Thank you for your excellent questions. Yes, you are correct that a gentile who fears G-d and does not worship idols is more beloved than a Jewish atheist. The "chosen people" means that the Jews were chosen for a mission and for many responsibilities, the commandments of the Torah. A Jew who rejects that mission and denies G-d is not beloved by G-d.

The only reason people connect the concept of the "chosen people" with a race is that historically, 99% of practicing Jews are descended from the original people of Israel in the Bible. The number of converts is very small, since the Jews never made it an ideal to search for converts. This is in contrast to Christianity and Islam, which from the start were made up of many different nations and racial groups who joined those religions. So in summary, although the chosen people are essentially the descendents of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, in theory it is not limited to that race; in practice, however, it has mostly been that way.

Some ask: how can you say Judaism is not a race, if anyone whose mother is Jewish is automatically considered Jewish?

First let me say this: The definition of a Jew is someone born from a Jewish mother, or someone who converted to Judaism. You see that one’s beliefs or practices are not irrelevant, because for a conversion to be valid, the convert must accept upon himself to follow all the laws of the Torah and he must believe in all of its principles. Similarly, even a born Jew who doesn’t believe in the principles of Judaism is not considered part of the Jewish people, as Maimonides writes in his commentary to the Mishnah in Sanhedrin chapter 10.

Now, it is true that once someone is a Jew, he always remains a Jew, but that only means that he has the liabilities of a Jews – he will be punished for violating all the laws, and if he married or divorces a Jewish woman, the marriage or divorce is valid. However, he does not have the privileges of a Jew, for example, he is not trusted to testify that food is kosher, and food he cooks is forbidden for observant Jews to eat. Of course, if such a Jew abandons his sins and false beliefs and comes back to the fold, he would not require conversion.

Secondly: It's true that being Jewish is hereditary, but that doesn't make Judaism a race. Judaism is a set of laws commanded by G-d. Whoever is defined as a Jew by those laws, is obligated to keep Judaism. Now, who does the Torah define as a Jew? Who is obligated to keep the laws? Someone who has a Jewish mother, or someone who converts.

That is different from the Zionist definition of a Jew, because Zionism looks at Jewishness as a race independent of the Torah. They are free to adopt any definition they want for this race, so they adopted the Nazi definition that anyone with one Jewish grandparent is Jewish. A Zionist would not say "I am Jewish because the Torah defines me as Jewish and obligates me to keep the commandments" because they don't keep believe in the Torah.

The Zionists say, we are the Jewish race so therefore we are entitled to control Eretz Yisroel, the Holy Land. But the truth is that their race doesn't ultimately make them Jewish. It's the Torah that defines who is Jewish, and once you're looking at the Torah, look what the Torah has to say about Eretz Yisroel. We are in exile because of our sins and we must do teshuva and merit the coming of moshiach, before we can return to our ancestral land.

The Torah says, "G-d chose you to be His treasured people from all the peoples on the face of the earth." (Devarim 14:2)

Anti-Semites sometimes claim that Jews are racists and supremacists because they refer to themselves as the chosen people. But this defining of Jews by race is an error and in no way reflects the true Jewish belief. Membership in the Jewish people is not dependent on race. For the Jews, peoplehood has always been defined only by acceptance of the Torah. In the words of the famous philosopher Rabbi Saadiah Gaon (882-942), "This people is only a people through its Torah."Any Jew who rejects the Torah is not part of the Jewish people. Any individual of any race can become a Jew and be part of the Jewish people. Thus it is clear that the term chosen people is a misnomer and a more proper rendering would be chosen religion.

But this still leaves much to be explained. What is the chosen religion? What was G-d's purpose in choosing a particular group of people who had particular beliefs?

Judaism teaches that man's purpose in this world is to recognize G-d as his Creator and to thank G-d for creating him. Before He created man, G-d already had angels who sang His praises, but He chose to create humans, who despite being hampered by their own physical needs and surrounded by a world of distractions, and despite not perceiving His existence directly, would believe in Him and praise Him. The world is like a factory full of amazing machines, each one with a purpose in keeping the factory running. But what gain, what profit does the factory Owner get out of it? Those people who believe in Him and praise Him.

After creation, G-d waited for the right people to come along, people through whom He could teach the world about its purpose. At first there were enlightened individuals - Abraham, Isaac and Jacob - who understood on their own that the world must have one all-powerful and benevolent Creator. G-d appeared to them and spoke to them.

But this was not enough. G-d wanted to give His law to a large group of people, who would then live by this law and thereby teach the world about G-d's greatness. He chose to give His law to the Israelites, the descendants of Abraham, who had been the first to proclaim G-d's existence to the world. Abraham's descendants continued to believe in what their ancestor had taught, and they stuck with it despite the adversity of Egyptian slavery. G-d called them the "people I have created for Myself, so that they might speak My praise" (Isaiah 43:21). This was their function on earth.

However, no one should make the mistake of thinking that G-d was choosing one race and their descendants for all time, for better or for worse. The Jews in ancient times were a very numerous nation. What happened to all descendants of those Jews? The answer is that many Jews have gone lost - left the Torah behind and assimilated into other societies and cultures. They may have Jewish blood, but when we speak of the Jewish people we do not mean them.

Just as many have left the Jewish people, many have joined. Some of the greatest names in Jewish history have been converts: Zipporah, wife of Moses; Rahav, wife of Joshua; Ruth, great-grandmother of King David; and Onkelos, compiler of the most authoritative Aramaic translation of the Torah. Great Talmudic sages such as Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Meir were descended from converts. The Talmud even says that the entire purpose of the Jews' exile and dispersal over the face of the earth was so that converts should join them.

So we see that the Jews can really be defined as those individuals who chose G-d, not a race or ethnic group chosen by G-d. To those individuals who chose Him, G-d gave laws and teachings to show them how to spread His word and His praise in the world. Once people choose G-d, their descendents are automatically Jews and obligated to keep the Torah, whether they want to or not.

Many people know about Biblical verses like the one quoted above, which proclaim that G-d chose the Jews from all the nations. What they might not know is the following verses, which show that the choosing is a two-way street:

"You have chosen G-d today, to be your G-d, to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, commandments and ordinances, and to listen to His voice. And G-d has chosen you today to be a treasured nation for Him, as He has spoken to you, and to keep all His commandments." (Devarim 26:17-18)