Jewish unity began at Sinai. When each individual Jew agreed to accept the Torah, he put aside his own desires and embraced the agenda set down by God. In so doing, every Jew focused on the same exact thing, the will of God. This unified state created a new entity called Klal Yisrael. This single entity means that each Jew is part of the other, part of the Klal, and that it is impossible to separate or walk away from the Klal. The Klal, in turn, is part of an unbreakable triangle: "The Holy One, Blessed be He, the Torah and the Jewish people are one."
Never again in history did we ever agree on anything. Yet, Sinai was the moment in history that mattered, the one that turned the Jewish people into an inseparable and indestructible entity. As it forged into a single collective, as it united with God and His Torah, the Jewish nation turned into an eternal one.
Notwithstanding this remarkable moment in Jewish history, it wasn't until the Jewish nation crossed the Jordan River that the principle of "Kol Yisrael arevin zeh lazeh" - "All Jews are responsible for one another" - went into effect. Although Klal Yisrael was formed at Sinai, the deepest level of Jewish unity only began to operate in the Land of Israel.
The process that began at Sinai was only completed in Eretz Yisrael.
---------------------------
Rebbitzen Holly Pavlov writes from Jerusalem.
Never again in history did we ever agree on anything. Yet, Sinai was the moment in history that mattered, the one that turned the Jewish people into an inseparable and indestructible entity. As it forged into a single collective, as it united with God and His Torah, the Jewish nation turned into an eternal one.
Notwithstanding this remarkable moment in Jewish history, it wasn't until the Jewish nation crossed the Jordan River that the principle of "Kol Yisrael arevin zeh lazeh" - "All Jews are responsible for one another" - went into effect. Although Klal Yisrael was formed at Sinai, the deepest level of Jewish unity only began to operate in the Land of Israel.
The process that began at Sinai was only completed in Eretz Yisrael.
---------------------------
Rebbitzen Holly Pavlov writes from Jerusalem.