In Judaism, "election" is the belief that the Jews, through the offspring of the ancient Israelites, were the chosen ones, who were chosen to be in covenant with God. The Israelite idea chosen by God is found most directly in Deuteronomy as the verb bahar ( ?????? Ã, (Hebrew) ), and alluded to elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible using other terms like "saint". Much is written about these topics in rabbinic literature. The three largest Jewish denominations - Orthodox Judaism, Conservative Judaism and Reform of Judaism - maintain the belief that Jews have been chosen by God for a purpose. Sometimes this choice is seen as burdening the Jews with a particular mission - to be light to the nations, and to imitate the covenant with God as described in the Torah.
This view, however, does not preclude the belief that God has relationships with others - on the contrary, Judaism states that God has entered into a covenant with all mankind, and that Jews and Gentiles have a relationship with God. The biblical references and rabbinic literature support this view: Moses refers to "God of the spirits of all men" (Numbers 27:16), and the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) also identifies prophets outside the Israeli community. Based on these statements, some rabbis theorized that, in the words of Nethanel ibn Fayyumi, a Jewish theologian of Yemen in the 12th century, "God permits everyone to do something he forbids others... [and] God sends a prophet to every one according to their own language. "(Levine, 1907/66) Misnah states that" Humanity is produced from one human being, Adam, to show God's greatness. "When a man prints a coin in a press, each coin is identical. But when the King of kings, the Holy One, praise Him, created man in the form of Adam there is nothing like the other. "(Mishnah Sanhedrin 4: 5) The Mishnah continues, and declares that whoever kills or rescues one human being, Jews, alive, have done the same thing (save or kill) to the whole world. The Tosefta, an important supplement to the Mishnah, also states: "The righteous of all nations have a share in the world to come" (Sanhedrin 105a).
According to the Israeli Democracy Institute, about two-thirds of Israeli Jews believe that Jews are "chosen people".
Video Jews as the chosen people
Dalam Alkitab
According to the Bible, Israel's character as an elect is unconditional as it is said in Deuteronomy 14: 2,
- "Because you are a saint for YHWH, your Lord, and God has chosen you to be his precious people from all the nations that are on the earth."
The Torah also says,
- "Therefore, if you will obey my voice, and keep my promise, you will be a strange treasure for me of all nations, for the whole earth is mine" (Exodus 19: 5).
God promised that he would never convert his people to another:
Other Torah texts about elections,
- "And ye shall be unto me the kingdom of the priests, and the holy people" (Exodus 19: 6).
- "God does not set his love for you, nor choose you, because you are more than any man, for you are the least of all, but because God loves you, and because he will keep the oath he has spoken to your fathers "(Deuteronomy 7: 7-8).
The burden imposed on Israel was emphasized by the prophet Amos (3: 2):
- "You can only choose from all the families on earth: therefore I will visit you all your crimes."
Maps Jews as the chosen people
Rabbit Views
Sometimes this choice is seen as burdening the Jews with a particular mission - to be light to the nations, and to imitate the covenant with God as described in the Torah. This view, however, does not preclude the belief that God has relationships with others - on the contrary, Judaism states that God has entered into a covenant with all mankind, and that Jews and Gentiles have a relationship with God. The biblical references and rabbinic literature support this view: Moses refers to "God of the spirits of all men" (Numbers 27:16), and the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) also identifies prophets outside the Israeli community. Based on these statements, some rabbis theorized that, in the words of Nethanel ibn Fayyumi, a Jewish theologian of Yemen in the 12th century, "God permits everyone to do something he forbids others... [and] God sends a prophet to every one according to their own language. "(Levine, 1907/66) Misnah states that" Humanity is produced from one human being, Adam, to show God's greatness. "When a man prints a coin in a press, each coin is identical. But when the King of kings, the Holy One, praise Him, created man in the form of Adam there is nothing like the other. "(Mishnah Sanhedrin 4: 5) The Mishnah continues, and declares that whoever kills or rescues one human being, Jews, alive, have done the same thing (save or kill) to the whole world. The Tosefta, an important post-Talmudic discourse, also states: "The righteous of all nations have a share in the world to come" (Sanhedrin 105a).
