סידור
ברוך אתה ה' א-להנו מלך העולם אשר בחר בנו מכל העמים ונתן לנו את תורתו.
Siddur
Blessed are You, O Lord, our God, King of the world, who chose us from all the nations, and gave us His Torah.
בראשית פרשת לך לך פרק יב
(א) וַיֹּאמֶר יְקֹוָק אֶל־אַבְרָם לֶךְ־לְךָ מֵאַרְצְךָ וּמִמּוֹלַדְתְּךָ וּמִבֵּית אָבִיךָ אֶל־הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר אַרְאֶךָּ:
(ב) וְאֶעֶשְׂךָ לְגוֹי גָּדוֹל וַאֲבָרֶכְךָ וַאֲגַדְּלָה שְׁמֶךָ וֶהְיֵה בְּרָכָה:
(ג) וַאֲבָרֲכָה מְבָרְכֶיךָ וּמְקַלֶּלְךָ אָאֹר וְנִבְרְכוּ בְךָ כֹּל מִשְׁפְּחֹת הָאֲדָמָה:
Bereishit Chapter 12
שמות פרשת יתרו פרק יט
(ה) וְעַתָּה אִם־שָׁמוֹעַ תִּשְׁמְעוּ בְּקֹלִי וּשְׁמַרְתֶּם אֶת־בְּרִיתִי וִהְיִיתֶם לִי סְגֻלָּה מִכָּל־הָעַמִּים כִּי־לִי כָּל־הָאָרֶץ:
(ו) וְאַתֶּם תִּהְיוּ־לִי מַמְלֶכֶת כֹּהֲנִים וְגוֹי קָדוֹשׁ אֵלֶּה הַדְּבָרִים אֲשֶׁר תְּדַבֵּר אֶל־בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל:
Shemot Chapter 19
דברים פרשת ואתחנן - עקב פרק ז
(ז) לֹא מֵרֻבְּכֶם מִכָּל־הָעַמִּים חָשַׁק יְקֹוָק בָּכֶם וַיִּבְחַר בָּכֶם כִּי־אַתֶּם הַמְעַט מִכָּל־הָעַמִּים:
(ח) כִּי מֵאַהֲבַת יְקֹוָק אֶתְכֶם וּמִשָּׁמְרוֹ אֶת־הַשְּׁבֻעָה אֲשֶׁר נִשְׁבַּע לַאֲבֹתֵיכֶם הוֹצִיא יְקֹוָק אֶתְכֶם בְּיָדחֲזָקָה וַיִּפְדְּךָ מִבֵּית עֲבָדִים מִיַּד פַּרְעֹה מֶלֶךְ־מִצְרָיִם:
Devarim Chapter 7
תלמוד בבלי מסכת יבמות דף עט עמוד א
שלשה סימנים יש באומה זו: הרחמנים, והביישנין, וגומלי חסדים.
Talmud Bavli Yevamot 79a
There are three signs in this nation: merciful, easily shamed and performers of kindness.
כוזרי ה:כ
כי יש במציאות מדרגות עליונות ותחתונות הנמצא שיש לו הכרה תפיסה ותחושה הוא למעלה מן הנמצא שאין לו כל אלה ... והפחות שבצמחים מדרגתו למעלה מן החשוב שבמחצבים והפחותה שבבהמות היא למעלה במדרגה מן העליון שבצמחים והפחות שבבני אדם נעלה מן העליונים שבבעלי החיים
ובדומה לזה הפחות בבני אדם מקימי מצוות האלוה ית' מדרגתו למעלה מזו של העליונים במחסרי מצוה.
Kuzari 5:20
There are higher and lower levels of existence. A being that can recognize, grasp, and sense is evidently higher than one that cannot … The lowest plant is higher than the most important inanimate item. The lowest of animals is higher than the highest plant. The lowest of humans is higher than the highest animal.
Similarly, the lowest people among those who fulfill the mitzvot [who can only be the Jewish people, as explained by the author earlier] is higher than the greatest who do not have mitzvot.
