Concerning the days before Matan Torah, the Gemara says in שבת דף פ״ז עמוד א׳ that בתרי בשבא איקבע ירחא. The second day of the week was Rosh Chodesh. That year when Hashem give the Torah, Monday was Rosh Chodesh. בתלתא, on the third day, which was Tuesday, which is really the second day of Sivan, אמר להו, השם said to them, ואתם תהיו לי. He told them the parashah of ואתם תהיו לי ממלכת כהנים, etc. בארבעה אמר להו מצות הגבלה, on the fourth day, which means Wednesday, which was the third day of the month, he told them the mitzvah to be מגביל the mountain. בה׳ on Thursday, עבוד פרישה, then started the פרישה, till it came to Shabbos, and Shabbos the Torah was given. So לכאורה we have to understand, the Shas, the Gemara wants to tell us what took place on the second day of the month, on Tuesday, which was ב׳ Sivan, so the Gemara says that's the day when Hashem said ואתם תהיו לי, when באמת on that day Hashem said different things also. Because when we look into the Chumash in Parashat Yitro, when it speaks about the הכנות, the preparations, to Matan Torah, so there in קפיטל י״ט, פסוק ו׳ is the פסוק ואתם תהיו לי ממלכת כהנים וגוי קדוש. But the הכנות to Matan Torah on that day starts a few pesukim before. It starts off in פסוק ג׳ when it says ומשה עלה אל האלקים, משה went up to השם, ויקרא אליו השם מן ההר, השם called him from the mountain, לאמר, saying, and here starts the saying that Hashem said to Moshe to repeat to the Bnei Yisrael: כה תאמר לבית יעקב ותגיד לבני ישראל. This is what you should say to the בית יעקב, which is to the women, and say to the בני ישראל, the men. And פסוק ד׳ says that you should say as follows: אתם ראיתם אשר עשיתי למצרים, you saw what I did to מצרים, ואשא אתכם על כנפי נשרים, and I carried you, carried you on the wings of the of the eagles, ואביא אתכם אלי, and I brought you to Me. Then פסוק ה׳ says, ועתה אם שמוע תשמעו בקולי, now if you're going to listen to My voice, ושמרתם את בריתי, you're going to keep My covenant, והייתם לי סגולה מכל העמים, so you will be to Me a segulah, which as Rashi says means an אוצר חביב, a beloved treasure, from all the nations, כי לי כל הארץ, because the whole world is Mine. Then in פסוק ו׳, which is towards the end of what Hashem told them on that day, it says, ואתם תהיו לי ממלכת כהנים, you will be to Me a kingdom of כהנים, וגוי קדוש, and a holy nation. So lichorah, if the Gemara mentions what Hashem said to Moshe Rabbeinu on the second day of Sivan, why does the Gemara mention ואתם תהיו לי? Why doesn't the Gemara start earlier from the פסוק כה תאמר לבית יעקב, אתם ראיתם? Now, concerning the first pasuk we could answer that the reason the Gemara doesn't bring the pasuk of אתם ראיתם that you saw what I did to you in Mitzrayim, is because he wants to mention those things that Hashem said concerning the הוה and the עתיד, concerning the present and the future, and not what Hashem told them happened in the past, because that was just repeating what happened before. So the Gemara wants to mention those things Hashem said concerning Matan Torah, concerning what's happening now and what's going to happen later. But even that, the Gemara should have started with a pasuk earlier, from the words והייתם לי סגולה מכל העמים כי לי כל הארץ. So why didn't the Gemara mention that Hashem said that on that day, rather the Gemara mentioned that Hashem said ואתם תהיו? Then there's another thing that we have to understand here in this pasuk. When we say Hashem said ואתם תהיו לי ממלכת כהנים, you will be to Me a kingdom of kohanim, what is the meaning of the word a kingdom of kohanim? What does kohanim mean?

