Asher Bachar Banu Mikol Am -- Who chose us out of all peoples

We will answer a few questions that arise here:

• By referring to ourselves as God’s chosen people, aren’t we being boastful?
• Aren’t we running the risk of inciting our enemies against us?
• Why were we chosen to be God’s people?

First of all, we did not label ourselves “chosen.” We humbly point to God’s own statement that He favors us above all other peoples not on our own merits but out of His pure kindness and by the merit of our forefathers.¹

The Jew who stands before “Hashem, our God, King of the universe” and recognizes Him as the One Who constantly sustains us, the One Who has guided us through history -- can such a person entertain any feeling of arrogance? Can he possibly think, Since I was chosen I must be great? Recognizing the infinitely great Creator of this wondrous universe, one can only feel humble. Praising God for His benevolence in giving us the profound distinction of being His people, we list these gifts given to our people to remind ourselves of our unique responsibility as members of the “mamleches kohanim v’goy kadosh” (kingdom of priests and holy nation): to bring holiness and goodness to all the nations of the world.

Strangely, the anti-Semitic censors, who deleted from our holy works whatever they considered offensive, never removed this berachah. Perhaps they found it amusing to contemplate the fact that even through our trials and tribulations we insist on thanking God for choosing us. Perhaps they understood that the bitter exile is the price we pay for our failure to live up to the standards demanded by our chosenness. Certainly no nation in history has ever offered to trade places with us. Neither Yishmael nor Edom -- and certainly no other nation -- was willing to go through the suffering in Egypt or any of our subsequent exiles, which elevated us into a people able to accept the great responsibility of being a “mamleches kohanim v’goy kadosh.” We undertook to bear the burden of bringing greatness and prosperity to the rest of mankind and accepted the consequences of failure in fulfilling that mission.

Holocaust Connection

“Happy Is My Lot!”

The Klausenberger Rebbe was taken as part of a slave-labor group from Auschwitz to Warsaw to dismantle the bombed-out buildings. The work was done at a furious pace and consisted of carrying heavy boulders and beams. Many people died of exhaustion.

One day, while the Rebbe and his fellow prisoners were working on top of a building, a tremendous torrent of rain came down on them. Nevertheless, the Nazis drove them mercilessly to continue their work. One of the poor, exhausted, and completely drenched victims exclaimed in pain to the Rebbe, “Are you going to continue to say ‘Atah bechartanu -- You have chosen us’ and rejoice that we are the chosen nation?”

The Klausenberger Rebbe answered, “Until this day I did not say ‘Atah bechartanu’ with the proper devotion. But from today, when I say, ‘You have chosen us from among the nations,’ I will say it with much more fervor. I’ll be infinitely ecstatic.” When the Rebbe saw the astonished look on the man’s face, he explained to him, “If it weren’t for the fact that God has chosen us, then I would also be like the Nazis. It’s better for me to be in my situation than to be one of them, God forbid. Happy is my lot!”

The Klausenberger Rebbe related further, “In Warsaw there was a Jew from Lithuania with us whose situation was much better than ours because he was an expert in metalworking, which made him very important to the SS. He was allowed to go around free and given extra food. One day this man sneaked into my cabin and said, ‘I came to discuss with you a point in halachah. In my work, I have to violate Shabbos by transgressing Torah prohibitions. I think it is better to be transferred to the group that has to carry the heavy logs and boulders, which is not a Torah prohibition but a rabbinical decree.’

When I asked him how he was going to accomplish this, he said, ‘I have already made preparations to burn my hands with scalding water so that I will be unable to continue my delicate work. Then they will have to transfer me to the other work groups.’ One has to realize,” continued the Rebbe, “that carrying the boulders meant certain death. Many were not able to hold out for more than a few days. In vain, I tried to convince him not to put himself into such danger. But he insisted that he did not want to transgress so many Torah prohibitons. With great difficulty I was able to persuade him that as a metalworker he was able to save the lives of many other Jews. Only then did he relent. Certainly seeing such a Jew strengthened in us the joy of ‘Atah bechartanu.’ ”

¹ Devarim 7:7. This point is highlighted later in the Haggadah in the paragraph that begins, “Originally our forefathers were idolaters.” The Maharsha explains that the requirement to begin our recitation with our former lowliness is intended to prevent an individual from becoming arrogant because he belongs to God’s nation.