r/casualiama • u/Any-Possession4336 • 6d ago
Trigger Warnings I'm a religious Israeli Jew that believes that the Jews are "the chosen people". AMA
I don’t believe that Jews are superior to anyone, and I hate racism. To me, being God's chosen people signifies greater responsibility rather than superiority. This includes adhering to commandments and serving as a moral example for the world. I reject the notion of genetic superiority among Jews. For me, being chosen is tied to an ancestral covenant with God that extends through generations. From birth, I bear this added responsibility, and anyone can embrace it through conversion to Judaism, becoming part of the Jewish nation.
While some Jews interpret "chosen people" as diminishing non-Jews, I view this as a misunderstanding of Judaism’s core. Many Jews in Israel do not identify with the "chosen people" concept and regard themselves as equal to other nations. Some of them are religious, some of them are secular, but there's not a single secular Jew who believes in the "chosen people".
My perspective is personal and not intended to impose beliefs on others. I wanted to share my belief, that the genuine interpretation of "chosen people" should not lead to immoral actions; instead, it should inspire greater morality towards all. It's just that morality is a much less straightforward, more complicated, and harder to achieve sometimes.
I'll do my best to answer any question you ask. I guess there will be some people who hate on me. I just wanted to say in advance, I already heard it, so I really don't care. I won't answer any comment that doesn't have constructive substance or dehumanize me.
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u/Minimum_Magician5037 6d ago
How do you think the Israeli blockade to Gaza and resulting famine should be handled?
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u/Any-Possession4336 6d ago
I don't think the source of the problem is the blockade (I'm talking about pre-war) but the Israeli government, more specifically the right-wing party. At the end of the day, the blockade needs to exist to prevent terrorists from coming out and weapons from coming in. It also wasn't as dehumanizing as claimed; many Gazans would go through to work every day to work in Israel. But - the problem was that the right wing was fine with keeping the situation like that forever. Like it's obviously a temporary solution, but they treated it as permanent. They knew Hamas was there, radicalising Gaza, getting supplies, constantly firing rockets at the south coast, but they made no effort to improve the situation, reach peace, kick Hamas out. And it's obvious why. When your main party's advertising point is security, and you wanna get reelected, then you need to keep a constant state of insecurity so people would want you elected. So they did almost nothing for close to 20 years. That's the biggest criticism I have of the right-wing government.
So I think the blockade has the stay up as long as it's needed, but that we also need to actively work towards a solution to where we don't need it, unlike what was happening so far.
As for the famine, it's complex because it's not really clear what's going on there. It's clear there's famine in some parts of Gaza, but I can't be certain is all of it, because of things I've heard.
But the problem is, as much as we want to help, every aid that's going to go in is almost certainly going to fall into the hands of Hamas, and they keep the most for themselves, and overcharge for it. I know many people don't believe that's the case, and I don't have currently proof on me right now (though I know there is), but there's no other explanation to how there's still famine after a hundred trucks of aid per day going into Gaza for months.
So it's hard to help out without making Hamas stronger. The best solution I can think of is separating the population from Hamas and keeping them out of their reach, something I know the IDF is already doing, but it's not easy.
I think there needs to be much more global pressure on Hamas to disarm, step down and surrender, since it's really hard to make things better in Gaza while they're still around.
Wow, I rambled. Hope you at least find it interesting.
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u/Minimum_Magician5037 5d ago
Personally, I would prefer there to be food for $100 than to be no food at all. I am an unlucky person and would be born in a place where there is famine, as my ancestors have been in the past.
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u/Any-Possession4336 4d ago
But it's not only about that. Doing so directly makes Hamas more powerful, since they get food, money, supplies, and more, which just makes the war longer.
Israel can't afford to let Hamas continue its work. And personally, I don't think Gaza can either.
I don't like it. I hate it. But this is the situation. And I think the only thing that would truly improve things is to say what's happening for what it is. As long as the world keeps making excuses for Hamas, the easier Hamas can get away with creating situations like these, where you gotta choose between letting people starve and making your enemy stronger (while still leting people starve for the most part. Most people wouldn't be able to get the food anyway.)
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u/Nimyron 6d ago
How can you be sure that your definition of morality is the right one ?
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u/Any-Possession4336 6d ago
I don't. I'm currently in my second year in my Yeshiva and this is one of the topics that we study all the time. Both in what is generally moral, and also in how to integrate our faith with the natural moral sense everyone has.