So we find two pshatim to translate the word kohanim here. The Ramban on the pasuk says that it means ותהיו ממלכת משרתי, you will be a kingdom of My meshartim, of My servants, וגוי קדוש לדבקה באל הקדוש, and you will be a holy nation, he says, to connect yourself, to be tied, to be close to the Holy God. And this is similar to what the Mechilta says on the pasuk, that ראויים היו כל ישראל לאכול בקדשים, that every Yid really deserved to eat in kodashim like a kohen. So this fits to the pshat of the Ramban that the word kohanim here means, means regular kohanim, meshartim. And a mesharet is a servant to Hashem, a priest, which is a kohen. So the Ramban taytsh, like it says in the Mechilta, that the pasuk means that you will be to Me a kingdom of kohanim, of regular kohanim. And really in the Baal HaTurim it says that if every Yid would have been a kohen gadol. But all this fits to this one pshat that when it says you will be to Me a kingdom of kohanim, it means kohanim as we know kohanim who serve Hashem in the בית המקדש. Rashi says that the word kohanim here means sarim, princes. which is not at all in the category of kohanim as we know kohanim. Where we know kohanim, they serve Hashem. But the way Rashi says sarim, sarim means that they will be princes. Like children of kings are called שרים or bichlal officers. So Rashi learns different than Ramban and the other mefarshim. He learns that here it means שרים. Now lichora, bishlama according to the first peshat, that ממלכת כהנים means that they will be kohanim as we know kohanim, משרתי Hashem, servants to Hashem, we understand the connection between this and קבלת התורה. Hashem said to them before they receive the Torah that now when I will give you the Torah, you will become My servants. You will serve Me through Torah u'Mitzvot. But according to Rashi's peshat, that it means שרים, princes, what kind of connection does this have to the קבלת התורה? Hashem is trying to prepare the Bnei Yisrael to receive the Torah, so He's telling them, \"I'm going to make you into princes.\" What does that have to do with קבלת התורה and מתן תורה? Uv'emes, uvichlal, we have to understand why does Rashi say the peshat here the word kohanim means not as we know kohanim, simple peshat kohanim serving Hashem, but kohanim here means princes? Lichora, Rashi himself in an earlier parashah, in Parashat Vayigash, קפיטל מ\"ז פסוק כ\"ב, Rashi says a rule, כל לשון כהן משרת לאלוהות. Any time it says the word kohen, it means a servant to a god. And that is the reason why here in this pasuk, when Rashi says that the words kohanim means שרים, Rashi has to bring a ראיה to it. Rashi says כמו דאת אמר ובני דוד כהנים היו. He brings ראיות from other places that there is such a thing as a kohen not being a משרת, but kohanim being officers or princes. But the simple pshat in kohanim, as Rashi says there, is that כל לשון כהן, wherever it says kohen, unless there is an exception, but normally where it says kohen, it means משרת לאלוהות, it's a servant to a god. So what is the reason? Why does Rashi change his pshat here, and here he learns that the word kohanim does not mean a משרת to God, which is like a regular kohen, but here it means a שר, a prince, an officer? Now there are many reasons to give why Rashi learns like that. But one of the reasons is in simple pshat, and later we will see a reason according to the deeper pshat, according to the drush of Rashi, but according to the פשוטו של מקרא, according to simple pshat of Rashi, we could say that the reason is because the pasuk says, \"You will be to Me a ממלכת כהנים וגוי קדוש,\" a kingdom of kohanim and a holy nation. What does גוי קדוש mean? A holy nation means a nation of people who are holy, who are separated from the world and closer to God. Because the word קדוש, holiness, really means perishus. Rashi himself says in the beginning of קדושים תהיו, you should be holy, so Rashi says it means פרושים, separated, separated from עריות, whatever it is, but Rashi says it means פרושים. The word kedushah means to be separated. Separated to what? To and be closer to Hashem. So if we're going to say that ממלכת כהנים means regular kohanim, people who serve Hashem, then ממלכת כהנים and גוי קדוש are saying the same thing. גוי קדוש means a holy nation, a nation which is separated from the world and closer to Hashem. Kohanim, who are servants of Hashem, are also people who are separated from the world and are closer to Hashem, because the whole תוכן, the whole concept of a כהן is קדושה. As the פסוק says in Divrei Hayamim א' קפיטל כ\"ג פסוק י\"ג, ויבדל אהרן להקדישו הוא ובניו, that Hashem separated Aharon, he and his children, for what? להקדישו, to make him holy. There is a מצוה וקדשתו, you have to make holy a כהן. So the concept of a כהן, who is a משרת השם, who serves Hashem, is the idea of him being holy meaning him being separated from the world, separated from others, and being closer to Hashem. So if Rashi is going to learn ממלכת כהנים means כהנים as we know it, then ממלכת כהנים and גוי קדוש is the same thing. גוי קדוש means a holy nation who is separated, and ממלכת כהנים means the same thing. And we know that Rashi, he says his commentary, his פירוש, according to פשוטו של מקרא, everything has to fit the simple פשט of the פסוק. So in simple פשט of the פסוק, it wouldn't fit to say that ממלכת כהנים means a kingdom of כהנים. And therefore Rashi says here that ממלכת כהנים means a kingdom of שרים, of officers. But the question is, what connection does this have to Matan Torah, to קבלת התורה, the fact that the Yidden are going to be officers, they're going to be princes?

