A powerful mashal to help understand the Chorbun.

There was once a king who had a son who was terribly spoiled from all of the luxuries of the palace. The king knew that the only way to see that the prince would develop correctly would be to destroy the palace and send the prince out into the world. The king knew that all of his servants were waiting to grab the riches of the palace and gloat over the prince's tragedy. Since the king did not want to give the servants this nachas he announced that the palace was being knocked down to clear the way for a bigger and better palace. As all of the treasures were being removed, the bystanders and even the prince were shocked by the tremendous riches of the palace. Once it was being destroyed the prince finally understood what he lost but it was too late. The prince had to wander around the world waiting for the new palace to be built.

Needles to say, Klal Yisrael is the Prince, and the nations of the world are the servants.  Isn't it tragic that we had to be exiled to appreciate what we had.

heard from a Shiur by Rebbetzin Kalmonovitz