The rabbi said and I concur:"More than Israel kept the Torah; the Torah kept safe Israel."

On Shavuot we celebrate the day G-d gave us the Torah. G-d, not Moses. Us not Moses. The Rabbis said that every Jew who was ever born or will be born attended, including converts. In that sense we are all Jews by choice. Perhaps, that is the reason we read the Book of Ruth, on this day. Dr. Rachael Turkienicz has an interesting feminist take on this subject.

I do not agree that it is impossible to leave Judaism. Indeed, we know plenty have done so especially following major disasters such as the expulsion from Spain or the Holocaust. The real miracle is that so many stayed. But, then, as G-d often lamented, we are stubborn people.

Happy Shavuot.