The religious concern for mankind as a whole as contrasted with the concern for those belonging to one's own faith. Jewish perspectives since biblical time have expressed both these tendencies, often with ambiguities and tensions. The very opening of the Bible is written from a universalist perspective, concerned with the origin of mankind and with God's concern for humanity. The corollary of its fundamental proclamation of the unity and fatherhood of God is the brotherhood of man.
A strong element of particularism entered with the Covenant with Abraham. However, while as the result of the covenant Abraham and his descendants become the people of God, the universalistic element is not forgotten when God explains, "Through you and your descendants will be blessed the families of the earth" (Gen. 28:14).
The polarity continues throughout Jewish tradition. The Pentateuchal Code develops the particularistic aspects. Israel must remain distinct---in its worship, work and leisure, its diet, dress, family life, and general conduct. Its origins and historical recollections are unique, in particular, the Exodus from Egypt and, at a later time, the Messianic hope. However, Israel's special conduct is universalistic because it is to be seen as exemplary. The nations of the world should exclaim, "Surely that great nation is a wise and discerning people. For what great nation is there whose God is so near ... and has laws and rules as perfect as all this Teaching that I set before you this day?" (Deut. 4:6-8). The Pentateuchal Code, while concentrating on the inner life of the people, warns against particularistic prejudices and tendencies and stresses a humane social ethic to be applied to all men, Jew and non-Jew, notably the resident non-Jew, for "you shall not oppress or crush the alien; you know how he feels for you yourselves were aliens in the Land of Egypt."
It is in the words of the Prophets that the universalist message of the Scriptures shines out most clearly. Isaiah and Micah describe the End of Days when all nations shall say, "Let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the House of the God of Jacob who will teach us His ways and we will go in His paths ... Nation shall not take up sword against nation and they will never again know war" (Isa. 2:3-4). Amos directs his prophecies not only to Israel but to the surrounding nations. The Book of Jonah is an outstanding example of a universal message with its contrast of the good faith of the pagan sailors and the repentance of the men of Nineveh with the bad faith and selfishness of the prophet of Israel.
Both tendencies are found in the early rabbis. The universalists stress that God's message is intended to reach the rest of the world. The many blessings recited by the Jew each day express a firm faith in God as the universal king. The most eminent of the tannaim, Hillel, taught, "Be of the disciples of Aaron ... loving all beings and attracting them to the Torah." The rabbis sought to attract proselytes to Judaism (see Conversion to Judaism) and the third-century rabbi Eleazar Ben Pedat taught that "God exiled Israel among the nations only in order that they should add proselytes to their numbers" (Pes. 87b). The rabbis developed the concept of the basic natural laws, the Noachide Laws, which, if observed by non-Jews, would bring them life in the World to Come without the necessity of adhering to Judaism. This was in contrast with the narrower, particularistic teaching of salvation by Christianity. Man, in rabbinic imagery, was created from dust gathered from all parts of the world so that no one could claim superiority; the Torah was given to Israel in a no-man's-land where all can come to share it; and it was delivered in 70 languages so that all mankind could understand it. At the same time, the rabbis expressed particularistic, nationalistic feelings, often directed against their oppressors. As in the Bible, God is seen as delivering the Israelites from their enemies. Israel's enemies are God's enemies.
Eventually, external circumstances dictated the internal balance in Jewish outlook between universalism and particularism. Christianity and Islam both arrogated to themselves the Jewish "chosenness" and both sought to convert the Jews. Attempts by Jews to win proselytes was now a capital crime for both the Jew and the potential convert. Jews were excluded from the surrounding society and lived in virtual isolation. Under these circumstances, their particularistic tendencies came to the fore. They devoted themselves to their own culture, ceased attempts to win souls for Judaism, and in their anger and frustrations developed anti-Gentile feelings. Nevertheless, when they occasionally attained comparative freedom, universalism came to the fore, and consolation was found in the thought that Christianity and Islam were extensions of Judaism. Thus, Maimonides wrote: "All the matters concerning Jesus and Muhammad were only to lay out a path for the Messiah and to rectify the whole world in order to serve God together. The whole world is now filled with the idea of the Messiah, of Torah, and of the commandments." His basic attitude towards non-Jews was expressed in the belief that "God demands the heart, that things are to be judged according to the convictions of the heart, and that is why the sages said that the pious of all nations have a place in the World to Come if they know what is fit to be grasped of the knowledge of God and if they live a life of basic virtue." However, more prevalent throughout the Middle Ages was a strong particularism: Jewish suffering was only explicable by contrasting Israel's election with the cruel world of the non-Jews. The frequently expressed contempt for the Gentile and the pejorative expressions used were partly a defense mechanism.
The era of Emancipation and Enlightenment, starting in the 18th century in Western and Central Europe, evoked a resurgence of universalism. Moses Mendelssohn identified the metaphysical content of Judaism with the universalized "religion of reason." Jews and non-Jews are both entitled to Divine love and salvation, while Judaism remained the private concern of the Jews. Now, released from the ghetto, the ancient concept of the Jewish Mission to mankind, in which the Jews brought a theological message with a strong ethical emphasis, became the main thrust of Reform Judaism, which removed from its liturgy all references seen as particularistic. This meant the omission of any mention of election and the chosen people, a personal Messiah who would redeem the people of Israel, the link with the Land of Israel and any hope of a future return, or Reward and Punishment after death. Israel's chosenness lay in the moral message it conveyed to the rest of mankind. In the 20th century, Reform Judaism retreated from its extreme universalism, largely under the impact of the Nazi Holocaust, which dampened the enthusiasm for universalism, produced a sense of self-reliance and, together with the establishment of the State of Israel, an intense consciousness of Jewish peoplehood.
The Zionist movement also reflected the dichotomy between universalism and particularism in a basic argument over its ultimate objectives. One viewpoint held that the goal of the Jews' return to their own land was a process of normalization, expressed in the biblical phrase saying that Israel should "be like all other peoples (Ezek. 25:8). Others maintained that the restored people in Zion should be a "light to the nations" (Isa. 42:6), i.e., provide universal inspiration. The development of the State of Israel has continued to reflect this ambiguity and conflict. Its official religious life is strongly particularistic and this contrasts sharply, and potentially clashes, with the predominant universalism or cosmopolitanism of most of Diaspora Jewry.
