The Reformer's Berocha

It is told that one day in Slutzk a Reformer, a man without honor, was called up to the Torah. He went up to the bimah and began the berocha with the tune of an observant, G-d-fearing Jew, "Who has chosen us from among all the peoples and given us His Torah."

On hearing this, Rav Yosef Dov began to laugh. "He certainly did not say this berocha in vain," he said. "If the Torah had been given to the other nations, he would have felt bound to keep it down to the smallest detail, so as to be seen as a perfect non-Jew. But since the Torah was given to Israel, he feels free to throw off its yoke. That is why he said the berocha so sincerely, stressing the words 'and given us His Torah,' to us and not to others, because he does not feel obliged to keep it."