Am Hanivchar: A source of anti-Semitism?

With the increasing concern over worldwide violence against Jews, and of the political defense of such behavior, much debate has focused upon the origins of such conduct as well as to numerous strategies aimed at quelling it. This week’s column will survey the historical and theologically-based origins that are behind these actions. First, we begin with a Divar Torah.

Rabbi Hershel Schachter of Yeshiva U, in a recent essay entitled, “The Meaning of Am Hanivchar, the Source of Anti-Semitism,” makes a series of interesting observations based upon the premise that Jews are a divinely chosen people, thus possibly generating hostility among the unchosen:

“G-d selected one nation to serve as a role model for all the others regarding how to go in His ways. The prophet Isaiah says, ‘am zu yotzarti’, i.e., that the am ha’nivchar was a distinct creation of G-d. According to nature, Klal Yisrael really should not exist, since the Bible tells us that the imahot (foremothers) were akarot [unable to bear children], and the Talmud tells us that Avraham, Yitzchok, and Yaakov were akorim as well. As such, the whole existence of Klal Yisrael is l’maaleh min hatevah.

“This probably explains the mysterious phenomenon of anti-Semitism which persists throughout all generations. A body naturally rejects foreign objects … and Klal Yisrael does not fit in to the natural system which makes up the rest of the world; Klal Yisrael was created as a separate yitzira which is l’maaleh min ha’teva. Thus we can understand why all of the nations of the world, which are all part of teva, would naturally reject the ‘foreign body’ of Klal Yisrael which does not fit in with the natural scheme of things!”

After reading this teaching please consider the following article recently written by Rabbi Benjamin Blech, entitled, “ISIS, Jim Foley & Confronting Evil: A Biblical Paradigm” wherein he states the following:

“Civilization and the values of civilized society survived to this day, at least to the extent that they did, for one reason only. The United States and its allies thankfully realized that being appalled isn’t sufficient response to the kind of evil which threatens the very justification for the continued existence of humankind.”