Is Judaism Based on Race? The Truth About the Chosen People, Part II

Or asks: “Is Judaism based on race? I’m asking because I have friends who struggle with the idea that we are the chosen people.”

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In the previous article we learned that Judaism is not based on race, but on a practical mission that the Jewish nation accepted upon itself. Therefore, any person in the world can join the Jewish people if they choose to accept the yoke of Torah and mitzvot. This important principle of faith, which ties a person’s value to their actions rather than their origin, is taught throughout many sources in the Torah.

God has always chosen the righteous because of their hearts. Noach and his family were saved from the worldwide flood not because of race or lineage, but because “Noach was a righteous man, perfect in his generations; Noach walked with God” (Bereishit 6:9).

God does not look at race or ancestry, but at the heart within us. For this reason, all nations of the world descend from Noach, through Shem, Cham, and Yefet. Every person alive was born by virtue of the righteous Noach.

God chose Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov because of their righteousness, and even after choosing our people at Mount Sinai, the Bible repeatedly teaches that human holiness depends on one’s heart and deeds.

King David: Greatness Comes From the Heart

Who is a more striking example than King David of Israel, from whom the future Mashiach will come? In his youth David was marginalized by his brothers and was mistakenly suspected of illegitimacy. He was also a direct descendant of a convert, Ruth the Moabite.

From every perspective, David did not receive kingship because of lineage or race, but solely because of his noble heart. Not only does the Bible not hide this fact about King David, it takes pride in it.

The Book of Ruth was written to preserve the heroic story of a convert who cleaved to the God of Israel and therefore merited to establish the royal line: “Your people shall be my people, and your God my God… where you die I will die, and there I will be buried” (Ruth 1:16).

Converts at the Center of Jewish History

Our prophets showed the same message. Moshe, the greatest of prophets, married a convert named Tzipporah. His student Yehoshua son of Nun married Rachav the convert who helped Israel, and ten priestly prophets descended from her. The prophet Ovadiah himself was an Edomite convert.

Our sages taught: “There were righteous women who were converts: Hagar, Asenath, Tzipporah, Shifra, Puah, Pharaoh’s daughter, Rachav, Ruth, and Yael the wife of Chever the Kenite” (Yalkut Shimoni on Joshua, chapter 2).

Shemaya and Avtalyon, among the greatest sages of their generation, were descendants of converts who earned great honor through their Torah scholarship. When a High Priest attempted to shame them for their background, they responded: “Let the descendants of the nations come in peace, for they act like Aaron; but the descendant of Aaron who does not act like Aaron will not come in peace!” (Yoma 71b).

The great sages Rabbi Akiva and his student Rabbi Meir were descendants of converts. Onkelos was also a famous convert. Throughout the generations many non Jews joined the Jewish people, producing towering sages, righteous leaders, and pillars of Torah tradition.

The Commandment to Love the Convert

One of the 613 commandments is to love the convert and support them: “When a convert dwells with you in your land, you shall not oppress him… the convert shall be like a citizen among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Vayikra 19:33).

Likewise: “He executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and loves the convert, giving him food and clothing; you shall love the convert, for you were strangers in Egypt” (Devarim 10).

Our sages emphasized: “Beloved are the converts, for in many places the Torah warns about them…” (Mechilta, Mishpatim).

A House of Prayer for All Nations

The prophets strengthened converts so that they would never feel inferior because of their background: “Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say, ‘The Lord will surely separate me from His people’… My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations” (Yeshayahu 56).

Our sages explained that the Torah was given specifically in the wilderness to show that it is open to everyone: “Just as the desert is open to all, so too the words of Torah are open to anyone who wishes to learn… even converts who study Torah are considered like a High Priest” (Tanchuma, Vayakhel).

The Torah’s View: God Sees the Heart

All these teachings demonstrate the Torah’s view throughout the generations: a person’s value is measured not by origin but by the heart and by deeds.

As God said to the prophet Shmuel: “Man sees with the eyes, but the Lord sees the heart” (Shmuel I, 16:7).