Chosen Despite Everything

Sometimes I get a little down on Yidden. Seeing the way certain people act, hearing terrible stories of betrayal, trickery, evil and abuse all make me feel that people can be really rotten at times. Even, Hashem Yerachem, Jewish people.

The Sefarim stress that the chosenness of the Jews is NOT because of our deeds but above and beyond anything concrete we can ever do. We are chosen regardless of anything we ever have done or will do.

In Birkas HaTorah we say אשר בחר בנו מכל העמים  - Hashem chose us from all the nations ונתן לנו את תורתו  - He gave us this Torah into which he invested His Neshama. The gemara explains that the word אנכי is an acronym for אנא נפשי כתבית יהבית, I My Soul wrote and gave. The Torah is an expression of Hashem's soul. This Holy Torah he gave to us because we are His chosen nation. אשר בחר בנו מכל העמים ונתן לנו את תורתו.

Let's try to live up to it:).

עפ"י הסידור עולת ראיה