LEAD TIDBIT
It seems so impossible, yet...
In DAYEINU we sing: Had you brought us near to Har Sinai and not given us the Torah, DAYEINU. There would be sufficient reason to acknowledge and thank G-d. Is that really so? A person who needs a life-saving vaccine would not say, Had you just brought me to the clinic but had not vaccinated me, there would be cause to thank you. What is the big deal of being brought to the clinic, except to receive the live-saving and sustaining medicine?

The answer is, that if something special and significant happened at the clinic, let's say, while you were waiting for the vaccination, then you would be appreciative of coming to the clinic, on its own, without even mentioning the subsequent shot in the arm.

This is what commentators point out about the experience of arriving at the mountain, even not taking into account Matan Torah. They point to the description of Jewish Unity symbolized by the use of the singular term VAYICHAN, not - they camped, but HE camped, all of Israel as one person with one heart, one purpose. It was a moment to cherish, to be proud of... and to strive to recapture, however elusive it has been throughout Jewish History, how elusive it remains today, and how impossible it looks when we take a reality check of the Jewish community in Israel and around the world.

We might say that Rabbi Tarfon had the task, challenge, and goal of Jewish Unity in mind when he said: LO ALECHA... It is not your duty to complete the work, but neither are you free to desist from it.

It would be terrific if we could suggest the way to achieve Jewish Unity. Sadly, it's just not that simple. But we can work in that direction and ask G-d for help along the way. But we have to expend some serious effort too. First, it will help to realize and internalize that the common denominator of being Jewish is (should be) greater than anything that divides us.