As we approach Shavuot, the Festival of the Giving of the Torah to our people, we recall how the Midrash explains the Divine "measuring of the earth" described by the Prophet Chavakuk (3:6).

"G-d measured all the nations," states Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, "and found only Israel worthy of receiving the Torah; all the generations and found only the one which left Egypt worthy of receiving the Torah; all the mountains and found only Sinai worthy as the site for giving the Torah; all the cities and found only Jerusalem worthy of housing the Beit Hamikdash."

"And He measured all the lands and found only Eretz Yisrael worthy of being the Homeland of the People of Israel."