HaRav Dov Begon is Head of Yeshivat Machon Meir.
Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak HaKohen Kook wrote:
“Preceding ‘We Will Do’ to ‘We Will Hear’ - this has always been the power of Israel throughout all generations. For we feel within ourselves that in the depths of the nature of our entire being, all the holiness of Judaism is hidden. And if we sense any weakness in its strength regarding our souls, first of all we must awaken to be faithful to ourselves. Let us shake ourselves free from all self-denial and know how to defend our complete identity with pride (“Articles of Rabbi Kook," “Na’aseh VeNishma").
The All-Encompassing Perspective
“Who has chosen us from among all the nations and given us His Torah."
The Torah was given to Clal Yisrael, the collective Nation of Israel, and not to this or that individual, nor to a particular party or stream within the Jewish People. Only when Am Yisrael was united as one person with one heart was the Torah given to us at Mount Sinai. The knowledge that the Torah was given to the entire Nation of Israel is instilled into every child as soon as he learns to speak, when his father teaches him: “Moshe commanded us the Torah, an inheritance of the Congregation of Yaacov" (Rambam, Laws of Torah Study, Ch. 1, Halacha 6). Our holy Torah is an inheritance of the Congregation of Israel.
Likewise, every single day, before studying Torah we recite the blessing: “Who has chosen us from among all the nations and given us His Torah," in the plural form. The entire approach to Torah study must come from the knowledge and recognition that the Holy One, Blessed be He, chose us from among all the nations, that the Nation of Israel is a treasured people, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (see Exodus 19:5-6). Studying the holy Torah without the blessing over the Torah, “Who has chosen us from among all the nations," brought exile upon us, as our Sages said: “Why was the Land destroyed? Because they did not first recite the blessing over the Torah" (see Bava Metzia 85a; also “Lectures of HaRav Tzvi Yehuda," Talmud Torah, vol. 2).
Right now, fortunate are we, how good is our portion, how pleasant our lot, and how beautiful our inheritance that at long last, after two-thousand years of exile, we are privileged to return to our Land. Not only are we returning to our Land, but also to ourselves and to our Torah, our heritage. Here in the Land of Israel, the unique soul of the Nation of Israel as a treasured people, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, is increasingly being revealed for all to see.
True, we are still only at the beginning of the process of rebirth, and there is still great confusion, lack of knowledge, and lack of understanding about who we are and what our life is, what the identity and mission of our people is - we who were chosen by the Creator of the world to illuminate all mankind.
But already one can see the light at the end of the tunnel of time. One sees the multitudes of Your people, the House of Israel, returning to our holy Torah, filling the synagogues and study halls, and reciting the Torah blessing: “Who has chosen us from among all the nations and given us His Torah." And in the prayer of the Festival of Shavuot we say with immense joy: “You have chosen us from among all the nations, You have loved us and desired us… and You have given us, Hashem our God, with love, festivals for joy, holidays and seasons for gladness, this Festival of Shavuot, the time of the giving of our Torah."
With blessings for a joyous Festival of the Giving of the Torah, and in anticipation of the complete Redemption.