God's Choice and What it Means to be Chosen

Jerusalem  (Photo by Reinhardt Konig)

 

 

"For you are a people holy to the Lord your God.  The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be His people, His treasured possession."  (Deuteronomy 7:6)

 

The Jewish People are often called the Chosen People, a term that has caused many to accuse God of favoritism and the Jews of being smug elitists who think that God prefers them over all other nations and peoples.

 

“Chosenness” is so strongly associated with favoritism and arrogance that even some Jewish people reject this term.  Yet, the idea of God choosing Israel runs throughout Scripture.  Here are a few verses:

 

"But you, Israel, My servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, you descendants of Abraham My friend.”  (Isaiah 41:8)

 

“You His servants, the descendants of Israel, His chosen ones, the children of Jacob.”  (1 Chronicles 16:13; see also Psalm 105:6)

 

“For the LORD has chosen Jacob to Himself, and Israel for His peculiar treasure.”  (Psalm 135:4)

 

Garments for Honor

People say, "It's not the outside that matters; only the heart matters." In reality, the outside often reveals a lot about what is going on in the inside.

THIS WEEK'S TORAH PORTION:

Tetzaveh (תצוה | You shall command)

Torah: Exodus 27:20-30:10

Haftarah: Ezekiel 43:10-27

Gospel: Mark 4:35-5:43

* Special readings for Shabbat Zachor are applicable this Shabbat.

Shabbat Zachor (זכור | Remember)

* Maftir: Deuteronomy 25:17-19

* Haftarah: 1 Samuel 15:1-34

They shall build for Me a sanctuary, and I will dwell among them

(Exodus 25:8)

Adar 5, 5777March 3, 2017

You and I weren't there when G-d created the world. But Torah teaches us that G-d created the world in six days and on the seventh day, having completed His work, G-d blessed and sanctified His creation. And so it was for some two thousand years: G-d in His heaven and man on the earth that G-d created for him. But when G-d invites Moshe into the fiery mountaintop of Sinai, He makes to Moshe a new proposal: "They shall build for Me a sanctuary, and I will dwell among them." (Exodus 25:8)

The Little Sanctuary

It was not a matter of feelings of spiritual intensity; it was a matter of fact. God lived in that place. It was like having God as a next-door neighbor.

THIS WEEK'S TORAH PORTION:

Terumah (תרומה | Heave offering)

Torah: Exodus 25:1-27:19

Haftarah: 1 Kings 5:26-6:13

Gospel: Matthew 13:1-53

Sapphire brick and the appearance of the heavens for clarity

(Exodus 24:10)

Shevat 28, 5777/February 24, 2017

"and they perceived the G-d of Israel, and beneath His feet was like the forming of a sapphire brick and like the appearance of the heavens for clarity." (Exodus 24:10)

We tend to equate the revelation at Mount Sinai with the giving of the Ten Commandments. But, in fact, the Ten Commandments were merely G-d's opening salvo of a searingly intense transmission of Torah commandments and spiritual experiences that He directed at Israel on that day. "Searingly," because the Sinai experience forever seared the Torah, in its entirety, upon the hearts and souls of Israel, throughout all her generations. "Intense," because these were not easy commandments to assimilate into the lifestyle of the new-born nation, but required study and far reaching insight in order to transform them into the pillars and basis of our 'everyday' lives. And again "intense," because of the power of G-d's revelation of His Being, first to the entire nation at Sinai, and later, to a smaller 'elite' group which included "Moshe and Aharon, Nadav and Avihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel." (ibid 24:9)

Torah — God in Human Terms

Even the smallest commandment of the Torah is suffused with godliness.

THIS WEEK'S TORAH PORTION:

Mishpatim (משפטים | Judgments)

Torah: Exodus 21:1-24:18

Haftarah: Jeremiah 34:8-22, 33:25-26

Gospel: Luke 7:1-8:3

An altar of earth you shall make for Me!

(Exodus 19:21)

Shevat 21, 5777/February 17, 2017

Lightning! Thunder! Fire and smoke: Mount Sinai! And Israel stands as one man before G-d...

G-d in His own voice speaks to Israel, who hear and see His words as He begins to teach them one commandment after another, each commandment a blessing, each commandment another opportunity to perform G-d's will! And then after ten commandments G-d pauses. Soon the Torah will be presenting us mishpatim, laws teaching Israel how to live together with one another, but just before this... G-d stops.