Last update - 00:00 27/07/2007
Portion of the Week / The meaning of being chosen
By Benjamin Lau
This week's Torah portion is concerned with refreshing the Israelites' memory prior to their entry into Canaan after 40 years in the wilderness. Moses reminds a new generation of its history from the start of this journey. His speech centers primarily on the covenant God made with the Jews; its climax is Moses' elevation of their status: "The Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth" (Deuteronomy 7:6).
From this moment on, Jews must know their unique status. As a "special people," they inspire great expectations; it is anticipated that they will display a higher level of morality than other nations. The Jews are conscious of their status as members of the "king's entourage" ("Sifra," Parashat Kedoshim). To be worthy of inclusion in the Jewish people, we must sever ourselves from the corruption of the world's nations, which destroy their image through acting with violence and ruling over others. A special people must be connected to the earth, without being rulers.
According to Rashi, this idea is contained in the Torah's words describing God's reason for choosing Israel: "The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people" (Deuteronomy 7:7). This verse, literally interpreted, does not explain why God chose the Jews; instead, it negates one reason for this. The choice has a qualitative, not a quantitative, basis. However, Rashi hears something else here: "Since you do not aggrandize yourselves when I grant you an abundance of good things, I want you. Because you are a small nation that underestimates itself. Like Abraham who said he was nothing 'but dust and ashes' (Genesis 18:27) and like Moses and Aaron who asked, 'and what are we?' (Exodus 16:8). But unlike Nebuchadnezzar, who declared, 'I will be like the most high' (Isaiah 14:14); unlike Sennacherib, who proclaimed, 'Who are they among all the gods of these lands, that have delivered their land out of my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?' (Isaiah 36:20); and unlike Hiram, who said, 'I am a God, I sit in the seat of God' (Ezekiel 28:2)."
The test of a society is how it performs in a situation of abundance, not of pressure. In pressured situations, people seek asylum - through nostalgia or indolence. However, in conditions of plenty, arrogance begins to take root, accompanied by feelings of ownership. As Rashi sees it, Israel was chosen because of its capacity for desisting from haughtiness in prosperous times. This is how the patriarch Abraham behaved, and how Moses and Aaron acted. Unlike these forefathers of the Jewish nation, the rulers of the empires of Assyria, Babylon and Tyre tried, in the course of achieving power, to deify themselves.
Rashi could also have cited examples from Israel and Judah's kings: for example, Uzziah, king of Judah, who built up his nation's military and political might. He established an army, developed the land and created economic prosperity. In an article on the Negev's significance (written in Sde Boker in 1955), Israel's first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, praised Uzziah: "Of all the political figures in the Bible, nobody is as close to the spirit of our era than Uzziah king of Judah." Ben-Gurion admired his strength and leadership; strangely, he "forgot" this powerful king's tragic end: "But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction: for he transgressed against the Lord his God, and went into the temple of the Lord to burn incense upon the altar of incense" (2 Chronicles 26:16).
The king sought to concentrate in his own hands political leadership as well as divine worship in the Temple in Jerusalem. The priests tried to stop the king from losing control, but he did not heed them. The result was severe: "And Azariah the chief priest, and all the priests, looked upon him, and, behold, he was leprous in his forehead, and they thrust him out from thence; yea, himself hasted also to go out, because the Lord had smitten him. And Uzziah the king was a leper unto the day of his death" (2 Chronicles 26:20-21).
Uzziah and Ben-Gurion
In the granting of the Ten Commandments, an event also mentioned in this Torah reading, the king (God) provides detailed instructions on the conduct expected of the members of his entourage: They must observe the Sabbath, honor their parents, see to the needs of the weak and protect the life, property and dignity of others. The Ten Commandments are divided into two tablets, each containing five commandments. Heading each is the Creator's declaration regarding the hierarchy of values expected from Israel. Heading the first tablet is "I am the Lord thy God" (Exodus 20:2); heading the second is "Thou shalt not kill" (Exodus 20:13). God is teaching us that both of these commandments go hand in hand.
Those who recognize the commandment "I am the Lord thy God" cannot murder another human being. Since the days of Cain and Abel, murder has been committed wherever human beings try to usurp God. When mortals think they own the earth, they become arrogant and their possessiveness becomes boundless. Those who stand in their way risk losing their lives. Those who recognize God's dominion cannot murder because they know that all humans were created in God's image. Harm caused to any human being is harm caused to God's image. What right have I to harm God's image? "Thou shalt not kill" heads the second tablet, alongside "I am the Lord thy God," so the alarm bells will ring for those who forget their true status in this world.
We opened with Israel's special status and then shifted to the universal person, as created in God's image. Sometimes these seem contradictory; however, the joining of the two issues in one Torah reading and one commentary teaches us that the national approach and the universal one can be merged into a single concept of a Jew's obligations in this world. The awareness that I belong to a chosen nation does not grant me special privileges vis-a-vis the lives of those living with me and in my surroundings, or regarding their liberty. In fact, the esprit de corps connected with belonging to the "king's entourage" inspires a strong commitment to purifying the world and maintaining its moral standards.