This week’s Torah reading mentions an incredible proclamation, as the verses say (10:14-15), “God owns the heavens and the highest of the heavens, the land and all it contains. Only your forefathers were desired by God, to love them, and He chose their descendants following them, who is you, from all the nations.” These are astounding words. God owns the entire universe and all the people in the world, yet God has special interest in us. God chose us uniquely to be His people.
The Mishnah in Avos (3:14) makes a special point to ingrain this message in us and tells us that the Jewish Nation is uniquely cherished, for they are called the children of God, and were given the prize possession of the Torah.
The Alter of Slabodka explains that this concept is not merely a stimulating piece of information to make us feel good. This is what determines the greatness of a person. The Alter of Slabodka says (Ohr Hatzafun, p. 271) that everything a person accomplishes depends on how much he values himself. Therefore, a person must think about how cherished he is by God. The more we feel how much God cherishes us, the more we will cherish our own souls. This empowers a person to bring out his potential. When we value ourselves properly, we are motivated to live up to our true potential.
An Israeli who completed his stint in the army decided to explore Africa in an effort to help himself find direction in life. He felt he could accomplish this best while alone, amidst the wilderness, watching animals. When he arrived in Africa, he rented a jeep, and set off on his trip without any clear destination in mind. Shortly after he left the city where he landed, the sun starting stetting. He built himself a camp fire in the middle of nowhere, and then went to sleep for the night in his rented vehicle.
The following morning, the first real day of his expedition, he was driving alone, away from civilization, when he noticed a young boy standing by the side of the road with his hand stretched out. The Israeli pulled over, rolled down his window, and offered the boy a chocolate bar. Before he knew it, the boy disappeared, only to show up moments later with a frightening group of about thirty armed men. They swiftly removed the man out of his vehicle, and it seemed as if his end was imminent.
Then, the leader of the group asked the man, “Where you from?” and he answered that he was from Israel. The leader reacted with a stern look, and the Israeli thought he just sealed his own death sentence. But before he knew it, the African exclaimed, “You Chosen People!” The rest of the group reverberated their leader’s words, “You Chosen People!” and with that, they left the man alone and disappeared.
The Israeli was shaken to the core. After he calmed down a little, he decided to make a U turn. He immediately returned to Israel and enrolled in a Yeshivah in Israel in order to learn more about what he learned from the wild tribesmen in Africa; what it means to be the Chosen People.
Being the Chosen People is not just a title of honor, it’s a genuine status. We were handpicked by God to be His people, which means, by definition, that we are aristocrats. We are not ordinary people, and we have no right to ignore this elite status that we were given. God is counting on us to represent Him and carry out our sacred roles in living an elevated life of growth in Torah and spiritual pursuits.
Being God’s people is a great glory which entails great responsibility to live up to the type of people we ought to be. We can’t just waste our lives with pursuing material goals and meaningless achievements. We have a special mission to live up to what we were chosen to be. It is too often that we forget about who we are. We lack appreciation of just what kind of value we really have. How can one begin to estimate the value of being God’s Chosen People? The more we contemplate and appreciate the greatness of being God’s Chosen People, the more we will naturally seek to fulfill our lofty roles in life.
By Rabbi Yitzchok Aryeh Strimber torah4every1@gmail.com
