As we come to the concluding narrative of the Torah, through trials and tribulations, and with joy and gladness, we are told that our people are an am segula, a special and treasured nation. Each time we recite the blessing over the Torah, we say asher bachar banu, God chose us. This is at times an uncomfortable moniker to walk through the world. Why were we chosen? What were we chosen for? Ultimately, was it our choice?

The first verse in the parsha also leaves us with a choice: will we choose bracha, blessing, or klala, curse?

David Ben-Gurion, the first Prime Minister of the State of Israel composed an essay titled, am segula. He asks, “Is Israel an ark or a covenant?” Is Israel a place of refuge from the evil that has befallen the Jews or is Israel a place where a covenant was made and we must take on that responsibility to uphold this covenant, whether we are in that land or living as Jews thousands of miles away? What is the miracle of being an am segula? The fact that we are still defining that term today. It seems to me…the covenant is truly alive.