The Real Reason They Became Slaves

We went down to Egypt and we became slaves. And in that process, we lost our identities. We lost our names. We had to regain our identity. Slaves have no identity. If the Jews had followed Yosef's advice and stayed in the land of Goshen and stayed among themselves and did not begin to assimilate into Egyptian society, we never would have become slaves and we never would have had all that suffering. All of that was simply because we were assimilating and losing our Jewish identity. Unfortunately, as history has taught us, anti-Semitism is very often the most effective cure for assimilation. Shaved Levy maintained their Jewish identity stronger. They didn't need the slavery and the suffering to remain Jewish. And if the rest of the Jewish people had followed their example, we never had to become slaves.