DEUTERONOMY XXVI:1-XXIX:8

THE CHOSEN PEOPLE

Our biblical text includes the divine affirmation that the Hebrew people are Am Segulah: a “nation that is a treasure,” fulfilling its obligation and therefore a people consecrated to the Lord. This text, which highlights the uniqueness of the Hebrew people, served to enable the Jew to tolerate and resist the adversities that history presented to him. While a large part of humanity viewed the Jew with contempt, the Bible considered him a “treasure” people, chosen by God. 

Sholem Aleichem, a literate man of the last century who wrote in the Yiddish vernacular and on whose work, Tevye der milchiger, “Fiddler on the Roof” is based, puts on the lips of his hero Tevye: “Why don’t you choose another people for a while?” in one of his frequent conversations with God. If the “choice” produced the persecution, Tevye is willing to give up this distinction, at least for a while. 

There are those who maintain that this “choice” created a feeling of superiority in the Jew, a fact that in turn produced general rejection, because no people is willing to recognize the superiority, intellectual or spiritual, of another nation. A superficial review of the history of humanity prevents us from concluding that the Jewish people would have been privileged; on the contrary, this people was persecuted in an typical manner. However, it cannot be denied that they are a stubborn people; In biblical language it is Am Kesheh Oreph, a people with an unbeatable neck, who do not bow to adversity. This people wasbeaten and wounded by different armies and bandits, but has survived to the present, while Medinat Israel (State of Israel) secures its future.

The biblical narrative in Bereshit (Genesis) about the creation of a single man, Adam, father of mankind, prevents the Jew from claiming descent from more illustrious ancestors. The “choice” obviously cannot have a biological or genetic root. It is becauseAvraham (Abraham), the Patriarch and father of the Jewish people, conceived the existence of a single God, which is the most powerful idea that has had the greatest influence on humanity in all fields, including the scientific one, which assumes the existence of universal norms that are not governed according to the whims of some deity of the world of idolatry. “God does not play dice with the universe,” Albert Einstein said. The idea of the existence of only one God produces the corollary that there must be some reason for every phenomenon of nature.

To be a member of this “chosen” group one must be born from a Jewish womb. The Jewish condition is transmitted through chromosomes. But there is a second way: conversion. The person who considers that the principles enunciated by Judaism respond to his personal spiritual concerns and manifests the disposition to govern his life according to the principles and instructions of Judaism, can choose conversion and demand to belong to that people “chosen” by God. The choice is not racial, because if that were the case, there would be no conversion.

Belonging is open to those who wish to enroll in a brotherhood that has a cardinal mission: the dissemination of the idea of the existence of one God and, above all, what this ideal implies for human behavior. It is not only an intellectual or theological act of faith: it has a clear and definite implication for man. Faith in one God requires a behavior of solidarity with one’s neighbor, of assistance to the needy and the persecuted. At the same time, Judaism imposes a strict regime of personal conduct, the purpose of which is also self-discipline: “For man does not live by bread alone, but through the word of God man lives.”

When President Kennedy suggested to the American people “Don’t say what the country can do for you, but what you can do for the country,” he was enunciating a basic tenet of Judaism. Because being Jewish involves a series of obligations and duties, tasks and not privileges. Privileges and prerogatives weaken the individual and the nation. Tasks and commitments strengthen the character of the individual and the collective.

The challenges and tests tempered the character of the Jewish people and allowed them not to bow to the adversity, persecution and even genocide of one-third of their people a little more than half a century ago. The Jew was not created in the image and likeness of God: Adam, the first man and father of mankind, was infused with the spirit of the Creator. This implies that every human being can return to the roots of his creation and that no one can consider that for some reason he is superior to his neighbor. Superiority, if such a concept exists, can only be a function of moral and ethical behavior that follows from the teachings of the Holy Scriptures, of the Torah (Pentateuch).

Our chapters condition the conquest of the Promised Land by the Jewish people with their behavior in accordance with the Mitzvot (duties instructed in the Torah). The fact that distinguishes the Jew and transforms him into a “treasure” is a life ruled by Mitzvah, which transforms what is mundane and everyday into a spiritual act, it alters even the indispensable bread that man eats to exist, because what gives content and meaning to existence is a life in accordance with the word of God.

MITZVAH: ORDINANCE OF THE TORAH IN THIS PARSHA

CONTAINS 3  POSITIVE MITSVOT AND 3 PROHIBITIONS

606. Deuteronomy 26:5 Recite a declaration when bringing the first fruits to the Temple

607. Deuteronomy 26:13 Recite a statement when bringing tithing to the Temple

608. Deuteronomy 26:13 Do not eat the Second Tithe in a state of mourning

609. Deuteronomy 26:14 Do not ingest the Second Tithe while in a state of ritual uncleanness

610. Deuteronomy 26:14 Not spending the money for food and drink for which the Second Tithe has been redeemed

611. Deuteronomy 28:9 Imitating God’s Ways by keeping His Commandments