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 | This article uses texts from within a religion or faith system without referring to secondary sources that critically analyze them. (March 2024) |
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In Judaism, the concept of the Jews as chosen people (Hebrew: הָעָם הַנִבְחַר hāʿām hanīvḥar) is the belief that the Jews as a subset, via partial descent from the ancient Israelites, are also chosen people, i.e. selected to be in a covenant with God. Israelites being properly the chosen people of God is found directly in the Book of Deuteronomy 7:6[1] as the verb baḥar (בָּחַר), and is alluded to elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible using other terms such as "holy people" as goy or gentile, Book of Exodus 19:6.[2] Much is written about these topics in rabbinic literature. The three largest Jewish denominations—Orthodox Judaism, Conservative Judaism and Reform Judaism—maintain the belief that the Jews have been chosen by God for a purpose. Sometimes this choice is seen by believers as charging the Jewish people with a specific mission—to be a light unto the nations, and to exemplify the covenant with God as described in the Torah. Isaiah and Jeremiah viewed God's loving choice of Israel as a means to teaching monotheism, combatting idolatry, curbing human arrogance, ending violence, lust, greed, extreme chauvinism and warfare, and ushering in a new society.
While the concept of "chosenness" may be understood by some to connote ethnic supremacy,[3] the status as a "chosen people" within Judaism does not preclude a belief that God has a relationship with other peoples—rather, Judaism holds 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",[4] the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) also identifies prophets outside the community of Israel and the prophet Jonah is explicitly told to go prophesize to the non-Jewish people of Nineveh. Jewish tradition is clear that there were interactions of non-Jewish prophets with God which are not recounted in the Torah. Based on these statements and stories, some rabbis theorized that, in the words of Natan'el al-Fayyumi, a Yemenite Jewish theologian of the 12th century, "God permitted to some people that which he forbade to others ... [and] God sends a prophet to every people according to their own language." (Levine, 1907/1966) 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" (Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5).
According to the Israel Democracy Institute, approximately two thirds of Israeli Jews believe that Jews are the "chosen people".[5]
- ^ Clements, Ronald (1968). God's Chosen People: a Theological Interpretation of the Book of Deuteronomy. In series, Religious Book Club, 182. London: S.C.M. Press
- ^ The Jews as a Chosen People: Tradition and Transformation, S. Leyla Gurkan p. 9
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Ethnicwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Numbers 27:16
- ^ 2013 Democracy Index, "We asked: “To what extent do you believe that the Jews are the ‘chosen people’?” As shown in Figure 34, roughly two thirds of the Jewish respondents (64.3%) believe “very strongly” or “quite strongly” that the Jews are indeed the chosen people, while one third (32.7%) do not share this view."