Most of the Jewish texts do not state that "God chose the Jews" by itself. On the contrary, this is usually associated with missions or goals, such as proclaiming God's message among all nations, although Jews can not be "unelected" if they neglect their mission. This implies a special task, which evolved from the belief that the Jews had been promised by the covenant that God concluded with the Abrahamic biblical patriarchs, their forefathers, and again with all the Jews on Mount Sinai. In this view, the Jews are accused of living a holy life as God's priestly people.
In the Jewish prayer book (the Siddur), elections are called in several ways. Thanks to reading the Torah, "Praise be to You, our Lord our God, the King of the Universe, Who has chosen us from all nations and granted us His Torah." In "Kiddush", a prayer of sanctification, where the Sabbath was inaugurated on a cup of wine, the text reads, "Because you have chosen us and sanctified us from all nations, and have given us the Sabbath as a Heritage in love and kindness. , God, who sanctifies the Sabbath. "In" Kiddush "read at the festivals he reads," Blessed are you... who have chosen us from all nations, lift us above all tongues, and make us holy by commandment His orders. " Aleinu's prayer refers to the Jewish concept of being chosen:
"It is our duty to praise Master from all, to exalt the Creator of the Universe, which has not made us like the nations of the world and has not placed us like family on earth, who have not designed our destiny to be like theirs, or many of us it is from all their people We bent the knees and bowed and confessed before the King of the Great King, the Holy One, blessed him, that he stretched to heaven and established earth His place of residence is in the sky above, where his glory is in high altitude.
Further interpretation
- The following sections contain information from the Jewish Encyclopedia, originally published between 1901-1906, residing in the public domain.
According to the Rabbis, "Israel is all the most deliberate or stubborn people, and the Torah must provide the right scope and resistance, or the world can not survive its ferocity."
"God offers the Law to all nations, but all refuse to accept it except Israel."
How do we understand "A Gentile who sanctifies his life to learn and obey the Law is ranked as high as the high priest", says R. MeÃÆ'_r, with the deduction of Im. xviii. 5; II Sam. vii. 19; Is. xxvi. 2; Ps. xxxiii. 1, cxviii. 20, cxxv. 4, where all the pressure is placed not on Israel, but on the human or the pious person.
Maimonides states: Now it is very clear that the promise of Hashem made for Avraham and his descendants will be exclusively fulfilled for the first time in Yitzchak and then at Yaakov, the son of Yitzchak. This is affirmed by a section that states, "He always observed His covenant... which He made with Avraham, swearing to Yitzchak, and asserted in a decision to Yaakov, to Israel, as an everlasting covenant." (Tehillim 105: 8,9).
The Gemara states this about a Gentile who studies the Torah [7 mitzvot] and on this subject, see Shita Mekubetzes, Bava Kama 38a who says that this is excessive. However, this statement does not praise non-Jews. The Rishonim explained that it praised the Torah .
Tosfos explains that he uses the example of gadol kohen (high priest), because this statement is based on the verse, " y'kara hi mipimimim " (more valuable than pearl). This is explained elsewhere in Gemara which means that the Torah is more valuable pimimim (translated here as "inside" rather than as "pearl", thereby that the Torah is introspectively absorbed into that person), which refers to lifnai v'lifnim (translated as "inner place"), that is the Most Holy Place where gadol kamon goes.
In any case, in Midrash Rabba (Bamidbar 13:15) this statement is made with an important addition: a non-Jew who transforms and studies the Torah etc.
The Israelites were equated with olives. Just as this fruit produces a precious oil only after being pressed and squeezed, Israel's destiny is one of great oppression and tribulation, thereby providing the wisdom of its illustrations. Poverty is the most deserving quality of Israel as the chosen one (9b). Only because his good deeds were Israel among the nations "like a lily among thorns", or "like wheat among the chaff."
