We have defined humanness as the ability to connect to Hashem. A human is a being who has a relationship with Hashem. If so, what is a Jew?
A Jew has a love relationship, an emotional relationship, with Hashem. Not a business relationship, but an emotional relationship. Receiving the Torah at Sinai is described in Shir HaShirim as a marriage, with the accompanying feelings and emotions.
Noach wanted to establish this kind of a relationship with Hashem. He wanted to do what Avraham actually did later on. Noach reached his highest peak of relationship with Hashem when he brought his korbanos, at which point he wanted to go even further. He said to Hashem, so to speak, “Let us love one another. Love is expressed by sharing joy, by celebrating and drinking wine together.”
So after he brought his korbanos, Noach planted a vineyard. So to speak, he wanted to drink a lechayim with Hashem. In this way he sought to create not just a solid relationship with Hashem, but a love relationship with Him. In other words, Noach wished to be the father of the Jewish people.
But Hashem did not agree. He brought Noach to drunkenness and disgrace. He showed him, so to speak: “If you want to have a strong relationship with Me as a human being, that’s wonderful. But if you want a relationship of love with Me, I am not interested because you are not fitting; you are like a drunken peasant in My eyes.” Noach’s inner nature was revealed for all to see. A non-Jew, even if he is connected to Hashem, is not to have a love relationship with Him.
Loved Cannot be Forced
Humanity was forced to accept the seven mitzvos of Noach. They understood that Hashem is all-powerful, that He can punish. But do they enjoy keeping these mitzvos? Do they fulfill them with love and joy? Not really, because the mitzvos are not fitting to their personalities, to their essence.
But when Hashem approached the Jewish people and offered them the Torah, accepted it immediately, because it is fitting to them. This is what Jewishness is all about. It is a love relationship with Hashem. And this kind of connection has to start from the person himself. It can never be engendered by the pressure and influence of others.
Only Avraham Avinu established this kind of relationship. Avraham was just three years old when he understood on his own that the world has a Creator, whereupon he drew close to Him. He suffered greatly for his faith and for teaching it to others. He is called, “Avraham, who loves Me," and he is the foundation of the Jewish people.
The Chosen People
The nations of the world have complaints against us Jews. It bothers them deeply that we call ourselves the Chosen People and claim that we are privileged to a special relationship with G-d.
Our answer to the nations of the world is very simple. When an employer hires workers, he needs to give them a fair salary. But when someone loves another, it’s not a matter of being “fair.” It’s not a business relationship. Where there is love, gifts are given not because they are “deserved”; they are given out of love.
Noach wanted to invite Hashem for a private party, to celebrate together over wine. But Hashem chided Noach by bringing him to a shameful state of drunkenness that revealed his inner nature. He was saying to Noach, so to speak, “Just look at yourself. That’s no way to behave. I am sorry, but I can’t drink with such company.”
A relationship of love with Hashem is not a matter of reward. It is not payment for services rendered. It is a matter of love, and Avraham Avinu is the one who entered upon such a relationship with Hashem.
A non-Jew doesn’t, by nature, joyfully give up his life for Hashem. He does what he has to do, and that’s why his relationship with Hashem is not defined as a love relationship. But a Jew brings a wine libation with his korban. Whenever he connects to Hashem, he does it with true, inner joy, with wine, out of love. He is excited over it, in an uplifted spirit of kedushah.
