"And now, if you will surely listen to My voice and keep My covenant, you shall be for Me a treasured possession (segullah) from among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine" (Shemos 19:5).
"The word segullah (treasure) means something precious, lovely, and unique." - Rashi
There's a very powerful image from this past week's hostage release. One of the (secular) hostages hugging his crying brother, wrapped in a tallis. What was one of the first things he asked for when Shabbos went out (they were released on Shabbos), after over 400 days of literal torture? Tefillin.
In turn, there's another image of a busload of Palestinian criminals returning to the West Bank. Somebody hands one of them an AK-47, which he happily takes and starts firing in the air.
Perhaps this gives us a glimpse into what Hashem meant when He said that the Jewish people would be a treasure to him.
Rav Yaakov Meir Schecter of Breslov testified to what he saw when the Belzer Rebbe arrived in Tel Aviv from Europe in 1944. On one of his first Shabboses in Eretz Yisroel, the Belzer Rebbe led his chassidim in the singing of the tune of the German national anthem. Obviously, his chassidim were stunned by this, and he explained: When Hashem sees these two nations singing the same song, and then see what they are doing when they are singing the same song, perhaps he will have mercy on us.
Similarly, may He see these two pictures and have mercy on us.
Rabbi Tovia Singer, one of the more famous anti-missionaries out there today, made an interesting observation. When you hear "newly born Christians," meaning Jews who converted to Christianity, many, if not most, of the stories start off with how low they were at the time. Whether it be depression, drugs, crime, work issues, etc., they were at the lowest-of-the-low points, and suddenly they "saw the light." Their savior finally showed up only when they were drowning in the gutters.
As if to say, their savior can't be found anywhere else, but there, deep in the gutters.
Yet, here, once again, we begin to hear and see more and more stories of not only what each of these hostages went through, but also what they became in the process.
Unlike the "born-agains," these people were not in the sewers of life. Rather, they were taken and thrown into the fire by others; physically and emotionally beaten down by their captors and other "innocent civilians." Yet, like any precious item such as diamonds or gold, something grew from within them, and they came out stronger than before.
Of course, one does not need to be a hostage to a terror organization for over a year to become a "treasure." Each person has his own hurdles in life to overcome. Physical, mental, spiritual. Some of them cannot be overcome, it's part of the package of life they were given. But some of them can, even if only with hard work. And sometimes, even with that hard work, a person fails. Rather, it's the true attempt to grow despite the adversity,that Hashem wants to see. Even after failure after failure, a person could still be a better person than he was beforehand. And that is what makes a person, and therefore a nation, a true treasure.
Have a wonderful Shabbos!