Posted on 05/17/2011 8:06:47 AM PDT by Kaslin
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, to Israel, the one Jewish state.
But 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 Jews and the Jewish state.
A lifetime of study of this issue, including writing (with Rabbi Joseph Telushkin) a book on anti-Semitism ("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 chosen-ness. 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 chosen-ness 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 chosen-ness 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 Chosen-ness 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 write the world's most influential book, the Bible; to devise ethical monotheism; 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 "A History of the Jews" to get an idea about how much this people changed history.
What further renders the claim for Jewish chosen-ness 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 chosen-ness 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' chosen-ness 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 one Jewish state.
In the words of Catholic scholar Father 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 chosen-ness because they fear it will increase anti-Semitism; 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.
And so they were chosen to receive Christ and to include all in His promise to mankind.
The heresy of Replacement Theology has been the faith of the vast majority of Christians over the last 2000 years.
You are entirely welcome to believe they were, and are, all heretics, but it is going to seriously trim down the ranks of the orthodox.
[to God]
Tevye: I know, I know. We are Your chosen people. But, once in a while, can’t You choose someone else?
Fiddler on the Roof
My understanding from a genealogy perspective (I’m a non-Jew so correct me if I’m wrong) is that most Jews have a blood link to the Israelites somewhere. Ashkenazi Jews are basically a mix of European and Semitic peoples, for example. Ethiopian Jews are mostly African but even they are thought to have a little connection to the “original” Jews via the Tribe of Dan.
However, anyone who converts is accepted as a Jew, and their genes then of course mix in with the rest of the Jews they live and worship among as they marry, have children, etc...
Is that at least somewhat correct?
The heresy of Replacement Theology has been the faith of the vast majority of Christians over the last 2000 years.
You are entirely welcome to believe they were, and are, all heretics, but it is going to seriously trim the ranks of the orthodox.
28For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
29But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.
Well said. It is the vile heresy of "replacement theology" that has led to the crusades, the inquisition, "the church as kingdom," and many other horrible doctrines and events that have occurred in Christian history. Churches would do well to purge themselves of every last tiny bit of replacementalism.
I've heard that - but I've always wondered why Judaism is "officially" said to be inherited through the maternal line.
“They WERE the chosen people, before Christ — But now, we are to make disciples of ALL people.”
Actually, they still are chosen. We are “grated on” Basic Romans 101.
Now, this has nothing to do with salvation; they must still accept Christ.
Now, this does not mean Jews are going to heaven, mind you. Here I prefer the Catholic belief. Those in sincere, but invincible ignorance of the salvation brought by Christ, can also be somehow saved.
“The promised blessings are conditioned upon obedience”
Tou are confusing the Mt. Sinai convenant (which is conditional, as you correctly point out) with the convenant with Abraham (which is unconditional).
It has NOTHING to do with ME...it has to do with the truth...Ruth was an Israelite and so was Rahab. Rahab was also an inn keeper not a harlot.
“I’ve heard that - but I’ve always wondered why Judaism is “officially” said to be inherited through the maternal line.”
Oh, I can answer that, and I am not Jewish: a man has faith, but the woman has knowledge.
Seriously, I do know the father picks the tribe (e.g., Levi, Dan) and the mom confers the status of Jew or not Jew.
No clue why.
Except apparently, the Roman Catholic Church, the Orthodox Churches, and basically every significant Protestant denomniation, including every Bible Church I’ve ever set my foot in, you mean.
You are wrong about the Catholic Church, even though liberals have tried to change the teaching. In 2000, the Liberal U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops included the following sentence in their catechism:
"Thus the covenant that God made with the Jewish people through Moses remains eternally valid for them"
However in 2008, the USCCB was forces to retract the sentence because it conflicts with Catholic doctrine.
Islam is 100% extremist replacement theology and look where it gets them (and non-Muslims) with their eternal Jihad and conversion by the sword. Muhammad is the final prophet with Jesus and Moses and Abraham being lesser predecessors. Jihad is eternal until the entire world is Muslim ... So say the Muslims
We are a Tribe.>>>>>>>>
Then show me your casinos.
It is a true irony that adversity can be you greatest blessing....America is a case in point ...from the Pilgrims to the revolution it greatness was driven by people leaving tyranny
It is odd that Nietzsche's... "That which does not kill us makes us stronger.".... may in part apply to God and his chosen... but it the way a Father must be sometime with his children he truly loves
Right! Didn't the LORD make that covenant to Abraham in Genesis 15? A deep sleep came down on Abraham and the LORD walked between the sacrifices alone. Talk about His Sovereignty!
Or you can get raw with these strings. Either way, the violin is sweet yet lethal.
Do it!
So all the Apostles, Fathers, Doctors, councils, and even Protestant Reformers were wrong on this fundamental issue?
There is a bit more to it than that, but I don’t have time to respond.
John Paul II (who, as an aside, was Jewish under Jewish law, as his mother was Jewish), had some very explicit statements regarding Jews remaining the Chosen People.
In fact, JPII being who he was is some evidence of that the Jews’ special relationship remains, no?
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