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Chosen people to receive the Torah

Question:

ברוך אתה ד׳ אלקינו מלך העולם אשר בחר בנו מכל העמים ונתן לנו את תורתו ברוך אתה ד׳ נותן התורה – trans: blessed are you, Hashem, our g-d, king of the universe, who selected us from all the people’s and gave us His Torah. Blessed are you, Hashem, giver of the Torah. Question: Why does it state, that g-d selected us from all the people’s and gave us His Torah? Didn’t g-d ask the Jewish nation beforehand? In response, the Jewish nation approved to receive it -the Torah (with no questions asked). In other words, didn’t g-d give us the ability to decide based on: Our Free Will?
In conclusion, we then selected His Torah. Question summary, why does it state: G-d selected us from all the people’s and gave us His Torah, if we selected His Torah – Due to our Free Will? In contrast, it’s saying that g-d selected us, when we were asked… like all the other nations. We were different (based on our rapid acceptance of the Torah). Yet, Hashem didn’t select us together with the Torah approach. WE selected it from Him – By the request delivered to us and not vice versa. Thank You.

Answer:

 

You are asking a very good question, H-shem didn’t give us the torah, until after we agreed to  accept it. Keeping the torah is not easy, and that is why all of nations, when offered to get the torah, turned the offer down. Nevertheless the Jews excitedly accepted it. Why? The Jews were given a lot of priming before they got to Mt. Sinai, they were slaves for a long time, they got used to the idea of being subservient to a ruler. Then, they were shown such tremendous love by G-d when He “turned the world upside down” and made so many miracles, changing nature numerous times in order to redeem them. This was all part of the giving of the tremendous gift- the Torah- which connects us to G-d, gives us direction in life, and most of all, will give us an everlasting reward in the world to come. True, H-shem asked us if we want it, and had we technically had the choice to decline. However if someone would offer you the opportunity to be Secretary of State, with all the tremendous pay, the opportunity to be world famous, etc. and you would accept the job. Would we also say that the reason you have the job is because YOU accepted it? We are so fortunate to be able to lead a life that we know will end with an everlasting connection to G-d and pleasure that will never end! Yes it does mean that for the mean time we will have to work harder, and we can’t indulge in certain things, but that is the price we so happily pay in order to have this tremendous fortune. This is why we say the blessing on the Torah in this way.

Best Wishes

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