There Are No Chosen People

"For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession" (Deut 7:6). These words from Deuteronomy, a book found in the Hebrew bible, state very bluntly the Jews are Gods chosen people. An excerpt from the Ten Commandments states, "If you obey these rules and observe them carefully, the LORD your God will maintain faithfully for you the covenant that He made on oath with your fathers: He will favor you and bless you and multiply you..." After the Ten Commandments were given God spoke to Mosses and made another promise about the Jews being his favored people. The covenants between God and Abraham and God and Mosses are in direct relation to the idea that the Jews are Gods chosen people. God makes numerous "If than" statements that read something like "IF you follow these rules THAN you will continue to be my chosen people". When Mosses yelled, "Let my people go" it was God who spoke through him to the Pharaoh and it was God who split the sea and let it crash down on the Egyptians only to save His people, the Jews.
Michael Clayborn, author of the book, The Yiddish Policemen's Union, and an opinionist who writes for the New York Times, is a 21st century Jew. Clayborn rejects the idea of Jews being a chosen people. In his opinion article, Chosen, but not Special, Clayborn gives the impression that Jews are no more important than anyone else living throughout the world. He gives examples of his childhood during Passover, and how people around the dinner table would list intelligent Jews such as Albert Einstein and Meyer Lansky, and how the entire table, including himself would speak and tell stories of these special people. When he looks back on these moments however, as a child Clayborn would skip over the idea of bringing up any counter examples of not so intelligent Jews; which makes one wonder, how would the table discussion differ now as Clayborn has grown wiser? The idea here is not to praise or belittle Jews; the idea is to hold them equal to everyone else in the world through their "glory and fiasco, triumph and error, greatness and meanness, charity and crime" (Chosen, but Not Special).
I believe, like Clayborn, Jews are like everyone else in the world. I look at the Bible, and Hebrew Bible as a mix between a fictional and non fictional biography. If I were to write a fictional/nonfictional biography about myself, an autobiography if you will, I would include things of importance like where I came from, my struggles, triumphs, lessons I learned etc. I also may include a story about one specific thing (this is the nonfictional part of the story) that I can contribute my life and beliefs to. For example, I am a weary traveler who is on the verge of death in a dessert like surrounding. After months of walking I finally stumble upon a tree that bears fruit. I pick the fruit and eat until I'm full and hydrated. I take the seeds from the fruit I have eaten and plant more trees. I use the juice of the fruit to water the seeds and behold, after a week (for the sake of keeping the story short and proving my point) I end up with a forest. Soon, animals from all over (these animals are also lost in the desert) come and live in the forest too. This provides me with food, clothing, and in conjunction with the forest, shelter. Soon other people that are lost and wandering in the desert stumble upon the growing forest and they take part in what is now a growing community. So in conclusion, I would attribute the tree or fruit to be the "God" I would worship. I would also write down that this tree or fruit belongs to me and my people of the forest like the Jews belong to God. In my story I could also make the tree or fruit talk and give me directions on how to grow the forest.
Fruit: "If you eat me and plant my seed, than a forest will grow. Also, if you follow all of my directions than I will promise to take care of you, this will be the start of one of many covenants between us".
Me: "That sounds great, lets do this".
Anyone can write down words on a page but its the meaning and interpretation for each individual that give them value and make them sacred. There is no specific chosen race or religion or ethnicity, humans are the chosen people.