But b'emet, as we will explain soon, according to Rashi, Hashem said to the Bnei Yisrael on that day, on the second day of Sivan, three inyanim that's going to happen in connection to Matan Torah. He said to them, והייתם לי סגולה מכל העמים. After He gave them the introduction of \"you remember what I did to you in Mitzrayim,\" etc., then He said to them, \"You will be to Me a סגולה מכל העמים כי לי כל הארץ, you will be to Me an אוצר חביב, a beloved treasure out of all the nations.\" That's one thing. And the second thing he said to them, you will be to me a ממלכת כהנים, a kingdom of officers, and then a third thing you will be a גוי קדוש. And these three things are three inyanim which are connected to מתן תורה as we'll see in a moment, and in the order as it is written. But out of these three inyanim, as we're going to see, והייתם לי סגולה מכל העמים, you will be to me a beloved treasure out of all nations, is something that Hashem does. And the other two, that you will be to me a ממלכת כהנים and גוי קדוש, that is something that the Bnei Yisrael have to do. And that is the reason, when the Gemara mentions the preparations to מתן תורה, the Gemara mentions that on the second day of Sivan Hashem said ואתם תהיו לי, and the Gemara does not mention that Hashem also said והייתם לי סגולה מכל העמים. Why it doesn't mention the earlier things we said before, because the Gemara wants to mention those things which are connected to now or to later, and not things which are just repeating the past. But even concerning now and later, the Gemara could have mentioned והייתם לי סגולה מכל העמים. But as we will see, והייתם לי סגולה מכל העמים is something that Hashem does. But when the Gemara is talking about what the Yidden will do, the Gemara wants to tell us the preparations of the Yidden to מתן תורה, that started from ואתם תהיו לי ממלכת כהנים וגוי קדוש. And the explanation is as follows: והייתם לי סגולה מכל העמים, that you will be to me a beloved nation out of all nations, a beloved treasure out of all nations, that is the bechira, the choice that Hashem chose the Bnei Yisrael. We know that by מתן תורה, Hashem chose the Bnei Yisrael, and therefore it says in the Magen Avraham that when you say in ברכות קריאת שמע before Shema every morning, ובנו בחרת מכל עם ולשון, that you chose us from all nations, we have to be mechaven, we have to think about מתן תורה. Because at the time of מתן תורה, Hashem chose the Bnei Yisrael.

Now we always know that the real meaning of choice is not something that a person who is chosen does, then it's not choice. When a person does something and he deserves a reward, then it's not choice, and he worked for it. Choice means that the one that chose did not look at what the person deserves, but he just chose him, which means when you have two equal things and you choose one of the two, that's real choice. If the two are not equal, one is better than the other, that's not free choice. Then you took it because this is what you wanted. The real term of choice is when there is nothing in the one you chose that pushes you to choose it, and nevertheless, you chose it, which means the inyan of choice represents the connection mitzad the one that chose rather than mitzad the one that was chosen. So when we're talking about Hashem choosing the Bnei Yisrael, what he did was it is something that came mitzad Hashem's side, not מצד the Bnei Yisrael's side. And as Rashi says, ולא תאמרו, you should not say אתם לבדכם שלי, only you are mine, ואין לי אחרים עמכם, that I don't have anybody else. The contrary, he says I have all the nations, and nevertheless, I chose you, which expresses this point that it's not מצד the Bnei Yisrael that the choice came, but this is something that comes completely מצד the בוחר, מצד the chooser, which in this case is Hashem. So the inyan of והייתם לי סגולה מכל העמים is not something that Bnei Yisrael worked for. That is something Hashem is saying, that I will do. I, mitzadi, מצד my side, am going to choose you. But then, I want you to work. What is going to be your work? That is ואתם תהיו לי ממלכת כהנים וגוי קדוש. These two inyanim of ממלכת כהנים and גוי קדוש, that's the work of the Bnei Yisrael.

