Rav Kook believed that just as in the Torah – where Jacob and Esau, and Isaac and Ishmael were eventually reconciled – Judaism, Christianity and Islam will also be reconciled in the future. They would not cease to be different, but they would learn to respect one another.
The point touches upon a fundamental aspect of Judaism. What does it mean when we call Jews “the chosen people”? Does it mean that in choosing Jacob, G-d rejected Esau? Or that in choosing Abraham, G-d rejected humanity? G-d forbid. In the Torah G-d appears to several non-Jews, among them Abraham’s contemporary, Malkizedek, described in the Torah as “a priest of G-d most high.” One of the great heroines of the bible, the woman who saves Moses’s life, was an Egyptian, Pharaoh’s daughter. And so on. We believe, as a matter of principle, that “the righteous of the nations have a share in the World-to-Come.”
When Jacob was chosen, Esau was not rejected. G-d does not reject. “Though my father and mother have abandoned me, the Lord will take me in” (Psalms 27:10). Chosenness means two things: intimacy and responsibility. G-d holds us close and makes special demands on us. Beyond that, G-d is the G-d of all mankind – the Author of all – who cares for all, and is accessible to all. In an age of resurgent religious conflict, these are truths we must never forget.