I usually recite Birkat HaTorah on the way to shul. This morning, I was mentally preoccupied, and I have reason to suspect I did not say it. I thought of this when I came home and asked my wife, who had not yet recited it, to do so with me answering Amen. Did that cover my obligation?
R' Tzvi Yehuda taught us that the State of Israel is not just some formal body designed to preserve the nation. Rather, the very existence of the State has divine worth; it embodies a significant stage in the redemption as envisioned by the Prophets.