Modern Orthodox Views
Rabbi Lord Immanuel Jakobovits, former Chief Rabbi of the United Synagogue of Britain (Modern Orthodox Judaism), described the election in this way:
"Yes, I believe that the concept of the chosen person has been recognized by Judaism in his scriptures, his prayers, and his millennial tradition.In fact, I believe that everyone - and indeed, in a more limited way, every individual- is" chosen "or destined for several different purposes in advancing the designs of God.Only, some fulfill their missions and others do not.Perhaps the Greeks were chosen for their unique contribution to art and philosophy, the Romans for their pioneering services in law and government, Britain to bring the parliamentary government to the world, and America to drive democracy in a plural society, the Jews elected by God to be 'strange to me' as a pioneer of religion and morality, their national aims.
Teolog Ortodoks modern Michael Wyschogrod menulis:
"[T] His early election of Abraham himself was not obtained.... We are only told that the Lord commanded Abraham to leave his birthplace and go to the land that the Lord would show him, and he promised that his descendants would be many, but no place where the Bible tells us why Abraham and not others were chosen.The implication is that God chooses whom He wants and that He owes no one to His choice. "
Rabbi Norman Lamm, a leader of Modern Orthodox Judaism wrote:
"The election of Israel deals exclusively with the spiritual callings embodied in the Torah, the doctrine is, indeed, declared in Sinai.Whenever it is mentioned in our liturgy - like the blessing that immediately precedes the Shema.... it is always associated with Torah or Mitzvot > command.) This spiritual call consists of two complementary functions, described as "Goy Kadosh", the holy nation, and "Mamlekhet Kohanim", the imam's kingdom. The first term shows the development of separateness or communal differences to achieve transcendence - the collective self [...] The second term implies the obligation of brotherhood of this spiritual elite towards other human beings: the priesthood is defined by the prophets as a fundamental teaching call. "
Conservative view
Conservative Judaism, looking at the concept of election in this way:
"Some beliefs have been subjected to many misunderstandings as the doctrine of the 'Chosen One' The Torah and Prophet clearly state that this does not imply the innate Jewish superiority In Amos's words (3: 2) 'You alone have me chosen from all families on earth - that is why I will call you to be responsible for your wickedness. 'The Torah tells us that we must be "the kingdom of priests and the holy people" with obligations and duties that flow from our willingness to accept this status. for privilege, it requires additional responsibility not only to God but to our fellow human beings, as expressed in the blessing of the Torah reading, our people always feel it is a privilege to be chosen for such a purpose.For traditional modern Jews , the doctrine of election and the covenant of Israel offers a purpose for the existence of a Jew that transcends to his own interests. This shows that because of our special history and our unique heritage, we are in a position to show that people who take seriously the idea to sign with God can not only thrive in the face of oppression, but can be a source of blessing for children and their neighbors. It requires us to build a just and compassionate society throughout the world and especially in the land of Israel where we can teach by example what it means to be 'covenant people, light for the nations'. "
Rabbi Reuven Hammer commented on the sentence cut in the Aleinu prayer mentioned above:
"Initially the text reads that God does not make us like nations" subject to nothingness and pride, and pray to a helpless god ", [...] In the Middle Ages these words were censored, for the church believed that they are Humiliating against Christianity. Ignoring them tends to give the impression that Aleinu teaches that we are both different and better than others. The true purpose is to say that we are grateful that God has enlightened us so, unlike the Gentiles, we worship the true God and no idol There is no superiority inherent in being a Jew, but we affirm the superiority of monotheistic beliefs over paganism. Although paganism still exists today, we are no longer the only one who has faith in one God. "
View of reform
The Reformation of Judaism views the concept of elections in this way: "Over the centuries it has been an Israeli mission to witness to the Divine in the face of every form of paganism and materialism We consider it our historic duty to cooperate with everyone in the establishment of God's kingdom, universal brotherhood , Justice, truth and peace on earth.This is our Messianic goal. "In 1999, the Reformation movement stated," We affirm that the Jews are bound to God through eternal covenants, as reflected in our diverse understanding of Creation, Revelation and Redemption [...] We are Israel, people who aspire to holiness, are exiled through our ancient covenant and our unique history among nations to be witnesses to God's presence.We are connected by that covenant and history to all the Jews in every age and place. "
Alternate view
Mental equality
Many Kabbalistic sources, notably Tanya, contain a statement which states that the Jewish soul is qualitatively different from the non-Jewish spirit. A number of known Chabad rabbis offering an alternative reading from Tanya, did not take this teaching literally, and even managed to reconcile it with leftist ideas of internationalism and class struggle. The original text of Tanya refers to "idolaters" and does not mention the "nations of the world" at all, although the interpretation is supported by Menachem Mendel Schneerson and popular among contemporary Chabad. Hillel of Parich, the early Tanya commentator, wrote that the soul of a pious Gentile is more akin to the Jewish soul, and generally good and unselfish. This teaching was accepted by Schneerson and considered normative in Chabad.
