ייִדישער מחשבֿה אויף שמות 19:4

Fourth, it is recognized that the obligations of human beings to render service are proportionate to the degrees of benefits bestowed upon them. In every period there have been events which occasioned one people to be singled out from all other peoples for special benefits that G-d bestowed on it. It follows that individuals belonging to that people are on that account under special obligation to render additional service to the Creator beyond that required of other peoples. There is no way of determining by the intellect alone what this service should be. Thus G-d chose us from among other nations by bringing us out of the land of Egypt, dividing the Red Sea and bestowing other benefits subsequently, too well known to be mentioned. Furthermore, the exalted Creator specially distinguished us from all other nations by designating us for the service for which we are under an obligation of gratitude to Him; and, in return for our acceptance of this service, He has assured us a reward in this world and in the next, - an abundance of grace and goodness, emanating from Him, that is indescribable. All this can only be clearly made known to us by the Torah, as Scripture says, "You have seen what I did unto the Egyptians and how I bore you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto Myself. Now, therefore, if you will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, (then you shall be a treasure unto Me above all people) and you shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" (Ex. 19:4-6).

Fourth, it is recognized that the obligations of human beings to render service are proportionate to the degrees of benefits bestowed upon them. In every period there have been events which occasioned one people to be singled out from all other peoples for special benefits that G-d bestowed on it. It follows that individuals belonging to that people are on that account under special obligation to render additional service to the Creator beyond that required of other peoples. There is no way of determining by the intellect alone what this service should be. Thus G-d chose us from among other nations by bringing us out of the land of Egypt, dividing the Red Sea and bestowing other benefits subsequently, too well known to be mentioned. Furthermore, the exalted Creator specially distinguished us from all other nations by designating us for the service for which we are under an obligation of gratitude to Him; and, in return for our acceptance of this service, He has assured us a reward in this world and in the next, - an abundance of grace and goodness, emanating from Him, that is indescribable. All this can only be clearly made known to us by the Torah, as Scripture says, "You have seen what I did unto the Egyptians and how I bore you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto Myself. Now, therefore, if you will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, (then you shall be a treasure unto Me above all people) and you shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" (Ex. 19:4-6).

The second phase that winds us up towards proper appreciation of matan Torah, is the ceremony of the seven weeks of counting. When one desires something inordinately, one counts the days towards realisation of one's dreams. The closer that day approaches, the more intensely aware does one become of its impending realisation. Similarly, such count reflects the pain and anguish all the time the desired state has not yet been achieved. In the case of a woman suffering from flux, (Leviticus 15,28) even after the medical symptoms have disappeared, seven days must elapse before readmission to society from the state of isolation she has been in. If a seven day count is mandatory in order to enable her to rejoin ordinary society, the preparation for the revelation of G'd at Mount Sinai would obviously take longer, especially since the disease from which the Jewish nation recovered at the time of the Exodus, had left far deeper scars on the national body than the brief (sometimes lasting only three days) illness of the woman with the flux. The fact that this spiritual preparation could have been achieved in the brief space of seven weeks, is evidence of the help the Jewish people received from G'd. "I carried you on the wings of eagles." (Exodus 19,4.) G'd Himself speeded up the process and telescoped the time normally required into a minute fraction thereof. Since the feeling of not yet being worthy of the revelation is one of pain, we do not recite the benediction she-hecheyanu, "who has let us live to this day to fulfil etc." when performing the mitzvah of counting the Omer. A bride awaiting her wedding will hardly recite she-hecheyanu when informed that she is not yet spiritually pure enough to stand under the wedding canopy.