Because generally speaking, the work of a Yid, the way he serves Hashem, is in two inyanim: in doing Torah u'mitzvot, learning Torah and doing mitzvot, and also in בכל דרכיך דעהו and כל מעשיך לשם שמים, which means in knowing that whatever else he does, which is not connected to Torah u'mitzvot, he also has to serve Hashem. He has to realize that all that has to be done לשם שמים and בכל דרכיך דעהו, everything has to be done for the sake of Hashem. And these two parts, ואתם תהיו ממלכת כהנים and גוי קדוש, represent these two inyanim. גוי קדוש, as we said before, means a holy nation. Holiness means separated. This refers to the fact that a Yid is a nation that's separated from the world. How are the Yidden separated? When they do inyanim which are not connected to the world. When a Yid learns Torah or does a mitzvah, these are inyanim that have no connection to the world. They are not מצד the world that a Yid does it, that a Yid does מצד his separation from the world. For instance, when a yid wakes up in the morning and puts on tefillin, that is not מצד עניני הטבע or עניני העולם, that natural things or worldly matter that he does it. There is no need מצד the world for a person to strap leather straps around his hand in the morning, or to wear tzitzit hanging down from his garment. These are mitzvot that are done with the physical things of the world, but they are not מצד the world that they are done. מצד the world, there was no reason for a person to do it. That is something beyond the world that the yid does. So when a yid does Torah u'mitzvot, it is his expression, his way of serving Hashem מצד being a גוי קדוש, a holy nation. nation which is separated from the world, beyond the world. When a yid serves Hashem by doing worldly matters, which מצד the world you have to do, you have to eat, and you have to sleep, and you have to do business, and nevertheless he serves Hashem that way too, which means he brings kedushah down into the world rather than elevating the world higher to Hashem, so then he is mekayem the inyan of ואתם תהיו לי ממלכת כהנים. Because, as we said before, according to Rashi, ממלכת כהנים means officers. What's an idea of an officer and a king? He controls the country. So when we're talking about the yidden being כהנים, שרים, not of them being kohanim as we know משרתי השם, them being כהנים, משרתי השם, that's the גוי קדוש. But the yidden being kohanim, meaning officers, like kings, controlling the world, that represents the idea that they stay in the inyanim of the world, they do things of the world, and nevertheless they control it, they bring kedushah into it. And these are the two inyanim that's expected of a yid in serving Hashem. And this is what Hashem said to the Bnei Yisrael on ב׳ סיון, which was the beginning of the preparations of Matan Torah. After He gave them the introduction that I, מצדי, from My side, am choosing you, but that's something that has to do with Me, not with you. What I want of you is that you should be a ממלכת כהנים וגוי קדוש, to have these two inyanim. You should be a holy nation, a nation that does Torah and mitzvot, things which are beyond the world. And I also want you to be involved in the worldly matters, but bring kedushah into the worldly matters. That you, through Torah and mitzvot, through being a Yid, will control even the worldly matters. When you are involved in your physical worldly needs, you will bring kedushah into there, too. And that's expressed in the inyan of a ממלכת כהנים. And this is the reason when the Gemara mentions that there were הכנות done on ב׳ סיון, the Gemara mentions that that's the day Hashem said ואתם תהיו לי, because from these words starts the avodah of the Bnei Yisrael. And the Gemara doesn't mention that Hashem said also והייתם לי סגולה, because that is something Hashem does. The Gemara wants to mention the things which is the obligation of the Bnei Yisrael.