Different in character but not value
According to the author of Tanya itself, a pious Gentile can attain a high spiritual level, similar to an angel, although his soul is essentially still different in character, but not of value, of the Jews. Tzemach Tzedek, the third rebel of Chabad, wrote that Muslims are naturally kind people. Rabbi Yosef Jacobson, a famous contemporary Chabad lecturer, teaches that in today's world most non-Jews fall into the category of godly Gentiles, effectively making Tanya's attitude anachronistic.
Dov Ber Pinson, a contemporary Chakhs mystic, denies the idea that there is an important distinction between Jews and Gentiles. According to his theory, everyone has a lower animal spirit and higher. The Tanya does not speak of Jews and non-Jews as a social group, but describes the internal struggle between the level of "Jewish" and "Jewish" consciousness in every human soul.
Altruism
The anti-Zionist interpretation of Tanya is offered by Abraham Yehudah Khein, a leading Ukrainian Chabad rabbi, who supports anarchist communism and considers Peter Kropotkin a great Tzaddik. Khein basically reads Tanya backwards; since the pagan soul is known to be evil, according to Tanya, while the Jewish soul is well known, he concludes that truly altruistic people are truly Jewish, in a spiritual sense, while Jewish nationalists and class oppressors do not. By this logic, he claims that Vladimir Solovyov and Rabindranath Tagore may have Jewish souls, while Leon Trotsky and other totalitarians do not, and many Zionists, whom he compares to apes, are simply "Jews by birth certificate".
The pious Gentiles
Nachman of Breslov also believes that Judaism is a level of consciousness, and not an innate intrinsic quality. He writes 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 "activates" Jewishness in their souls. These people would instead convert to Judaism, but would rather not do it. Instead, they recognize divine unity in their pagan religions.
Isaac Arama, an influential philosopher and mystic in the fifteenth century, believed that godly non-Jews were spiritually synonymous with devout Jews. Rabbi Menachem Meiri, a well-known commentator Catalan Talmudic and the Maimonidian philosopher, considers everyone, who sincerely recognizes ethical religion, to be part of a larger "spiritual Israel". He explicitly includes Christians and Muslims in this category. Meiri rejects all the Talmudic laws that distinguish between Jews and Gentiles, claiming that they only apply to ancient pagans, who have no morality. The only exceptions are some laws that relate directly or indirectly to mixed marriages, which Meiri recognizes.
Meiri applied his idea of ​​"spiritual Israel" to the Talmudic statement about the unique qualities of the Jews. For example, he believes that the famous saying that Israel is above the predestination of astrology ( Ein Mazal le-Israel ) is also applied to followers of other ethical religions. He also considers the countries, inhabited by immoral Gentiles, like the Languedoc, as a spiritual part of the Holy Land.
