Musar do Wyjścia 19:5

There are some people - both great and small - who are not aware of their own shortcomings. And even when they see in Mussar books that such and such a trait is bad, it nevertheless does not cross their mind that they have such a trait and that they need to fix it. Neither do they feel pain or concern about it. This is not a good sign for [this person]. For this is the way of sick people - to not feel their sickness getting worse or even to know that they are sick. (See the Rambam's Eight Chapters 3.) However there are also adults and youths with the following trait: His heart inside begins to feel that he has a certain shortcoming and he [then] begins to worry and be in pain. But his mind quickly rationalizes it by saying, "Is it not the case that the shortcoming I have is not as bad as what the book is criticizing? And the small amount that I have is almost impossible to remove, since 'there is no righteous man in the world who never sins.'" This too is a partner to the evil impulse; and [such a person's] end will be the pollution of his spirit and the darkness of Gehinnom. The root of both of these is that they do not seek greatness from themselves. They imagine that only tzaddikim and greats must work to better themselves, but it is sufficient for all other Jews to just be anything that they are. This is like a father who has a fool for a son, so that his father does not require much from him and suffices with the little good that is found in him. And he even overlooks his sins, saying, "Is he not a fool?" But such a man (who rationalizes his own shortcomings) is greatly mistaken. And we have already spoken above about how everyone must strive, help and reveal the tzaddikim, the greats and the giants of the Jewish people; and how the Divine Presence laments the negligent person. But even if he just wants to be a simple Jew, why is he forgetting what a simple Jew is, and the condition that God made with each Jew - from the woodchopper to the water-drawer - when He first came to make them into the Jewish people and to give them the Torah? He said (Exodus 19:5-6), "Now then, if you will obey Me faithfully and keep My covenant, you shall be My treasured possession among all the peoples, etc. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." This is the Jew - [someone from] a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. It was a condition that the Holy One, blessed be He, made: "Now then, if etc." Only if so, will you be Jews. But if not, God forbid...

Thus did Solomon say, "He who listens to counsel is a wise man" (Prov. 12:15). Solomon did not mean "to listen with the ears alone," but that listening means to listen to the counsel of a wise man and to willingly do that which the wise man tells him. It is obvious, therefore, that the whole Torah is summarized in this quality of willingness to listen and obey. And thus it is with all the rebukes and all the blessings. What does this mean ? Concerning the time that the Torah was given, it is written — "Now therefore, if ye will surely listen unto My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be Mine own treasure from among all peoples" (Exodus 19:5). The meaning of "you will surely listen," is that you shall accept these commandments and receive them willingly. And the people answered "We will do" (Ibid. 19:8, 24:7) — willingly.

Concerning this inseparable bond, the Torah says in Exodus 19,5 prior to the revelation at Mount Sinai: והייתם לי סגלה, "You will be My treasured possession." The means by which Israel becomes G–d's most treasured possession is the Torah. The word, i.e. vowel, סגל is comprised of three sounds, i.e. three times the letter י. Between them they represent the ten emanations, the ten commandments and the ten directives by means of which G–d created our universe. The Zohar at the end of Parshat Nasso where the offerings of the princes are described, comments that the verse עשרה עשרה הכף, (Numbers 7,86) "ten, ten the כף" which at first glance seems superfluous, for who does not know that twice ten equals twenty, means that the first ten represent מעשה בראשית, whereas the second ten represent the Ten Commandments when the Torah was given. The Torah wishes to tell us that the creation of the universe was justified only when Torah was revealed and accepted by the Jewish people. Together these "twenty" formed a unit, seeing that when one spells the letter י ten, as a word i.e. יוד, the numerical value is 20, i.e. כ. The inseparable relationship between G–d, Israel and Torah is thus amply documented. Israel is attached to these "twenty," as is mentioned in Deut. 4,4: ואתם הדבקים בה', "as for you who cleave to the Lord etc." The congregation of Israel, עדת ישראל, are ten (i.e. the minimum number of a quorum amongst which a part of the Presence of G–d can be found is ten). This number applies both to the spiritual part of the people, נשמה, as well as to their bodies, since the Talmud Nidah 31 tells us that there are three partners in the creation of a human being, G–d, father and mother. G–d's input is described as comprising ten parts, the soul and its various potentials. Father and mother between them also contribute ten components, the body and the materials it is formed of. This makes man a partner of G–d in the Creation of the universe in a manner of speaking Just as the purely spiritual world, עולם האצילות, had been "born," so now the אדם תחתון, man of the lower world was "born" in order to get to know G–d. This is what is meant by the Talmud Shabbat 119 saying that whoever says his prayers on the Sabbath Eve including the recital of Genesis 2,1-3, becomes a partner of G–d in His work of Creation. It is well known that this is the night our sages especially recommend for man and his wife to cohabit and fulfill the commandment to procreate.