TWR 3

1. In Judaism, what is the role of revelation?

The concept of revelation is extremely important to the Jews. When broken down, everything they believe is based on one revelation or another. The definition of a revelation is "the divine or supernatural disclosure to humans of something relating to human existence or the world."(Macintosh Dashboard Dictionary) To Jews, these revelations come mainly in the form of actions, things God does that let them know something they previously did not. The most prominent example of God providing revelation through action is the Jewish Exodus, when the Jews were liberated from the grasp of Egypt. The Jews saw this as hard-core proof that God existed and had chosen them as his people, for they could not have pulled off the large scale escape and random unification of a scattered group without any sort of Godly intervention. More than the existence of God, it also brought forth his goodness, power, and concern for humans. Just as one thing leads to another, one revelation does the same and it soon became clear what God wanted from Humans. Revelation is the manner in which the Jews have discovered everything that makes up their religion.

2. What is the concept of the "chosen people" in Judaism

The concept of chosen people in Judaism is less pretentious than it initially appears. One could take it as the Jews thinking that they hold a special place in God's heart or that they are elevated above the rest of humanity, however to the Jews, "chosen" holds a different meaning. It means they have been chosen as a vector for God's lessons and a connecting line between God and the rest of humanity. The Jews serve God and suffer for him so that all of man kind may see the right path, they are, in a sense, the chosen sacrifices of the earth.