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This week’s parasha ends the list of laws with a coda about how special בני ישראל are:
What does it mean, את ה׳ הֶאֱמַרְתָּ? The verb האמר is almost unique:
Rashi’s other source is the שיר של יום for Wednesday:
So Rashi’s translation of “distiguish” seems to fit, with the reflexive יִתְאַמְּרוּ meaning “they think themselves distinguished”.
Ramban proposes some other uses of this root in תנ״ך, especially if we allow for consonant changes like א to ע:
And the cognate in Arabic is particularly strong, and connects it to אמר, ”say“:
So ה׳ הֶאֱמִירְךָ means, “ה׳ has allowed you to lord over others”, and it’s because the Jews are special, להיות לו לעם סגלה. And that is only because of the Torah:
(which brings up my favorite inside joke)
This idea, that “chosen-ness” is solely due to our relationship with the Torah is important.
Psychiatrist Scott Alexander (who has a fascinating blog at slatestarcodex.com) notes that Ashkenazi Jews seem to be particularly smart:
I think this idea, that intelligence is genetically determined (and Jews have a lot of it) is both ethically abhorrent and scientifically wrong (and, since it’s ethically wrong, I won’t look for data about the scientific part). I think nelshoy missed the point entirely. The ייִדישער קאָפּ is culturally created. Torah and Talmud are not “wasting brain labor”; they are the basis of what our brains are for. Nuclear physics is just a fortunate (or maybe unfortunate) side effect.
And this goes back to an incredibly important אור החיים, that as Jews we should never have pride in our supposedly superior intelligence. It’s only through learning and living Torah that we have anything special: