לכבוד ידידי אהובי ר' אברהם יצחק בן אסתר ור' יוסף עזרא בן אסתר לברכה והצלחה בכל אשר יפנו
In the previous post, we shared a Gentile's perspective on the chosen-ness of the Jewish people. Now we will take a look in side at our sources. The Ohr Hachaim Hakadosh asks: Why was Yisro so fortunate to have a whole parsha named after him. He was formerly an idolatrous priest, for crying out loud!
Answers the Holy Ohr Hachaim:
ונראה כי טעם הדבר הוא להראות ה' את בני ישראל הדור ההוא וכל דור ודור כי יש באומות גדולים בהבנה ובהשכלה וצא ולמד מהשכלת יתרו בעצתו ואופן סדר בני אדם אשר בחר, כי יש באומות מכירים דברים המאושרים. והכוונה בזה כי לא
באה הבחירה בישראל לצד שיש בהם השכלה והכרה יותר מכל האומות וזה לך האות - השכלת יתרו. הא למדת כי לא מרוב חכמת ישראל והשכלתם בחר ה' בהם אלא לחסד עליון ולאהבת האבות.
Explains the Holy Rav: Hashem wanted to show the Jews of that generation and of all generations that there are people among the nations of the world who have great understanding. Yisro gave Moshe advice [which was implemented...] about setting up court systems. So even Moshe, the great half-man half-angel [as the Medrash calls him], the super genius of ALL TIME [he was in the "top shiur", Hashem's shiur כביכול], needed to receive insight from someone not descended from Avraham. How can that be? We don't need advice from people who have Phd's in Theology from Notre Dame. We are Yidden!
No!!:-) Sometimes [rarely?] the goyim can be smarter than us. And the is EXACTLY the point. It is not our high IQ or any other quality for that matter that prompted Hashem to choose us. He chose us because of His great chesed and because of His love of the Avos. So writes the Ohr Hachaim.
We can add the famous Maharal that the Torah tells us nothing of Avraham's greatness before Hashem appears to him in order to teach us that it was not any particular character trait that caused Hashem to choose him. If we would have been told, for example, of his willingness to be thrown in the furnace rather than serve idols, we would then assume that we are only chosen as long as we are willing to sacrifice for our faith. If not - we are "unchosen" [as a few billion people actually believe]. However, the truth is that our chosenness is immutable, unchanging and unconditional.
Not because we are smart, not because we win a lot of Nobel Prizes, not because wherever the Jews go we boost the economy, help build society [as much as the goyim let us], get to the top of our professions [have you actually ever met a non-Jewish doctor or lawer?:-)] but because we are we [sounds French]. Period. Hashem chose us for His reasons and nothing can change that.
Conclusion: Hashem LOVES YOU.
Have a nice day:-).
