S1, E26 The Chosen People, according to Kuzari and Shaarei Orah The Great Sources with Rabbi Shnayor Burton

Why was one nation chosen from among the seventy – are all human beings not equal before the one God?

No, says Rabbi Yehuda HaLevi, most emphatically not. In the sublime system of the Kuzari, the nation of Yisrael alone is a metaphysical, divine people. Only its members can be prophets, and only in their Holy Land; the Torah is decidedly nationalistic.

Others are not as exclusive. Rambam maintains that even non-Jews can attain prophecy, and the Shaarei Orah delineates a unique spiritual role for all nations of the world; universalism is the Torah's ultimate goal.





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You can email Rabbi Burton with questions or comments at oros.yaakov@gmail.com