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How does Chazal know that the Jews in Egypt didn't change their language, dress, or names? The word "habo'im" (coming) in Shemos 1:1 uses present tense ninety years after arrival, suggesting they still looked like recent arrivals. The shiur addresses the apparent contradiction with their failure to perform bris milah, proposing that preservation of identity applied only until enslavement began.
Rabbi Zweig examines the famous statement of Chazal that the Jewish people in Egypt "lo shinu es leshonam, lo shinu es malbusham, lo shinu es shemam"—they did not change their language, their dress, or their names. He asks how Chazal derived this information, asserting his belief that nearly everything in Chazal comes from intelligent reading of the pesukim rather than pure Mesorah. The answer lies in a grammatical analysis of Shemos 1:1. The pasuk states "Eileh shemos bnei Yisroel habo'im Mitzrayima" (These are the names of the children of Israel coming to Egypt). Citing a rule from Rashi (רש"י) in Parshas Vayigash, Rabbi Zweig explains that the word "bo" with the taam mil'eil (stress on the penultimate syllable) indicates past tense, while milra (stress on the final syllable) indicates present tense. Here the word is "habo'im" in present tense—"that are coming"—not "that came."
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Shemos 1:1
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