That is the secret of נעשה ונשמע. A person perceives things in such a way that they obligate him. In Sefer Shmuel [ש"א ט"ו כ"ב] it says:
And Samuel said, "Has the Lord (as much) desire in burnt offerings and peace-offerings, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than a peace-offering; to hearken (is better) than the fat of rams.
This type of listening which is not just hearing it in ones intellect but a type of hearing that leads to "doing" before hearing - is called "'כשמע בקול ה". This means that the depth of listening is OBEDIENCE [ציות]. Obedience itself is not an independent entity divorced from the hearing but rather is part and parcel of the hearing. Correct hearing is discerning how this hearing obligates me. Therefore we find in the whole Torah that the word שמיעה denotes obedience, as in the psukim והיה אם שמוע תשמעו and והיה עקב תשמעון.
In the language of Chazal we find the concept of שומע כעונה - Hearing is like answering, to denote the relationship of the listener to the speech of the speaker. Apparently it would have been more fitting to call it "שומע כמדבר" - listening is like speaking. The explanation is that TRUE listening requires a response, it obligates. So the correct term is "כעונה" - like answering, because speech requires a response.
The deeper something is the more it obligates. That is why נעשה has to be before נשמע. The Mishna says [Rosh Hashana 29a]:
"והיה כאשר ירים משה ידו וגבר ישראל וכאשר יניח ידו וגבר עמלק" וכי ידיו של משה עושות מלחמה או שוברות מלחמה אלא לומר לך כל זמן שהיו ישראל מסתכלין כלפי מעלה ומשעבדין את לבם לאביהם שבשמים היו מתגברים ואם לאו היו נופלים
"כאשר ירים משה ידו" - "When Moshe held up his hand" THAT is the secret of נעשה ונשמע. The picture of raising the hands above the head, means that a person perceives that doing precedes hearing. Moshe is the צורה - the spiritual form of the Jewish people - and the content of raising his hands means that the Jewish people fulfill נעשה before נשמע. "And when he lets down his hand" - meaning that the system of עשיה is opposed to the שמיעה which doesn't include נעשה.
The power of Eisav is "והידיים ידי עשיו" - "The hands are the hands of Eisav". Only the "doing" existed in Eisav's world, without listening. The only way to defeat Eisav is to transfer the power of the hands to above the head, preceding the נשמע. Then the מעשה receives its true meaning, a מעשה that includes all the sublimity of the content of listening - and here Eisav has no power. This is the point of victory of the Jews over Amalek. The נעשה preceding the נשמע comes to preclude from Eisav, whose entire rulership in the world comes from HIS world of עשיה - where the עשיה comes AFTER the שמיעה and stands alone.
That is the deeper meaning of what the Gra wrote [quoted earlier]:
ה' מסיני בא וגו' שזכו מחמת עצמן בשביל שאמרו נעשה ונשמע. וזרח משעיר. כמ"ש בגמ' כשרצה הקדוש ברוך הוא ליתן תורה לישראל החזירה על כל אומה ולשון ובא אל ישמעאל א"ל תורה מה כתיב בה א"ל לא תנאף אמרו אי אפשר תנה לישראל וכו' וכולם נתנו להם מתנות דהיינו עשו וישמעאל ונתנו להם עשייה ושמיעה שאמרו נעשה ונשמע
Hashem came from Sinai - they merited because of their own merit because they said נעשה ונשמע.
Shined from Seir - As it says in the Gemara that when Hashem wanted to give the Torah to the Jewish people he offered it to each nation. He came to Yishmael and he said "what does the Torah say?" He said "Don't commit adultery". He said "We can't. Give it to the Jewish people" the same question was asked by Eisav who couldn't accept "לא תרצח" etc. etc. They [Eisav and Yishmael] all gave them [i.e. to the Jews] gifts and they [Eisav and Yishmael] gave them "doing and listening" as it says "נעשה ונשמע".
Eisav was intended to receive the Torah with the "עשיה" approach and system while Yishmael was to receive it with the "שמיעה" approach and system. The tikkun made by the Jewish people was fixing both the נעשה and נשמע by first saying נעשה and only then נשמע which brings לא תרצח and לא תנאף into one cohesive system.
The pasuk we started with was "יראת ה' ראשית דעת" - "Fear of Hashem is the beginning of knowledge", meaning that דעת has to be viewed initially as something that includes fear. "Fear" means that the person is obligated.
יראת ה' ראשית דעת is the secret of נעשה ונשמע.
WOW!😊😊
