Click here to download pdf version of this drash.We have all known parents who speak about their children only in the superlative: He’s the smartest kid in his class. She’s the best reader in her grade. He’s the most artistic kid in the school. She’s the best player on her team. Setting aside how listeners (especially other parents) may feel when subjected to this parental patter, we might wonder: What effect does this have on children spoken to, and of, in this hyperbolic manner? Do they feel supported by their parents’ belief in their abilities? Do they feel pressure to live up to their parents’ expectations? And what effect does singling them out have on their relations with their peers?
God, the “cosmic
parent” expresses similar superlatives
through Moses in this week’s
sedra, Ki Tavo:
וַיהוָה הֶאֱמִירְךָ
הַיּוֹם, לִהְיוֹת לוֹ
לְעַם סְגֻלָּה, כַּאֲשֶׁר,
דִּבֶּר-לָךְ;
וְלִשְׁמֹר,
כָּל-מִצְוֹתָיו. וּלְתִתְּךָ עֶלְיוֹן, עַל כָּל-הַגּוֹיִם
אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה, לִתְהִלָּה, וּלְשֵׁם וּלְתִפְאָרֶת; וְלִהְיֹתְךָ עַם-קָדֹשׁ לַיהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ, כַּאֲשֶׁר דִּבֵּר.
Adonai has
affirmed this day that you are, as [God] promised you, [God’s]
treasured people who shall observe all [God’s]
commandments, and that [God] will set you, in fame and renown and glory, high
above all the nations that [God] has made; and that you shall be, as [God]
promised, a holy people to Adonai your God. (Deuteronomy 26:18-19)
This passage is one of several
expressions of what has come to be known as the Chosenness doctrine: the belief
that God chose the people Israel among all the nations to fulfill the covenant
of Torah and that Israel thereby has a special and unique relationship with
God. This ancient idea has been the source of untold and immeasurably grief and
suffering[1], a
favorite trope of anti-Semites[2], and
popular tripe for Jews who would see the Jewish people as superior to others.
Of course, having a special and unique relationship with God doesn’t preclude
God having special and unique relationships with other nations, and the purpose
of chosenness—to
keep the covenant of Torah—is
conveniently ignored by both sides.
I sometimes think that the idea of
chosenness, much like the my-child-is-best idea, resides at the intersection of
the natural human desire to feel distinctive and unique, and the natural human
proclivity to compete with others. Apparently, what happens on the individual
level can happen on the national level, as well. Where does this leave Israel,
God’s “child”?
Pressured to live up to high expectations? Supported by God’s
confidence in them? And what of their relations with peers?
The Torah’s true
perspective might be helpful when we approach the idea of chosenness, and also
for parents who are inclined to speak of their children in the superlative.
Lest we think that Israel is inherently superior, endowed with exceptional
attributes, qualities, or powers, Torah tells us this:
לֹא מֵרֻבְּכֶם מִכָּל-הָעַמִּים,
חָשַׁק יְהוָה בָּכֶם--וַיִּבְחַר בָּכֶם: כִּי-אַתֶּם הַמְעַט,
מִכָּל-הָעַמִּים.
כִּי מֵאַהֲבַת יְהוָה
אֶתְכֶם, וּמִשָּׁמְרוֹ
אֶת-הַשְּׁבֻעָה
אֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבַּע לַאֲבֹתֵיכֶם, הוֹצִיא יְהוָה אֶתְכֶם, בְּיָד חֲזָקָה;
וַיִּפְדְּךָ מִבֵּית
עֲבָדִים, מִיַּד
פַּרְעֹה מֶלֶךְ-מִצְרָיִם.
It is not
because you are the most numerous of peoples that Adonai set his heart on you
and chose you—indeed, you are the smallest of peoples; but
it was because Adonai favored you and kept the oath [God] made to your
ancestors that Adonai freed you with a mighty hand and rescued you from the house
of bondage, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. (Deuteronomy 7:7-8)
Here we find that God “chooses” the Israelites and redeems them from
Egypt not because they are inherently superior to other nations, but
rather in fulfillment of a commitment made to Abraham who, from the perspective
of Torah, was an arbitrary choice.[3] There is
no suggestion from Torah concerning why God chose Abram. The Rabbis,
however, fill this lacuna with copious midrashim attesting to Abram’s
extraordinary spiritual insights, strength, and resilience; they presume that
Abram was an innately superior individual and that God recognized this even if
Torah does not record it. However, is it possible that Abram was “ordinary” until God selected him, and the
selection itself imbued him with a sense of purpose and potential that helped
him become “extraordinary”? Is this
what Moses was doing on God’s
behalf in telling the Israelites that [God] will set you, in
fame and renown and glory, high above all the nations that [God] has made; and
that you shall be, as [God] promised, a holy people to Adonai your God? Does
this happen to our children when we shower them with accolades and praise?
