Commentary for Berakhot 13:23
וא"ר יוחנן משום ר' יוסי שלשה דברים בקש משה מלפני הקב"ה ונתן לו בקש שתשרה שכינה על ישראל ונתן לו שנאמר (שמות לג, טז) הלוא בלכתך עמנו
R. Johanan also said in the name of R. Jose : Three things Moses sought of the Holy One, blessed be He, and He granted them. He sought that the Shekinah should rest upon Israel, and He granted it ; as it is said, "Is it not in that Thou goest with us?" (Exod. xxxiii. 16). He sought that the Shekinah should not rest upon the other peoples of the world, and He granted it ; as it is said,
Abraham Cohen Footnotes to the English Translation of Masechet Berakhot
This is the reading of M. and the earliest edd. Subsequently it was altered to "that the Shekinah should rest only upon Israel" for fear of the Censor. Bacher detects in the words a polemic against the aspirations of Christianity; A. T. II. p. 179, n. 8.
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