Why Was the Torah Given Only to the Jewish People? A Fresh Perspective

"Especially since he took us out of Egypt, stood us before Mount Sinai, and gave us the Torah."

"Rabbi, if the Torah is the absolute truth and the way for people to achieve their purpose in the world, why was it given only to the Jewish people? Isn't it fair that divine truth should be accessible to all mankind? If Hashem loves all His creations, why were others denied the opportunity to receive the Torah and be part of the covenant with Him?"

This is a profound and central question that concerns not only Jewish thinkers throughout history but also many outside the Jewish nation. Ostensibly, if the Torah is a light to the world, why wasn’t it given to all people?

Our sages teach us that Hashem did not give the Torah exclusively to the Jewish people arbitrarily but offered it to all nations. Each nation was asked if they wished to accept the Torah, but each one declined for various reasons. The Edomites, for example, rejected it due to the commandment "Thou shalt not kill," and the Ishmaelites could not accept "Thou shalt not commit adultery." Only the Jewish people agreed to receive the Torah unconditionally, saying, "We will do and we will hear" (Exodus 24:7).

Therefore, it was not a unilateral decision by the Creator to grant the Torah to one nation, but a choice made by the nations themselves. The Jewish people were the only ones who responded to the immense spiritual challenge that the Torah presents to humanity.

When we ask why the Torah was given only to the Jewish people, we must understand that the process by which the Jewish people received the Torah was not arbitrary but the result of a long historical process of selection. Contrary to the common perception that God simply "chose" a certain people, we find that the process was twofold—not only did God choose the Jewish people, but the Jewish people chose God.

This process has continued since the dawn of history, based on the principle of tests and spiritual elevation. Throughout the Bible, we can see that the connection between God and humanity went through a series of trials, in which not every individual or group could uphold the divine covenant. Only those who successfully passed the tests could continue the relationship with the Creator and transmit it to future generations.

The spiritual history of humanity begins with Adam, who received the first command from God—not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge. But Adam sinned, and the direct and pure connection with God was severed. This was the first stage where humanity was required to pass a test—and failed. Before Adam's sin, there was a kind of Torah for Adam, with a command—not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge. But after the sin, God did not give Adam a command, as if there was no longer a covenant between God and man.

Later, we see that Adam's sons, Cain and Abel, displayed two different paths in serving God. Cain failed morally and spiritually when he killed his brother, and the divine connection passed through Abel's lineage (and later through Seth). The covenant was renewed only with Noah, Seth's descendant.

As humanity developed, it reached a severe moral decline—the generation of the flood. Here, another test occurred: Could humans maintain a moral society? The answer was no, and so the world was destroyed in the flood, and only Noah and his sons, who survived and held onto faith, were chosen to continue human existence. After the flood, God renewed His covenant with humanity, giving the Seven Noachide Laws.

After Noah, the connection with God passed through Noah's descendants, but there was still a process of selection. The sons of Shem were chosen as descendants who continued Noah's spiritual path, through the academy of "Shem and Eber," while the descendants of Ham and Japheth followed different paths.

In the Tower of Babel, the generation tried to establish a world order without God and was therefore punished with the dispersion of the nations. From all the nations that emerged, it was Abraham, a descendant of Shem, who chose to follow God's path. He passed many tests—leaving his homeland, the binding of Isaac—and proved he was worthy of carrying the divine covenant. Indeed, from all the world, God forged a connection with Abraham, establishing a covenant with him and commanding him with a new Torah and a commandment—the covenant of circumcision.

Abraham fathered two sons: Isaac and Ishmael. Though both were his descendants, Ishmael did not rise to his father’s level and acted as “the son of the handmaid,” not as the son of Abraham, and he too was excluded from the covenant.

In Isaac, we see that the divine choice was not automatic. He had two sons, Jacob and Esau, but only Jacob chose to follow his forebears' path, proving worthy of continuing Abraham's covenant.

Jacob's sons were all righteous, but there was still a process of selection, not to differentiate who was in or out, but to define roles within the covenant. Thus, leadership passed from Reuben to Judah, the priesthood from Reuben to Levi, and the birthright from Reuben to Joseph.

The Israelites descended to Egypt and sank into impurity, but at Mount Sinai, they stood the great test, saying "We will do and we will hear"—their first collective choice of God.

The conclusion is that there is a historical process of selection, at the end of which only those who hold the covenant with God remain in it.

Throughout history, we see that the connection with God is not constant and self-evident but something one must prove worthy of. Not all people succeeded in this, and so at different stages, certain groups fell off the spiritual path connected with God.

To be part of a covenant with God, one must pass tests. Those who fail lose their spiritual structure and cannot bear the divine Torah.

The people of Israel were the ones who successfully navigated the entire historical path. They alone repeatedly chose God, and therefore the Torah was given only to them.

The other nations, having failed to maintain the divine connection over the generations, are no longer able to bear the Torah. Anyone not part of the Israelite framework cannot receive the Torah directly, but only through Israel, as it is written: "For from Zion shall go forth the Torah, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem" (Isaiah 2:3).

If a non-Jew wishes to connect with God, they must join the Jewish people through conversion, i.e., accept the spiritual framework of the covenant. This is a necessary condition because the nations, in their current framework, do not meet the requirements to bear the Torah since they lack the historical process of selection to be part of such an elevated and developed covenant with God like Israel.

Summary

1. The connection between God and man is not constant but must be proven worthy.
2. Throughout history, there were repeated tests—only those who passed them continued to bear the connection with God.
3. The Jewish people are the only ones who demonstrated their commitment to God throughout, and therefore the Torah was given only to them.
4. The other nations lost the ability to bear the Torah because they failed the tests, so they cannot receive it directly.
5. If a non-Jew wishes to connect with God, they must enter the framework of the Jewish covenant through conversion.

Thus, the Torah was never meant to restrict the truth to one nation but is the result of a historical process of choice, in which only those who succeeded in the trials were granted the covenant with God.