"Because His people Israel are part of G‑d Himself". (Deut. 32:9)

"Israel is a unique nation in this world." (Samuel II 7:23) It has been crowned (singled out) with a single crown consisting of two facets: one in a general way and one in a specific way.

The entire nation is considered as if it were one person; this is why the Torah refers to the people as "Nefesh", "person" [in the singular], already at the time Jacob descended into Egypt. (in Gen. 46:26) The significance of this lies in the fact that "Because His people Israel are part of G‑d Himself". (Deut. 32:9)

The remainder of mankind was divided into 70 nations, each one with a representative in the Celestial Regions, i.e. an astrological constellation presided over by an angelic "minister", as we know from the verses: "…which the Lord your G‑d assigned to all the nations; He took you and removed you from the iron crucible, from Egypt, to be for Him His very own nation, as is now the case". (Deut. 4:19,20)

The Jewish People's fortunes are not guided by intermediaries….

The Jewish People's fortunes are not guided by intermediaries such as the constellations. The 70 nations were divided from one another as we know from the verse: "When the most High gave nations their homes and set the divisions of man, He fixed the boundaries of peoples in relation to Israel's numbers." (Deut. 32:8) The relationship (i.e. common denominator) between the "numbers" of Israel and that of the nations of the world is that Israel numbered 70 when they first went down to Egypt. The difference is only that the 70 Israelites that came to Egypt are all described as Nefesh, a single person.

Any part of the Jewish nation is compared to the entire nation. Because Israel is part of G‑d, it has an eternal future, as pointed out in the Talmud: "Every Israelite has a share in the World to Come." (Sanhedrin 90)

In addition to this common factor which links every Israelite with one another to form part of the whole, each Israelite is a distinct individual, as is evident from a statement by our sages: "Any righteous person is burned or singed by the fire G‑d has provided as part of the canopy He grants to every righteous person." (Bamidbar Raba 21:22, based on Isaiah 4:5) This teaches that though every Israelite has his share in the World to Come, everyone is assigned a place of his own.

Concerning this state of affairs, Moses said, "The Lord guided him separately, unaccompanied by any alien power." (Deut. 32:12) The word "guided him" in this verse is in the singular (i.e. guided him, not guided us) to stress that every Israelite is an individual personality. When Moses continued, "He was not accompanied by another power", this refers to the supernal angelic ministers and constellations assigned to guide the fates of the Gentiles. None of those forces exercise the slightest control over the Jewish people.

[Translation and commentary by Eliyahu Munk]