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Parshat Vaera:
Exodus 6:2-9:35;
Ezekiel 28:25-29:21.

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W

hen I was in high school,
the League of Jewish
Women's Organizations
held its annual writing contest for high
school seniors. The topic for my senior
year was "Jewish People as the Chosen
People:'
I had learned in school, and thus
wrote about, being a choos-
ing people; that is, as Jews
we choose to be part of this
people; we choose to follow
the Jewish traditions, etc.
The award ceremony was
held at Temple Emanu-El
in Oak Park. Although I
didn't win the top award, I
was excited to hear part of
my writing being quoted
by Rabbi Lane Steinger in
his address to the ceremony
attendees. (Little did I know
then that I would serve as
Temple Emanu-El's assistant rabbi
under Rabbi Steinger's leadership
many years later.)
In this week's portion, God tells
Moses that it is time to free the
Israelites from their enslavement in
Egypt and that Moses will be the one
to speak to Pharaoh. Near the very
beginning of the section, God tells
Moses to speak to the people:
"Say, therefore, to the Israelite
people: I am the Lord, I will free you
from the labors of the Egyptians and
deliver you from their bondage. I will
redeem you with an outstretched arm
and through extraordinary chastise-
ments. And I will take you to be My
people, and I will be your God. And
you shall know that I, the Lord, am
your God who freed you from the
labors of the Egyptians. I will bring
you into the land which I swore to give
to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and I will
give it to you for a possession, I the
Lord:" [Exodus 6:6-8].
Many commentators, both ancient

and modern, have pointed out that
while God promises that "I will take
you to be My people," this was not a
one-way street. The people need to do
something, too: to affirm their accep-
tance of God and God's teachings, thus
becoming the "choosing people:'
Rabbi Jordan D. Cohen has written
about this idea:
"The generation of the
Exodus only came into
their own when they
arrived at Sinai and did
something active for them-
selves: They committed
themselves collectively to
the covenant with God and
accepted the Torah. It was
through that active choice
that they became God's
people:'
We, too, have the oppor-
tunity, over and over again,
to make that same choice. As Jews,
we benefit from our heritage and
our tradition in so many ways, as an
inheritance, as members of a family
and a community, even if we do little
ourselves.
But if we truly want to establish our
own personal relationship with God,
we, like Israel at Sinai, need to make
a choice and act on it. We must be a
"choosing people" if we want to be
a chosen people. Chosen, not in the
sense of better or exclusive, but chosen
in the sense of special; a relationship
based on bringing holiness into our
everyday lives, little by little, step by
step, until we arrive at the foot of our
own personal Sinai, ready to accept,
and make, a meaningful commitment.
May each of us choose to commit
ourselves to being part of God's people,
to be part of the covenant that God
promised to our ancestors.

❑

Amy B. Bigman is rabbi at Congregation
Shaarey Zedek in East Lansing.

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