Editing Jews as the chosen people (section)

===Equality of souls===
[[File:Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson2 crop.jpg|thumb|alt=Chest high portrait of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson wearing a black hat|Rabbi [[Menachem Mendel Schneerson]], the "Lubavitcher Rebbe"]]
Many [[Kabbalah|Kabbalistic]] sources, notably the [[Tanya (Judaism)|Tanya]], contain statements to the effect that the Jewish soul is qualitatively different from the non-Jewish soul.  A number of known [[Chabad]] rabbis offered alternative readings of the Tanya, did not take this teaching literally, and even managed to reconcile it with the [[Left-wing politics|leftist]] ideas of [[Internationalism (politics)|internationalism]] and [[class struggle]]. The original text of the Tanya refers to the "idol worshippers" and does not mention the "nations of the world" at all, although such interpretation was endorsed by [[Menachem Mendel Schneerson]] and is popular in contemporary Chabad circles. [[Hillel Paritcher|Hillel Paricher]], an early Tanya commentator, wrote that the souls of righteous Gentiles are more similar to the Jewish souls, and are generally good and not egoistic. This teaching was accepted by Schneerson and is considered normative in Chabad.<ref>Lessons in Tanya, Vol. 1, Ch. 1</ref>

====Different in character but not different in value====
According to the author of the Tanya himself, a righteous non-Jew can achieve a high level of spirituality, similar to an angel, although his soul is still fundamentally different in character, but not value, from a Jewish one.<ref>סידור הרב, שער אכילת מצה</ref> [[Menachem Mendel Schneersohn|Tzemach Tzedek]], the third rebbe of Chabad, wrote that the [[Islam|Muslims]] are naturally good-hearted people. Rabbi Yosef Jacobson, a popular contemporary Chabad lecturer, teaches that in today's world most non-Jews belong to the category of righteous Gentiles, effectively rendering the Tanya's attitude anachronistic.{{citation needed|date=June 2023}}

====Altruism====
An [[anti-Zionism|anti-Zionist]] interpretation of Tanya was offered by [[Abraham Yehudah Khein]], a prominent [[Ukraine|Ukrainian]] Chabad rabbi, who supported [[anarchist communism]] and considered [[Peter Kropotkin]] a great [[Tzaddik]]. Khein basically read the Tanya backwards; since the souls of idol worshipers are known to be evil, according to the Tanya, while the Jewish souls are known to be good, he concluded that truly altruistic people are really Jewish, in a spiritual sense, while Jewish nationalists and class oppressors are not. By this logic, he claimed that [[Vladimir Solovyov (philosopher)|Vladimir Solovyov]] and [[Rabindranath Tagore]] probably have Jewish souls, while [[Leon Trotsky]] and other totalitarians do not, and many Zionists, whom he compared to [[ape]]s, are merely "Jewish by birth certificate".<ref>ר' אברהם חן, במלכות היהדות (Rabbi Abraham Chen, "In the Kingdom of Judaism")</ref>

====Righteous non-Jews====
[[Nachman of Breslov]] also believed that Jewishness is a level of consciousness, and not an intrinsic inborn quality. He wrote that, according to the [[Book of Malachi]], one can find "potential Jews" among all nations, whose souls are illuminated by the leap of "holy faith", which "activated" the Jewishness in their souls. These people would otherwise convert to Judaism, but prefer not to do so. Instead, they recognize the Divine unity within their pagan religions.<ref>Likutei Moharan, Part 2 ,5</ref>

[[Isaac ben Moses Arama|Isaac Arama]], an influential philosopher and mystic of the 15th century, believed that righteous non-Jews are spiritually identical to the righteous Jews.<ref>Isaac Arama, Akedat Yitzchak, Ch. 60</ref> Rabbi [[Menachem Meiri]], a famous [[Catalan people|Catalan]] [[Talmud]]ic commentator and [[Maimonides|Maimonidian]] philosopher, considered all people, who sincerely profess an ethical religion, to be part of a greater "spiritual Israel". He explicitly included Christians and Muslims in this category. Meiri rejected all Talmudic laws that discriminate between Jews and non-Jews, claiming that they only apply to the ancient idolators, who had no sense of morality. The only exceptions are a few laws related directly or indirectly to intermarriage, which Meiri did recognize.

Meiri applied his idea of "spiritual Israel" to the Talmudic statements about unique qualities of the Jewish people. For example, he believed that the famous saying that Israel is above astrological predestination (''Ein Mazal le-Israel'') also applied to the followers of other ethical faiths. He also considered countries, inhabited by decent moral non-Jews, such as [[Languedoc]], as a spiritual part of the [[Holy Land]].<ref>Gregg Stern. ''Philosophy and Rabbinic Culture: Jewish Interpretation and Controversy in Medieval Languedoc''. Routledge Jewish Studies Series</ref>