a sense of achrayus to klal yisroel

In darshening the parsha of Arami Oved Avi, so what we comment on the pasuk of ויהי שם לגוי גדול עצום ורב, so Vayehi Sham L'Goy מלמד שהיו מצוינים שם. That Chazal say that the pasuk is not simply telling us that we became a גוי גדול עצום ורב, but that the story of Mitzrayim and what crystallized through Yetzias Mitzrayim is that we developed into a nation, vayehi sham l'goy. And then in addition to the fact that we crystallized into a nation, that the yechidim formed what until this point had been yechidim formed a nation, vayehi sham l'goy. And subsequently

בהוציאך את העם ממצרים תעבדון את האלקים על ההר הזה

when Hakadosh Baruch Hu gives the Torah, so Hakadosh Baruch Hu tells us ואתם תהיו לי ממלכת כהנים וגוי קדוש. That kabbalas haTorah built upon this foundation of what was accomplished in Mitzrayim and what resulted through Yetzias Mitzrayim, de'hainu, that we developed into a goy, into a nation, into a collective identity, a collective entity, and Torah was given not to 600,000 plus yechidim, but it was rather given to Klal Yisrael as a whole. And Torah then trickles down to each of us as a yachid because we belong to that goy, because we belong to that ממלכת כהנים וגוי קדוש, but Torah is given to Klal Yisrael as a whole. Which means that in thinking about who one is, when each of us thinks who am I, what are my responsibilities in life as part of avodas Hashem, so it's integral to who we are that we're part of the klal, and it's inconceivable that a person should think of himself or define himself simply as a yachid. But first and foremost we belong to the klal, we're part of the klal, and to be part of a klal means to have an achrayus for the klal. And thus the famous Gemara in Avodah Zarah says, commenting on the pasuk in Divrei Hayamim of that there was ימים רבים ללא אלקי אמת, so the Gemara in Avodah Zarah says that כל מי שאין לו אלא תורה, a person who says that since I'm osek b'Torah and nothing can interfere with my learning, nothing can interfere with my hasmada, I don't have time for any chesed, is אפילו תורה אין לו. That such a person doesn't even have Torah. There's no such thing as having such a single-minded focus and intensity on Torah to the exclusion of chesed. There's a very sobering and I guess if one is not mindful of it, frightening Rambam in Hilchos Teshuva where the Rambam is listing those who have no chelek in Olam Haba, and the Rambam says that one of those is someone who's poresh midarchei hatzibur. And then the Rambam says even... Even though the person is medakdek b'kala k'vachamura, but the only thing is he doesn't identify with the klal, eino misaneh b'taanisan and eino meitza b'tzairan, so the Rambam says because he separated himself from the klal is אין לו חלק לעולם הבא. So again, integral to who a Jew is, is a Jew belongs to the klal. A Jew belongs to the klal. One of the first things that the Beis Din says to a prospective ger when he wants to be misgayir is אי אתה יודע שאומה זו. Don't you know what the plight of this nation is? Meaning, don't think of geirus as simply enlarging or intensifying your relationship with Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Don't think of it exclusively in those terms, but you have to think of it also, you have to understand that you're becoming part of a klal. What what that means practically, what that translates into practically, is that each one of us has to see to it that this is reflected in our avoda. And certainly part of the Nissan like Tishrei is also a zman of teshuva in being meva'er the se'or shebe'isa and as such it's a time of cheshbon hanefesh and certainly one, at least one focus of that cheshbon hanefesh has to be to what extent are we nosei b'ol, to what extent do we feel an achrayus for each other, for fellow bnei yeshiva within the confines of the yeshiva and of course beyond? To what sense do we feel, to what degree do we feel a sense of achrayus? Now the truth is that at your stage in life it's a more difficult balance to achieve, it's a more difficult balance to maintain. Les man d'palig that in one's formative years, in one's years as a talmid in yeshiva, so of course the primary focus has to be on on self-growth. There's no question about that. If a person at a young age right away just allows himself to be totally encumbered with the ol of tzorkei tzibur which can be endless, so then he's not going to grow and it's going to impair his ability to give in the future. If a person as soon as he learns aleph beis says gevald, there are so many Jews who don't even know aleph beis, I have to go around the world teaching aleph beis, so then he's never going to know how to learn a pasuk Chumash. And it's clear that bnei yeshiva again that their primary obligation is to learn b'hasmada and to grow. But אף על פי כן it doesn't mean even at this stage in life that one is not bound by that Gemara in Avodah Zarah. In addition to the famous psak and and formulation of Rav Moshe about being me'aser, about giving ma'aser of one's time, but even from the vantage point of seeing these years as a time for self-growth, you know the same way, so let's say a person wants to during these years a person has to develop hasmada. So there's only so much can be accomplished by studying sifrei mussar about how important hasmada is and listening to mussar shmuessen about how important hasmada is. Ultimately, if during this period in one's life one is going to develop hasmada, so it means that one has to do it. It's not just the, there's only so much the listening and thinking and being inspired does, but then one has to actually engage in it in order to cultivate whatever it is that one is looking to accomplish. So if that's true in terms of hasmada, it's true in terms of midos that as much as one hears in terms of divrei hissoreirus and as much as one learns from... In in particular, clearly this this obligation, this sense that that we all need to try to to deepen this sense of achrayus for acheinu bnei Yisrael, it exists with regard to all Jews bechol makom sheheim, but certainly in particular with regard to acheinu bnei Yisrael in Eretz Yisrael. It's quoted from gedolim of earlier generations that when it comes to chiyuv tzedaka that aniyei Eretz Yisrael have the status of aniyei ircha, and in terms of dinei kadima of לאחיך לענייך ולאביונך בארצך that aniyei Eretz Yisrael have the same status as aniyei ircha. And that's true in general, true in general that in terms of our identification with Eretz Yisrael, so the chiyuv again to be nosei be'ol, to identify with the tzaros and the needs of a fellow Jew, that this is true for every Jew, but it's doubly true for acheinu bnei Yisrael in Eretz Yisrael. The Gemara in Yevamos tells us about how the talmidei Rabbi Akiva died between Pesach and Shavuos שלא נהגו כבוד זה בזה. So the question is why was the middas hadin implemented against them davka during this period of time? Presumably, presumably, whatever whatever subtle deficiency they had according to the very high exacting standards to which talmidei Rabbi Akiva were held, so presumably that deficiency was present year round. And yet the middas hadin affected them davka this time of year between Pesach and Shavuos. So the answer is that beginning with the yom tov of Pesach through Shavuos, so again Pesach is a yom tov of vayehi sham legoy, and building on that, so we're supposed to during this tekufah, these coming weeks, we're supposed to prepare for כאיש אחד בלב אחד because only in that way was kabbalas haTorah possible. Since again the Ribbono shel Olam wanted to give Torah not to yechidim but to rather Klal Yisrael as a whole, it could only be once we were כאיש אחד בלב אחד. So it's very much the mitzvas hayom, the inyana deyoma to think about our obligations in in this direction and for everyone to think what he can do and how he can better himself more in this direction in terms of being nosei be'ol.