A Light Unto The Nations

[expat500]

 

[rylah]

RE: A Light Unto The Nations
SUBTOPIC: An Objective View
※→ rylah, et al,

BLUF: This video is worth the time it takes to view.


(COMMENT)

I did not care for his attitude in my first encounter (various writings, articles, and mini-videos) with this Rabbi. But then this view (à la Freidman) is very plain and simple. His views are not intended to be subjective or on the bandwagon (in the current trend). He does not hold his punches. His opinion is not submissive or influenced by the pressures of large and vocal protest marches. His presentation is not intended to increase a consistent following.

He is alone (his mantra) with the 15 million other Jews in Israel.

I do not agree with everything he says but I do believe in his theme.

Most Respectfully,
R

Yes, Rabbi Mannis is very consistent in providing a different angle,
and communicating it in a very down to earth manner,
in the language of the generation so to speak.

There's a reason Rabbi Manis Friemdan,
is the most popular rabbi on Youtube.
Such agency among Jews is almost
of messianic proportions, growing
up next door to the Lubavitche
Rebbe probably rubs off well.

As Rabbi Cherki likes to mention -
one of the greatest things about great people,
is that we can never assume and guess what they could've said.
At least my generation doesn't have to guess anymore, just listen.

 

[expat500]

In Judaism, "chosenness" is the belief that the Jewish people were singularly chosen to enter into a covenant with G-d. This idea has been a central one throughout the history of Jewish thought, is deeply rooted in biblical concepts and has been developed in talmudic, philosophic, mystical and contemporary Judaism.

Most Jews hold that being the "Chosen People" means that they have been placed on earth to fulfill a certain purpose. Traditional proof for Jewish "chosenness" is found in the Torah, the Jewish bible, in the Book ofDeuteronomy (chapter 14) where it says: "For you are a holy people to Hashem your God, and God has chosen you to be his treasured people from all the nations that are on the face of the earth." In the Book of Genesis (chapter 17)it also written: "And I [G-d] will establish My covenant between Me and you [the Jewish people] and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you."

This tradition of "chosenness," though, has often provoked antagonism from non-Jews.

The world owes to Israel the idea of the one God of righteousness and holiness. This is how God became known to mankind."

Does Judaism believe that chosenness endows Jews with special rights in the way racist ideologies endow those born into the "right race"? Not at all. The most famous verse in the Bible on the subject of chosenness says the precise opposite: "You alone have I singled out of all the families of the earth. That is why I call you to account for all your iniquities" (Amos 3:2). Chosenness is so unconnected to any notion of race that Jews believe that the Messiah himself will descend from Ruth, a non-Jewish woman who converted to Judaism.

Nonetheless, perhaps out of fear of sounding selfrighteous or provoking antisemitism, Jews rarely speak about chosenness, and Maimonides did not list it as one of the Thirteen Principles of the Jewish Faith.

The "Chosen People" idea is so powerful that other religious sects have appropriated it. Both Catholicism and Protestantism believe that God chose the Jews, but that two thousand years ago a new covenant was made with Christianity. During most of Christian history, and even among some adherents to the present day, Christian chosenness meant that only Christians go to heaven while the nonchosen are either placed in limbo or are damned.

Mohammed, likewise, didn't deny Abraham's chosenness. He simply claimed that Abraham was a Muslim, and he traced Islam's descent through the Jewish Patriarch.

The "Chosen People"

Encyclopedia of Jewish and Israeli history, politics and culture, with biographies, statistics, articles and documents on topics from anti-Semitism to Zionism.

www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org