G-d's Chosen People

The Ohr Chadash explains why non-Jews cannot offer a korban shelamim. “Most non-Jews have very different ideas about life than Jews. They do not work so that every detail of their lives will be in consonance with the spiritual reality of Torah and mitzvos. Unlike the inner workings of Jewish hearts, they do not yearn that their every step will be made according to the spirit of Hashem’s will. Although they believe in two worlds, they separate the two as much as possible. They spend a modicum of time thing about the spiritual world in their houses of worship but, by and large, do not imbue their everyday lives with spiritual content. On the contrary, they lead lives rooted in the natural world with hardly a thought of the spiritual. Their lives are often filled with deceit, vice and illicit desires, with no connection to emunah. “This is why a non-Jew can only bring a korban olah, not a shelamim. He is willing to take off some time and sacrifice a burnt offering which is entirely consumed, but he cannot understand bringing sanctity into daily life, which is the purpose of shelamim. He added, “But a Jew can bring a korban shelamim. A Jew is always working to sanctify the mundane since every step he takes is guided by Torah. He is always surrounded by mizvos that conform to human reason, in addition to mitzvos that we cannot understand. A Jew never has an instant which is not guided by Torah. Every breath he takes is filled with G-dliness. He is filled with joy since his whole life is one story of revealing the honor of heaven in whatever way he can. If one uplifts the material by always thinking about Hashem and the Torah, whatever he does has the status of a korban hatamid, beloved to Hashem.”