Chapter VI, Judaism, The Chosen People, Summary and Analysis

The outlook of the Jews on being God's chosen people is not chauvinistic. God's choosing, to them, was a call to serve and to suffer in a mandate to obey a demanding moral code far more stringent than for any other people. It is not, then, universally exclusive of all of God's people. God for the Jews was exceptionally righteous, whereas the gods of the peoples around them were not. All credit for this is given to God Himself which turns what, on the surface, appears to be arrogance into profound humility. At any rate, modern Jewish thought is divided over the idea of divine election. Some feel it has outgrown its usefulness while others insist that until the whole world has been changed, God still needs an elect people.