Spinoza
One of the Jewish-preferred critics was the philosopher Baruch Spinoza. In the third chapter of his book Theologico-Political Treatise, Spinoza argued against the naive interpretation of God's choice of the Jews. Bringing the evidence from the Bible itself, he argues that God's choice of Israel is not unique (he has chosen other nations before choosing the Hebrews) and that the choice of the Jews is not inclusive (excluding all Jews but only 'pious') or exclusive (it also includes 'true pagan prophet'). Finally, he argues that God's choice is unconditional. Given the many times the Lord threatens the total destruction of the Hebrews, he insists that this choice is not absolute, impermanent, nor necessary.
Reconstructionist critic
Reconstructionist Judaism rejects the concept of elections. Its founder, Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, said that the idea that God chose the Jews leads to racist belief among the Jews, and thus should be excluded from Jewish theology. This rejection of choice is made explicit in the siddurim movement (prayer books). For example, the original blessing read before reading from the Torah contains the phrase, "asher bahar banu mikol ha'amim" - "Praise You are our Lord, the ruler of the Universe, who has chosen us from all people with give us the Torah. "The Reconstruction version was rewritten as" asher kervanu la'avodato "," Blessed are You our Lord, the ruler of the Universe, who has drawn us into your ministry by giving us Torah. " In the mid-1980s, the Reconstructionist movement issued the Platform on Reconstructionism. It states that the idea of ​​election is "morally defensible", because anyone who has such a belief "implies the superiority of the elect community and the rejection of others."
Not all Reconstruction receives this view. The latest Siddur of this movement, Kol Haneshamah , includes traditional blessings as an option, and some modern Reconstructionist writers argue that traditional formulations are not racist, and should be embraced.
An original prayer book, by the feminist poet Reconstruct Marcia Falk, The Book of Blessings , has been widely accepted by both Reform Jews and Reconstructionists. Falk rejects all concepts related to hierarchies or differences; he sees any difference as leading to acceptance of other kinds of differences, leading to prejudice. He writes that as a liberal political feminist, he must reject the differences made between men and women, homosexuals and heterosexuals, Jews and Gentiles, and to some extent even the difference between the Sabbath and the other six days of the week. He thus rejects the idea of ​​election as unethical. He also rejected the Jewish theology in general, and instead adhered to the form of religious humanism. Falk writes:
"The idea of ​​Israel as God's chosen people [...] is a key concept in rabbinic Judaism, but that is very problematic for many Jews today, in that it seems to fly in the face of monotheistic belief that all human beings are created in a divine image - and hence , all humans are equally loved and appreciated by God [...] I find it difficult to understand feminist Judaism which will include it in its teachings: the judgment of one person above and above others is too analogous to the privilege of one kind sex over others. "
Reconstructionist writer Judith Plaskow also criticized the idea of ​​election, for many of the same reasons as Falk. As a politically liberal lesbian, Plaskow rejects most of the differences made between men and women, homosexuals and heterosexuals, and Jews and Gentiles. Unlike Falk, Plaskow does not reject all the concepts of difference as inherently leading to unethical beliefs, and holds to a more classical form of Jewish theism than Falk.
A number of responses to these views have been made by the Reform and Conservative Jews; they argue that these criticisms contradict the teachings that do not exist in the liberal forms of Judaism, and which are rare in Orthodox Judaism (outside certain Haredi communities, such as Chabad). Separate criticism comes from the existence of feminist forms of Judaism in all denominations of Judaism, which have no problem with the concept of election.
Views from other religions
Islam
The children of Israel enjoy special status in the book of Islam, the Qur'an (2:47 and 2: 122) However, Muslim scholars point out that this status does not give Israel any racial superiority, and it is only valid as long as the Israelites keep the covenant they are with God:
Christianity
Some Christians believe that Jews are God's chosen people (Deuteronomy 14: 2 ), but because of Jewish Rejection of Jesus, Christians in turn receive that privileged status (Romans 11: 11-24 ). This doctrine is known as Supersessionism.
Other Christians, like Christadelphians, believe that God did not reject Israel as his chosen people (Romans 11: 2), and that the Jews would in fact accept Jesus as their Messiah at His Second Coming, produce their salvation ( Zechariah 12:10 , Romans 11:26 ).
