It IS all about Israel and Jerusalem.
Posted on 05/17/2011 7:00:12 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
I assume that the type of person who reads columns such as this one has wondered at one time or another why, for thousands of years, there has been so much attention paid to Jews; and why, today, so much attention is paid to Israel, the lone Jewish state.
How do most people explain this preoccupation? There is no fully rational explanation for the amount of attention paid to the Jews and the Jewish state. And there is no fully rational explanation for the amount of hatred directed at them.
A lifetime of study of this issue, including writing (with Rabbi Joseph Telushkin) a book on antisemitism (Why the Jews? The Reason for Antisemitism) has convinced me that, along with all the rational explanations, there is one explanation that transcends reason alone.
It is that the Jews are God’s chosen people.
Now, believe me, dear reader, I am well aware of the hazards of making such a claim. It sounds chauvinistic. It sounds racist. And it sounds irrational, if not bizarre.
But it is none of these.
As regards chauvinism, there is not a hint of inherent superiority in the claim of Jewish chosenness. In fact, the Jewish Bible, the book that states the Jews are chosen, constantly berates the Jews for their flawed moral behavior. No bible of any other religion is so critical of the religious group affiliated with that bible as the Hebrew Scriptures are of the Jews.
As for racism, Jewish chosenness cannot be racist by definition. Here is why: a) The Jews are not a race; there are Jews of every race. And b) any person of any race, ethnicity, or nationality can become a member of the Jewish people and thereby be as chosen as Abraham, Moses, Jeremiah or the chief rabbi of Israel.
And with regard to chosenness being an irrational or even bizarre claim, it must be so only to atheists. They don’t believe in a Chooser, so they cannot believe in a Chosen. But for most believing Jews and Christians (most particularly the Founders who saw America as a Second Israel, a second Chosen People), Jewish Chosenness has been a given. And even the atheist must look at the evidence and conclude that the Jews play a role in history that defies reason.
Can reason alone explain how a hodgepodge of ex-slaves was able to change history — to introduce the moral God-Creator we know as God, to devise ethical monotheism; to write the world’s most influential book, the Bible; to be the only civilization to deny the cyclical worldview and give humanity belief in a linear (i.e., purposeful) history; to provide morality-driven prophets; and so much more — without God playing the decisive role in this people’s history?
Without the Jews, there would be no Christianity (a fact acknowledged by the great majority of Christians); and no Islam (a fact acknowledged by almost no Muslims). Read Thomas Cahill’s “The Gifts of the Jews” or Paul Johnson’s “History of the Jews” to get an idea about how much this people changed history.
What further renders the claim for Jewish chosenness worthy of rational consideration is that virtually every other nation has perceived itself as chosen or otherwise divinely special. For example, China means “Middle Kingdom” in Chinese – meaning that China is at the center of the world; and Japan considers itself the land where the sun originates (“Land of the Rising Sun”). The difference between Jewish chosenness and other nations’ similar claims is that no one cares about any other group considering itself Chosen, while vast numbers of non-Jews have either believed the Jews’ claim or have hated the Jews for it.
Perhaps the greatest evidence for the Jews’ chosenness has been provided in modern times, during which time evil has consistently targeted the Jews:
•Nazi Germany was more concerned with exterminating the Jews than with winning World War II. •Throughout its 70-year history, the Soviet Union persecuted its Jews and tried to extinguish Judaism. Hatred of Jews was one thing Communists and Nazis shared. •The United Nations has spent more time discussing and condemning the Jewish state than any other country in the world. Yet this state is smaller than every Central American country, including El Salvador, Panama, and even Belize. Imagine if the amount of attention paid to Israel were paid to Belize — who would not think there was something extraordinary about that country? •Much of the contemporary Muslim world — and nearly all the Arab world — is obsessed with annihilating the lone Jewish state. In the words of Catholic scholar Fr. Edward Flannery, “the Jews carry the burden of God in history.” Most Jews, being secular, do not believe this. And many Jews dislike talk of chosenness because they fear it will increase antisemitism; they may be right.
But it doesn’t alter the fact that the obsession with one of the smallest countries and smallest peoples on earth, and the unique hatred of the Jews and the Jewish state by the world’s most vicious ideologies can be best explained only in transcendent terms. Namely that God, for whatever reason, chose the Jews.
— Dennis Prager is a nationally syndicated radio talk-show host and columnist.
Lord, please choose someone ELSE!
/Jackie Mason voice
Time for a He’Brew! It’s the chosen beer!
http://www.shmaltz.com/
I’m think of buying their Messiah Stout since it’s the beer I’ve always been waiting for!
Hating Jews is merely doing Satans work. Everyone must choose which side to take in their eternal afterlife. Choose carefully.
It IS all about Israel and Jerusalem.
Billions of people in Asia have never read the bible and could not find Israel on the map.
Kind of a self fullfilling prophesy if you ask me. Tell the world for thousands of years that you are chosen by the most powerful God and then take as a sign it is so when tyrants throughout history persecute you. I support Israel because it is a democracy and Islam is a gutter religion. As far as being chosen, they are as much chosen as Odin is sitting in Valhalla and Zeus upon Mount Olympus. The sooner people stop believe in myths the better.
Are American Jews actually anti-Israel? Its strange to me that they support Obama and by association; Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Louis Farakan, William Ayers and Jeremiah Wright ...strange.
Wow! Great post!
John 14:6
“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me”
Other groups of people similarly claim to be "chosen" or preferred within a religious context. As the author points out, in terms of population, Israel is a small, relatively insignificant country and the Jews are a small, relatively insignificant minority of people. Why do they get the disproportionate share of negativity that originates in this world?
Billions of people in Asia have never read the bible and could not find Israel on the map.
I'll extend this by saying that billions of people all over the world are in a similar predicament. Why would these people care about a country populated with people who in their own religion claim to be chosen?
Isaiah 49:6 "You will do more than restore the people of Israel to me. I will make you a light to the Gentiles, and you will bring my salvation to the ends of the earth."
The Jews WERE the chosen people of God. After Christ came for ALL mankind, they are just like everyone else. They have the same opportunity to come to the Father by the Son. If they do not, they are just like every other non believer. You cannot deny God by Denying his Son and still be special/chosen.
Let’s stop with all the Old Testament mis application. Jesus fulfilled the prophecies. The only thing that matters now is belief in Christ.
If they can exterminate the Jews....they prove that the only Wise God, Jesus Christ doesn't exist.
It's that simple.
Delusional, but that simple.
For, Christ will return, and the remnant of Israel will turn to him and recognize him, finally, as him whom they pierced.
There is the gospel of circumcision, Jews, and the gospel of uncricomcision, Gentiles.
The gentile nations, by faith, are grafted in to that tree that is Israel.
Jacob will yet be healed.
You know not the the scriptures.
It is rather easy to determine who are The Eternal One’s Chosen People....search the scriptures for the ‘Marks of Israel’ .... there are well over 50 marks of Israel ... then determine which country/countries carry those marks. That is where you will find HIS Chosen People...anything else would be nothing more than doctrines, traditions, fables and commandments of men.
Not quite. Jesus fulfilled prophesy, and is the Savior of everyone who lets Him into their hearts, but the jews are still the chosen people and always will be. In the last days they will recognize Jesus as the Messiah.
I agree that Jesus fulfilled the promises of the Old Testament, but that does not terminate the relationship between God and His chosen people.
Sadly, those myths form the basis for a good part of our foreign policy. The Jews are the “Chosen People” because thousands of years ago, they said so.
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