This is an election year, one like none other we’ve ever experienced. Even the conventions will be unique. In this context, I came across an interesting piece called “On the Possibility of Being Chosen,” in which the author, David Aronson in “The Jewish Way of Life,” wrote with regard to our being the Chosen People,
Israel did not always live up to this position. But it is an historic fact that Israel, of all the peoples, always considered itself a candidate for such a position. When one is a candidate one is often elected; when one is not a candidate, one can hardly be elected.
“Chosenness” has always been problematic in our collective history. There are many who find the label offensive. “Aren’t we all God’s children?” they ask. “Hasn’t that label created enough grief for our people across the centuries?” The Reconstructionist movement has eliminated the concept stating that we are not supernaturally chosen by God, but we are a “naturally evolving social group whose unique identity exists solely in relation to its unique culture.” The very foundation of the movement (now officially called Reconstructing Judaism, not Reconstructionist Judaism) questions many concepts that have been part-and-parcel of our belief system with the understanding that all of the concepts have been interpreted and continue to be interpreted.
I have no problem with people being troubled by the biblical and post-biblical, even the more modern ideas of chosenness. What with Madoff and Epstein, and so many others of our people acting less than chosen, dropping out of the race at an early age, if you will, if we want to continue the metaphor of candidacy, no wonder many object to wearing the chosen banner. I do have a problem however with those who object because it might lead to, shall we say, a “misunderstanding,” indeed anti-Semitism…” Who do THEY think they are!!” I hope you realize that our enemies don’t necessarily care what we call ourselves; they’re going to hate us if we call ourselves pit bulls.
Chosenness has always meant what David Arenson hints at. We were chosen to fulfill the commandments. We’re not chosen because we’re better. We could be good; we could be great. Others could be good and could be great, if they lived by the commandments, not the ritual ones, but the ethical and moral ones. Heck, let the world’s population call itself “Chosen” …of course with the stipulation that they understand chosenness means what I said and not “I’m better than you are.” Let them all be candidates and let them – let us – run in the Chosen primaries and let us all get the same number of delegates!
(Speaking about those chosen, two friends meet another in Paris where he now lives. “Look, it’s Moshe!” one of them calls out. Moshe turns beat red, and asks them, “Please, my friends, here I am no longer Moshe Pisher but Maurice de la Fontaine.”)