In fact our passage from Ki Tavo is
most often read as exhortation: Moses is calling the Israelites to fulfill
their potential, making it a wonderful passage to be reading shortly before
Rosh Hashanah, a day on which doing teshuvah (repentance) should focus
us on our untapped and unfulfilled potential and promise, just as a new year of
possibility unfolds before us. Exhortation can support and encourage a child or
a nation to aim higher, but it can also have a dark side: it can also be
construed as a branding of superiority that actually exempts the child or the
group from exerting greater effort because, after all, they are destined for “fame and
renown and glory.”
The Rabbis are wise to temper the
notion of chosenness with an eloquent reminder that all human beings
share in God’s holiness
and none is inherently superior: after all, everyone descends from the same
ancestor:
להגיד גדולתו של מלך
מלכי המלכים, הקדוש ברוך הוא,
שאדם טובע מאה מטבעות
בחותם אחד, וכולן דומין זה
לזה, מלך מלכי
המלכים הקדוש ברוך הוא טובע את כל האדם בחותמו של אדם הראשון,
ואין אחד מהם דומה
לחברו.
Humanity was
produced from one human being, Adam, to show God's greatness. When a person
mints a coin in a press, each coin is identical. But when the Sovereign of
Sovereigns, the Holy One, Blessed be God, creates human beings in the form of
Adam, not one is similar to any other. (Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5)
Rabbi Akiba frames our tendency to
wish to see ourselves as special and unique, set apart and uncommonly (or even
exclusively) endowed with certain attributes in a fascinating way. He affirms
Israel’s sense of
being uniquely beloved of God, but only after affirming that all people
are beloved of God and everyone is created in the divine image. And what
is more, everyone knows that they are. Israel’s sense of uniqueness does not stand outside
humanity, but in the very stream of humanity, all of whom are beloved of God.
חביב אדם שנברא בצלם;
חיבה יתרה נודעת לו
שנברא בצלם, שנאמר "כי בצלם אלוהים,
עשה את האדם"
(בראשית ט,ו). חביבין ישראל שנקראו בנים למקום; חיבה יתרה נודעת להם שנקראו בנים למקום,
שנאמר "בנים אתם,
לה' אלוהיכם" (דברים יד,א). חביבין ישראל, שניתן להם כלי שבו נברא העולם; חיבה יתרה נודעת להם שניתן להם כדי שבו נברא העולם,
שנאמר "כי לקח טוב,
נתתי לכם;
תורתי,
אל תעזובו.”
R. Akiva used
to say, "Beloved is humanity,
for they were created in God's image. Exceedingly loved are they,
for it was made known to them that they are created in the divine image, as it
is written, In the image of God, man was created (Genesis 9:6). The
mishna goes on to say, "Beloved are the people Israel, for they are called
children of God; it is even a greater love that it was made known to them that
they are called children of God, as it said, 'You are the children of the Lord,
your God. Beloved are the people Israel, for a precious article [the Torah] was
given to them (Pirke Avot
3:18)
Put another way: British journalist[4] William
Norman Ewer (1885–1976)
coined the well-known epigram: “How odd of God to choose the Jews,” to which Prof. Anonymous appended, “Not so
odd; the Jews chose God.”
Rabbi Akiba subtly and lovingly asks
us to consider our “chosenness” in the context of everyone’s
specialness. Many years ago, when my oh-so-wise husband thought one or another
of the kids was acting, well… let me
tell you what he would say to them and I think
you’ll get the
picture: “Yes, you are unique in all the world—just like
everyone else.”
© Rabbi
Amy Scheinerman
[1] The prophet Amos suggests that designation “chosen people” might not be such a prize: You only have I singled out
of all the families of the earth: therefore will I visit upon you all your
iniquities (Amos 3:2).
[2] Inspiring Tevye’s
complaint to God in Fiddler on the Roof: “I
know, I know. We are Your chosen people. But, once in a while, can't You choose
someone else?”
[3] Adonai said to Abram, “Go forth from your native land and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of
you a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you
shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and curse him that curses
you; and all the families of the earth shall bless themselves by you.” Avram went forth as Adonai had commanded
him… (Genesis 12:1-4).
[4] Historical trivia: he was also a Soviet agent!
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