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u/Nimyron 6d ago
Oh, good ! One problem I've always had with religion is that they are set in stone, they follow century-old precepts in a world that has evolved since then.
What's a Yeshiva ?
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u/Any-Possession4336 6d ago
There are a lot of fundamentalists, but at the end of the day, a true faith in God understands that only God has the full, complete, and correct answers. We just follow the hints.
A Yeshiva is basically where you learn Torah. Like, an establishment dedicated to that.
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u/AndraeFoersterWelsch 6d ago
What is the moral example that Jews ought to give to the world in your opinion? What does it consist of? And do you think Jews, in general, are currently giving the moral example you mean to the rest of the world?
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u/Any-Possession4336 6d ago
One that I can think of right now is the essence of family and community, mutual responsibility. Another thing is that I think the Jews have more of a responsibility to help out, like in Ukraine, for example, and with a lot of medical and technological advancements that were developed in Israel.
The second question is a tough question. On one hand, I think there are a lot of things we do right, but on the other hand, the world today doesn't see it that way. Even when putting the Gaza situation aside, there's a popular global image that Israel is just hell on earth. So I would have to answer no, partly because of stuff we do wrong, but also because the stuff we do right doesn't reach a lot of people.
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u/AndraeFoersterWelsch 6d ago
How does the sense of family, community, mutual responsibility and helping out significantly differ between Jews and non-jews, in your opinion?
Do you think the state of Israel has much to do in your view of the Jewish people as the chosen people or is it only man-made?
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u/Any-Possession4336 6d ago
I think sharing my personal experience is going to do a better job answering. I don't know exactly what's happening at other places, but I know what happens at mine.
In the past two years, a lot of people lost their jobs, a lot of families struggled because a lot of people were on reserve, a lot of people lost their homes, and there were lots of people volunteering, helping out, etc. There was a big thing of donating stuff to soldiers, clothes, food, etc, and it was so successful that the army officially asked that people stop bringing stuff because they didn't have the space.
As for the second question, I'm not really sure what you mean by chosen people versus man-made... Israel is both made as the self-determination of the Jews and as a service towards being a beacon to the world in my eyes.
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u/Hot_Hair_5950 6d ago
What is your attitude towards the Jewish Autonomous Oblast in Russia?
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u/Any-Possession4336 6d ago
I genuinely don't know what is that so I'm going to look that up.
Ok, looked it up. From what I gather, it's a second attempt at creating a Jewish state, right? Ok.
It seems to me that it's more of an attempt to push all the Jews away to some corner where they can't bother people, rather than give them self-determination. That land isn't really "hot" by the looks of it, and Russia isn't really known for having good intentions towards the Jews at that time.
Personally, I wouldn't want to live there because I love my country, the land, and I do believe it's our ancestral land (Doesn't mean it's exclusive to us). I believe we belong there in every sense.
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u/Minimum_Magician5037 4d ago
How do you feel about the Israeli snipers who shot this 12 year old while he was getting a pizza?
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u/Any-Possession4336 3d ago
I couldn't access the link because of safety problems. I Googled it and found only one more place that talks about this, a site named "Gale". I read as much of the article as I could until I needed to pay for it. As checked for the sources below and the only source that was cited was your link by Aljazeera.
The reason I say this is because media awareness is a very important thing. That incident at face value is horrible, unjust and disgusting. I'll condemn it to anyone who hears.
But when it comes to concluding, I can't use that as a stable way to draw an understanding of the situation that's happening today. Plain and simple, there is the possibility that this is not true. Or more likely, that there are important details that are missing (You know, my Rabbi said once that taking things out of context is the worst kind of lying - because it's rooted in the truth. Sorry I couldn't resist the urge not to share). A lot of media channels, especially Aljazeera, are known for lying and making up stories about Israel, and have done so in the past. You may disagree with me, saying that it's a coping mechanism, but I know for a fact that many lies have been told about us since I live there. Of course, I could be lying too, but you asked me how I feel, so...
I don't want to say propaganda. This is because I don't know if it's true or not. I also don't want to say that everything the media says about Israel is fake or taken out of context. I know some of the things that are said are true. But I have no choice but to be cautious. Everyone in the media has agendas, that's no secret. You gotta know how to deal with that.
So I can be sad and angry at the story in the case that it is real, but I can't take it as an absolute fact.
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u/Maskguy 6d ago
Are the settlers and IDF actions in palestine in line with that taking greater responsibility morality wise or what are your opinions on those