Augustine criticized the Jewish election as "the flesh". He reasoned that Israel was chosen "according to the flesh."
Influence on relations with other religions
Avi Beker, an Israeli scholar and former Secretary General of the World Jewish Congress, considers the idea of ​​the chosen people as the concept of defining Judaism and "unspoken psychological, historical, and theological issues at the heart of the Jewish-Gentile relationship." In his book The Chosen: The History of an Idea, and Anatomy of an Obsession, Beker expressed the view that the concept of election was the driving force behind the Jewish-Gentile relationship, explaining the admiration and, more sharply, jealously heart and hatred that the world perceives for Jews in terms of religion as well as secular. Beker argues that while Christianity has modified its doctrine of Jewish displacement, Islam has not reversed or reformed its theology of both Jews and Christians. According to Beker, this presents a major obstacle to conflict resolution in the Arab-Israeli conflict.
ethnocentrism
Israeli philosopher Ze'ev Levy wrote that elections can be "(partially justified) only from a historical angle" with respect to his spiritual and moral contributions to Jewish life over the centuries, "agents of encouragement and strong hope." He points out however that modern anthropological theory "not only proclaims the universal equality inherent in all people [as] man, they also emphasize the equality of all human cultures." (emphasis in the original) He goes on to say that "no people or cultures are inferior and superior but just different, others , who." He concludes that the concept of electing contains ethnocentrism, "which does not go hand in hand with the others, that is, with unconditional respect from others".
Some claim that the concept of people chosen by Judaism is racist because it shows that Jews are superior to Gentiles. The Anti-Pollution League insists that the concept of the chosen people in Judaism has nothing to do with racial superiority.
See also
- Light to the Nations
- Religious nationalism
- Supersessionism
- Zionism
Note
References
- Emet Ve-Emunah: Conservative Judaism Principle Statement , JTSA, New York, 1988, p.Ã, 33-34
- Platform on Reconstructionism Federation of Church and Havurot Reconstruction, September 1986, page D, E
- Declaration of Principles for Reform of Judaism , 1999 Pittsburgh Convention of the American Rabbi Center Conference
- Encyclopaedia Judaica , Publishing Skills
- Ismar Elbogen Jewish Liturgy: Comprehensive History JPS, 1993. The most thorough academic study of Jewish liturgy ever written.
- Marcia Falk Book of Blessings HarperSanFranciso, 1996
- Reuven Hammer, Ed. Or Hadash: A Commentary on Siddur Sim Shalom for Shabbat and Festival , Rabbinical Assembly, 2003
- Nosson Scherman, Ed. The Complete Artscroll Siddur , Mesorah Publications, 2nd ed., 1986
Further reading
- Eisen, Arnold M. (1990). "Rhetoric of Fame and Fabrication of American Jewish Identity". At Lipset, Seymour Martin. American pluralism and the Jewish community . Transaction Publisher. ISBN 978-0-88738-286-4.
- Daniel H. Frank, ed. (1993). A Separate People: election and ritual in Jewish philosophical thought . SUNY Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-1631-0. (Part 1. Specificity)
External links
- Contemporary Rivalry for Selected People: Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Perspectives - Avi Beker at the Institute for Global Jewish Affairs
- People selected in Jewish Encyclopedia
- The Confidence of the Reform of Judaism
- The concept of Jewish election
- Selected Person FAQ
- Selected, All Loved. Rabbi Gilbert S. Rosenthal
- Selected People: Recapture Sacred Myths , Mitchell Max
- How is Jewish Pride different from Nazi Supremacy? , Rabbi Tzvi Freeman
- The Anti-Defamation League paper on Christian Identity
- The Covenant, Sword, and Arm of God - the Christian Identity movement
- The Truth About Talmud by Rabbi Gil's Students. Expose quote of fake Talmud used by antisemites
- Are the Selected Jews? chabad.org
- OzTorahÃ, - Is not that arrogant and exclusive to Jews to consider themselves as the Chosen People?
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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