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In Judaism, chosenness is the belief that the Jews are the chosen people, a people chosen to be in a covenant with God. This idea is first found in the Torah (five books of Moses) and is elaborated on in later books of the Hebrew Bible. Much is written about this topic in rabbinic literature.
According to the Hebrew Bible, Israel's character as the chosen people is conditioned by obedience to God's commandments. "Now therefore, if you will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then you shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people. For all the earth is mine: and you shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation" (Exodus 19:5, 6). "The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people; for you were the fewest of all people; but because the Lord loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your ancestors." (Deuteronomy 7:7, 8).
The obligation imposed upon the Israelites is emphasized by the prophet Amos (3:2): "You only have I singled out of all the families of the earth: therefore will I visit upon you all your iniquities." This idea is also expressed in Deuteronomy 14:2: "You are a holy people unto the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a peculiar people unto Himself, above all peoples that are upon the face of the earth."
The idea of chosenness has traditionally been interpreted by Jews in two ways: one way is that God chose the Israelites, while the other idea is that the Israelites chose God. Although collectively this choice was made freely, religious Jews believe that it created individual obligation for the descendants of the Israelites.
Crucial to the Jewish notion of chosenness is that it creates obligations exclusive to Jews, while non-Jews receive from God other covenants and other responsibilities. Generally, it does not entail exclusive rewards for Jews. Classical rabbinic literature holds that all mankind is made in the image of God. For example, Mishnah Avot 3:14, and Babylonian Talmud Avot 9b, contain this teaching:
Most Jewish texts do not state that "God chose the Jews" by itself. Rather, these claims are usually linked with a mission or purpose, such as proclaiming God's message among all the nations. This implies a special duty, which devolves from the belief that Jews have been pledged by the covenant which God concluded with the biblical patriarch Abraham, their ancestor, and again with the entire Jewish nation at Mount Sinai. In this view, Jews are charged with living a holy life as God's priest-people.
In the Jewish prayerbook (the siddur), chosenness is referred to in a number of ways. The blessing for reading the Torah reads "Praised are you, Lord our God, King of the universe, who has chosen us out of all the nations and bestowed upon us his Torah." When read as two separate clauses, chosenness and the receiving of the Torah are two distinct aspects of Jewish identity. In this view, one would look to other rabbinic texts to understand what chosenness means. Some modern day prayerbook editors translate this as "who has chosen us out of all the nations by bestowing upon us his Torah." thus making explicit their theology that chosenness is linked to receiving of the Torah.
There is a similar qualification in the prayer known as "Kiddush", a prayer of sanctification in which the Sabbath is inaugurated over a cup of wine. The text reads "For you have chosen us and sanctified us out of all the nations, and have given us the Sabbath as an inheritance in love and favour. Praised are you, Lord, who hallows the Sabbath."
The Aleinu prayer refers to the concept of Jews as a chosen people:
An earlier form of this prayer, in use during the medieval era, contained an extra sentence:
This sentence in italics is a quote from the Bible, Isaiah 45:20. "Come, gather together, Draw nigh, you remnants of the nations! No foreknowledge had they who carry their wooden images and pray to a God who cannot give success." (New JPS) In the medieval era some within the Christian community came to believe that this line referred to Christians worshipping Jesus; they demanded that it be excised. Ismar Elbogen, a historian of the Jewish liturgy, held that the early form of the prayer pre-dated Christianity, and could not possibly have referred to it.
Rabbi Reuven Hammer comments on the excised sentence:
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