HaRav Dov Begon is head of Yeshivat Macchon Meir.
“And they journeyed from Rephidim and came to the wilderness of Sinai, and they encamped in the wilderness; and Israel encamped there opposite the mountain" (Exodus 19:2).
Rashi explains: Just as their arrival at the wilderness of Sinai was in repentance, so too their departure from Rephidim was in repentance. At “Rephidim," the hands of Israel slackened from Torah, and they were in complaint and dispute. They repented, meaning that they returned to engaging in Torah and ceased their complaints and disputes, and they united as one man with one heart (see Rashi there).
Just as a person is a single organism possessing many limbs and powers that differ from one another, yet complement and sustain one another, so too Israel united as one man before the Revelation at Mount Sinai, despite the differences between each tribe and every individual Jew. For “their opinions are not alike, and their appearances are not alike" (Berachot 58). But it is not sufficient to be “as one body"; there must also be unity of “one heart," meaning one spirit and one soul for the multitude of limbs and powers within the nation.
At present, fortunate are we! How good is the portion of our generation, the generation of national revival and the ingathering of the exiles. The people about whom it was said, “a people scattered and dispersed among the nations," is gathering together and uniting in the Land of Israel. There is no clearer revealed end to exile than this. But it is not sufficient to unite only in the aspect of “one body," meaning the establishment of a sovereign and free state, strong both economically and militarily, as we merit to witness this tangibly in the State of Israel. There must also be “one heart" - spiritual and cultural unity in our return to the national Torah given at Sinai, the Torah of Eretz Yisrael.
How is unity created? Where has our unity come from since we left Egypt to become a nation at Sinai? From the roots - from the eternal values of our holy ancestors, values implanted in the Torah of Israel and in the tradition of Israel that has united us for thousands of years. And as we ascend along the path of our Redemption, we will reveal more and more how the Holy One, blessed be He, “causes the horn of salvation to sprout," and we will merit to see the fulfillment of the prophecy, “one nation in the land"-as one man with one heart.
May it be soon!