Kuzari 1:95
The Rabbi: Bear with me a little while that I show the lofty station of the people. For me it is sufficient that God chose them as His people from all nations of the world, and allowed His influence to rest on all of them, and that they nearly approached being addressed by Him... The soul with which [Adam] was endowed was perfect; his intellect was the loftiest which it is possible for a human being to possess, and beyond this he was gifted with the divine power of such high rank, that it brought him into connexion with beings divine and spiritual, and enabled him, with slight reflection, to comprehend the great truths without instruction. We call him God's son, and we call all those who were like him also sons of God. He left many children, of whom the only one capable of taking his place was Abel, because he alone was like him. After he had been slain by Cain through jealousy of this privilege, it passed to his brother Seth, who also was like Adam, being [as it were] his essence and heart, whilst the others were like husks and rotten fruit. The essence of Seth, then, passed to Enoch, and in this way the divine influence was inherited by isolated individuals down to Noah. They are compared to the heart ; they resembled Adam, and were styled sons of God. They were perfect outwardly and inwardly, their lives, knowledge and ability being likewise faultless. Their lives fix the chronology from Adam to Noah, as well as from Noah to Abraham. There were some, however, among them who did not come under divine influence, as Terah, but his son Abraham was the disciple of his grandfather Eber, and was born in the lifetime of Noah. Thus the divine spirit descended from the grandfather to the grandchildren. Abraham represented the essence of Eber, being his disciple, and for this reason he was called Ibri. Eber represented the essence of Shem, the latter that of Noah. He inherited the temperate zone, the centre and principal pare of which is Palestine, the land of prophecy. Japheth turned towards north, and Ham towards south. The essence of Abraham passed over to Isaac, to the exclusion of the other sons who were all removed from the land, the special inheritance of Isaac. The prerogative of Isaac descended on Jacob, whilst Esau was sent from the land which belonged to Jacob. The sons of the latter were all worthy of the divine influence, as well as of the country distinguished by the divine spirit. This is the first instance of the divine influence descending on a number of people, whereas it had previously only been vouchsafed to isolated individuals. Then God tended them in Egypt, multiplied and aggrandised them, as a tree with a sound root grows until it produces perfect fruit, resembling the first fruit from which it was planted, viz. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and his brethren. The seed further produced Moses, Aaron and Miriam, Bezaleel, Oholiab, and the chiefs of the tribes, the seventy Elders, who were all endowed with the spirit of prophecy; then Joshua, Kaleb, Hur, and many others. Then they became worthy of having the divine light and providence made visible to them. If disobedient men existed among them, they were hated, but remained, without doubt, of the essence inasmuch as they were part of it on account of their descent and nature, and begat children who were of the same stamp. An ungodly man received consideration in proportion to the minuteness of the essence with which he was endowed, for it reappeared in his children and grandchildren according to the purity of their lineage. This is how we regard Terah and others in whom the divine afflatus was not visible, though, to a certain extent, it underlay his natural disposition, so that he begat a descendant filled with the essence, which was not the case with all the posterity of Ham and Japhet. We perceive a similar phenomenon in nature at large. Many people do not resemble their father, but take after their grandfathers. There cannot, consequently, be any doubt that this nature and resemblance was hidden in the father, although it did not become visible outwardly, as was the nature of Eber in his children, until it reappeared in Abraham.
ספר באר הגולה באר השביעי פרק ד
נמצא כי בני אדם נחלקים לג' חלקים; האחד, שהוא חפץ בעבודת הסבה הראשונה, לקיים המצות כולם אשר נתן השם יתברך. החלק הב', אינו עושה המצות, מכל מקום אינו מחליף טוב ברע לעבוד אלהים זולתו, אשר ברא הכל. החלק הג', הם מחליפים, נותנים כבוד לפסילים וזרים. אמנם יש כת רביעית, שהם המינים ואפיקורסים, ואין זכר לאלו בני אדם בכלל הנבראים, כמו שיתבאר.
Be'er HaGolah 7:4
It emerges that humanity is divided into 3 sections: first, one who desires the worship of the First Cause, to fulfill all the commandments given by God may He be blessed; second, one who does not perform the commandments but does not exchange good for evil and worship another God; third, those who exchange, who give honor to idols and foreigners. Granted there is a fourth section, namely the heretics and apikorsim, but there is no mention [in the Torah] to these people among those who are created, as will be explained.
דרך ה׳ ב:ד
מן הענינים העמוקים שבהנהגתו ית' הוא ענין ישראל ואומות העולם, שמצד טבע האנושי נראה היותם שוים באמת, ומצד עניני התורה הם שונים שינוי גדול ונבדלים כמינים מתחלפים לגמרי.
Derech Hashem 2:4
One of the deepest concepts of God’s Providence involves Israel and the other nations. With regard to their basic human characteristics, the two appear exactly alike. From the Torah’s viewpoint, however, the two are completely different, and are treated as if they belong to completely different species.
