Submitted by Shlomo Greenwald, Aug 8, 2007 23:20

I'm not exactly sure what Hillel Halkin means by "Neither in Christianity nor in Islam does one encounter the belief that God is more interested in one small family of the human race than in all the others combined and that his laws are not meant equally for all." I understand that he is referring to the notion of a chosen nation, and that only Jews are commanded with 613 mitzvoth.

But this is an unqualified point. Judaism doesn't demand 613 mitvoth of everyone because that's not what everyone must do to be good. In fact, only Judaism, among the three religions, divides humanity by good and evil. You could belong to whatever religion you want but as long as you are a "good" person--as the Torah informs all of humanity how to be good--then you are granted a share of heaven. Islam and Christianity divide the world into believers of a particular doctrine and those who don't (infidels, or those who aren't saved). You can view their wishes (or attempts) to convert every last person to their faith as somehow more universalistic, but I'll take Judaism's version, thank you.

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