"chosen"

[cellio]

A conversation with geekosaur prompts me to write about the idea of "the chosen people".

I think there are a couple problems with that phrase. First, let's talk about "chosen". The word "segula" poses some problems for the rabbis; it doesn't show up much and (I gather) it seems to have different connotations in different places. I understand that "treasured" or "precious" is a better translation, though I'm just repeating what others have said to me.

But the real problem with the phrase is "the". It's not there, and I don't think that's an oversight. "Am segula" has no definite article; it's "a [treasured, precious, chosen] people", not the.

But that makes sense. God tells us that we aren't the only ones he deals with; both Torah and Prophets contain testimony to that effect. There are certain nations we have to leave alone because they also have relationships with God. But, more broadly, why can't God have lots of treasured peoples? We humans tend to have lots of treasured possessions, too; is it so different?

It seems to me that the proper response to "we're chosen" is "for what?". If we are chosen, it's that we're chosen to do a particular job. God chooses different peoples for different tasks, just as a craftman chooses different tools for different parts of the job.

Our job, it appears, is to be a "kingdom of priests" to the rest of the world. What does that mean? Originally, it probably meant introducing monotheism; now, I think it means influencing others in ethical behavior. (And, of course, you can't work on others until you improve yourself.) Ethical behavior isn't the reason for all the mitzvot, but, somehow, it is a result of many of them. As for the others, well, we don't always know God's reasons for things.

(And no, this doesn't mean prosyletizing, at least not in the evangelical-Christian sense. Tradition holds that when the moshiach (messiah) comes all the world will bow down to the one God, but that's a far cry from converting everyone to Judaism.)

Comments

[geekosaur]

Heh. I'd like to see it (although, Linux as Islam? Somehow I don't quite map a tendency toward Wahhabism to those kiddies...). :/