תניא ליקוטי אמרים פרק א
אך ביאור הענין על פי מ"ש הרח"ו ז"ל בשער הקדושה [ובע"ח שער נ' פ"ב] דלכל איש ישראל אחד צדיק ואחד רשע יש שתי נשמות דכתיב ונשמות אני עשיתי שהן שתי נפשות נפש אחת מצד הקליפה וסטרא אחרא והיא המתלבשת בדם האדם להחיות הגוף וכדכתיב כי נפש הבשר בדם היא וממנה באות כל המדות רעות מארבע יסודות רעים שבה דהיינו כעס וגאוה מיסוד האש שנגבה למעלה. ותאות התענוגים מיסוד המים כי המים מצמיחים כל מיני תענוג. והוללות וליצנות והתפארות ודברים בטלים מיסוד הרוח. ועצלות ועצבות מיסוד העפר. וגם מדות טובות שבטבע כל ישראל בתולדותם כמו רחמנות וג"ח באות ממנה כי בישראל נפש זו דקליפה היא מקליפ' נוגה שיש בה ג"כ טוב והיא מסוד עץ הדעת טוב ורע: משא"כ נפשות אומות עובדי גלולים הן משאר קליפות טמאות שאין בהן טוב כלל…
Tanya Chapter 1
The explanation [of the questions raised above] is to be found in the light of what Rabbi Chayim Vital wrote in Sha'ar ha-Kedushah (and in Etz Chayim, Portal 50, ch. 2) that in every Jew, whether righteous or wicked, are two souls, as it is written, "The neshamot (souls) which I have made," [alluding to] two souls. There is one soul which originates in the kelipah and sitra achra, and which is clothed in the blood of a human being, giving life to the body, as is written, "For the life of the flesh is in the blood." From it stem all the evil characteristics deriving from the four evil elements which are contained in it. These are: anger and pride, which emanate from the element of Fire, the nature of which is to rise upwards; the appetite for pleasures— from the element of Water, for water makes to grow all kinds of enjoyment; frivolity and scoffing, boasting and idle talk from the element of Air; and sloth and melancholy— from the element of Earth. From this soul stem also the good characteristics which are to be found in the innate nature of all Israel, such as mercy and benevolence. For in the case of Israel, this soul of the kelipah is derived from kelipat nogah, which also contains good, as it originates in the esoteric "Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil." The souls of the nations of the world, however, emanate from the other, unclean kelipot which contain no good whatever, as is written in Etz Chayim, Portal 49, ch. 3, that all the good that the nations do, is done from selfish motives. So the Gemara comments on the verse, "The kindness of the nations is sin,"— that all the charity and kindness done by the nations of the world is only for their own self-glorification, and so on.
שו"ת דעת כהן (ענייני יורה דעה) סימן קצט
לדעתי מאחר שניוול המת הוא אחד מהאיסורים המיוחדים לישראל, שהקב"ה צוה אותנו על קדושת הגוף, כמו שאנו מוזהרים ממאכלות אסורות לא מצד הטבע של הגוף, אלא מצד הקדושה המיוחדת לישראל,שקראם הש"ית גוי קדוש, והגויים כשם שאינם מקפידים על המאכלות רק באופן טבעי, ככה אין להם שום טעם להקפיד כ"כ על הגוף שלא יתנוול, בשביל איזה מטרה טבעית כמו הרפואה, ע"כ אנחנו צריכים לקנות בכסף מלא גויות מתים מאוה"ע בשביל המטרה המדעית...
וענין המכירה והמסירה של הגופים בחייהם לא יוכל להועיל, כי איסור ניוול המת הוא בא מצד צלם אלקים שבאדם, שהוא מיוחד לישראל ביותר בהירות מצד קדושת התורה, וחלק גבוה מי יתיר.
Responsa Da'at Kohen 199
In my opinion since the desecration of the dead is a unique prohibition to the Jewish people, for God commanded us upon the sanctity of the body just as we are forbidden from prohibited foods not because of the physical nature of the body but due to the unique sanctity of the Jewish people whom God called a holy nation. And just as the [other] nations do not concern themselves with avoiding foods except for that which is physically dangerous, so too they need not be too concerned about the desecration of the body for a natural goal such as medicine. Therefore we are required to purchase with large amounts gentile corpses for the sake of natural science…
And the sale and donation of the bodies while alive does not help the matter, for the prohibition agains the desecration of the body comes due to the divine image in the human, which is particuarly unique to the Jews with greater clarity due to the sanctity of the Torah; and who may permit the portion that belongs to the One above?