The Chosen People

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My heart kind of sank when I saw the reading for this month's Lunch and Learn with the rabbis, regarding the issue of the Jews being the "chosen" people.  It's one of many issues that I have trouble with, though I suppose that makes it a good topic for discussion.  The group was rather small, perhaps coincidentally.  Although the comments were thoughtful and intelligent, I ended up feeling very discouraged, because our conversation basically reinforced my discomfort with this issue.  Even people willing to admit that the issue is problematic are still willing to embrace our "choseness," though they admit that it requires "spin" to make the concept fit into our modern pluralistic world.  I finally said that I reject the notion (after the group danced around it for an hour), when one discussant suggested that maybe it's easier to think of ourselves as "teachers."   Even that kinder and gentler conceptualization communicates an inherently superior attitude that I just cannot accept.  It's too smug and condescending.  As I said in the group - anyone with knowledge of how rich and profound other religions are to their practitioners cannot accept that Jews are above them.  And beyond a few devout Christians, there aren't many non-Jews in the world who look to us to "teach" them.  It's rather ridiculous to contemplate.

The only upside to the reading is that I had never heard the interpretation of the story of Sinai which says that God threatened to drop the mountain on the Jews' heads in order to force them to accept the Torah and the covenant.  I just love that imagery, and it puts quite a different spin on the relationship between the Jews and God when you look at it that way!