of as "pearls"; thus that the Torah is introspectively absorbed into the person), which refers to ''lifnai v'lifnim'' (translated as "the most inner of places"), that is the Holy of Holies where the ''kahon gadol'' went.<!-- somebody please rewrite this paragraph -->

In any case, in Midrash Rabba<ref>Bamidbar 13:15</ref> this statement is made with an important addition: a non-Jew who converts and studies Torah etc.

The Nation of Israel is likened to the olive. Just as this fruit yields its precious oil only after being much pressed and squeezed, so Israel's destiny is one of great oppression and hardship, in order that it may thereby give forth its illuminating wisdom.<ref>Ex. R. xxxvi:1.</ref> Poverty is the quality most befitting Israel as the chosen people.<ref>Ḥag. 9b</ref> Only on account of its good works is Israel among the nations "as the lily among thorns",<ref>Cant. R. ii. 2</ref> or "as wheat among the chaff."<ref>Midr. Teh. i. 4</ref><ref>Weber's "System der Altsynagogalen Theologie", etc., pp. 59–69, is full of glaring errors and misstatements on the subject of Israel as the chosen people</ref>