20th Century Jewish Religious Thought: Original Essays on Critical Concepts, Movements, and Beliefs

Chosen People

Chosen People Henri Atlan T he prime source of the biblical concept of a chosen people is Exodus 19:5, where the God of Israel refers to the children of Israel as "my treasured possession among all the peoples [li segulah mihol ha-amim]" (cf. Deut. 7:6). Employing the verbal meaning of the root of the term segulah as elaborated in medieval, postrabbinic literature (viz. segel, to adapt, to adjust), one may homiletically interpret this passage as suggesting that there was a perfect match or harmony between Israel and its god. Indeed, one may speak of the chosen-people concept as pointing to a mutual adaptation between a particular peoplea tribe of freed slaves whose existence as a people was inaugurated by the experience of liberation-and its god, who was revealed and defined only in that experience of liberation.1 This perfect match, this mutual adaptation between a people and its god, had, of course, the immediate effect of differentiating that people from other peoples, separating it through the very act that established and defined it. From the very outset this perfect match was expressed in the form of a covenant or constitution that, at the same time, identified the people with 56 CHOSEN PEOPLE a plan, namely, "You shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" (Ex. 19:6). The consequences of this plan could, however, be as unfortunate and catastrophic as they could be a blessing, depending upon the path taken by the people in its inner organization as well as in the behavior of its members, upon the function of its families and social mores, and its relations with surrounding peoples. An almost immediate consequence of the definition and constitution of this people by its plan, by its social organization, and by the way family structures are preserved within the tribal organization led it to be conscious of a certain isolation even while its national and territorial fulfillment were but a promise. The election of a people by its god, with the separation that this implies, is not at all exceptional in the polytheistic context of myths describing the origins of ancient peoples. The Bible must be read, at least initially, as the myth of the origin of the people of Israel. Every people plays a central role in the cosmogony its culture teaches. The election of the Hebrews by their god, as described in the Bible, must first be understood in the context of myths of origin, in which each people considers itself the center of the universe. In the Jewish tradition two currents of thought that emphasize different and apparently contradictory aspects of the content of election can be discerned . One of those currents emphasizes the universality of the biblical message. Election does not imply superiority or inherent sanctity, since the correct reading of the Bible in fact implies conditional chosenness. The election is one of duty, not of rights or attributes. Superiority and sanctity do not belong to historical Israel, to concrete individuals, but to a mythical Israel, held up as a model and ideal, defined by submission to God's commandments and respect for the covenant. Thus superiority and sanctity are not simply conferred, but are promised as a consequence of respect for the covenant and observance of the law, whereas transgression automatically entails inferiority and consequent decline. Maimonides is a major proponent of this view; his halakhic authority assures its centrality in the tradition. Nevertheless, the concept of election through duty and the covenant, through obedience to the law, merely relegates the problem to another level, because the character of the privileged relationship is not eliminated. That is why, at the same time, one may not ignore the other current, represented by such thinkers as Judah Halevi, the Maharal of Prague, certain streams of I:Iasidic thought, and Abraham Isaac Kook. There is an important kabbalistic tradition taken up by the I:Iasidim and the Sephardim concerning the particular qualities of "Jewish souls" (which can also inhabit nonJews ). They hold that the keeping of the commandments is a pedagogical CHOSEN PEOPLE 57 path to build those souls through generations, and that, vice versa, the particularjewish soul predisposes Israel to keep the commandments. Undeniably these notions are quite dangerous, as are other kabbalistic notions, if they are taken literally and applied directly to the concrete reality of individuals . The Maimonidean current takes account of these...