"ואילו לא הוציא הקב"ה את אבותינו ממצרים הרי אנחנו ובנינו ובני בנינו משועבדים היינו לפרעה במצרים"
"ואם היו שם עוד היו נשקעים כ"כ בטומאה עד שלא היה נשאר בלבם שום רושם קדושה ממה שירשו מאבותיהם אברהם יצחק ויעקב והיו מושרשים בטומאתם בלא שום הבדל ושוב לא היה להם שום יחוס לאבותינו ולא היה מקום להבטחת כי גר יהי' זרעך בארץ לא להם ואחרי כן יצאו ברכוש גדול דההבטחה הרי היה לגאול זרעו של אברהם ולא למי שאינו נקרא זרעו וכו'"
"Had Hashem not taken our forefathers out of Egypt then we and our children and children's children would be subservient to Paroh in Egypt."
Writes the Beis Halevi:
"ואם היו שם עוד היו נשקעים כ"כ בטומאה עד שלא היה נשאר בלבם שום רושם קדושה ממה שירשו מאבותיהם אברהם יצחק ויעקב והיו מושרשים בטומאתם בלא שום הבדל ושוב לא היה להם שום יחוס לאבותינו ולא היה מקום להבטחת כי גר יהי' זרעך בארץ לא להם ואחרי כן יצאו ברכוש גדול דההבטחה הרי היה לגאול זרעו של אברהם ולא למי שאינו נקרא זרעו וכו'"
If we would have remained in Mitzraim we would have become so immersed in the impurity that we would have lost any trace of the kedusha of our Avos and thus would not have merited a fulfillment of the promise of entering Eretz Yisrael which was given only to the seed of Avraham. Losing our kedusha would have led us to losing our yichus and its attendant promises.
SCARY!!!
1] The Rambam writes [Melachim 10-7] that only Yitzchak merited to be considered the seed of Avraham because he followed in his path. The chiddush of the Beis Halevi is that this condition [of following in the path of Avraham in order to be considered his seed] applies not only at the outset but in the future as well [as pointed out in the Rinas Yitzchak - see there].
2] We also learn that part of the miracle was the TIMING. If it had happened later - we would have lost it ח"ו. This is a GREAT lesson for life. We often ask for things from Hashem and we have to remember that part of the bracha is getting what we need at the right time. So we have to sit back and let Hashem work with His time schedule.
3] We see that the servitude was two fold, both physical and spiritual. That is why we were told in Mitzraim to slaughter the sheep - the avoda zara of the Egyptians. We had to rewire our brains to escape from the spiritual hazard that was Egypt. It could be that we would have left at a later date but had we not been redeemed then and with great miracles, the spiritual servitude would never have left us. Now that we left in the way we did - freedom is forever embedded in our souls.
4] It is one thing if WE would be slaves. But it is worse. We would be slaves to Paroh. The representative of the "klipah tameah" ["impure husk"]. But it is WORSE, we would be slaves to Paroh in EGYPT - the nakedness of the land, ערות הארץ. And it is yet worse - our CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN would be slaves. Our MAIN purpose in this world is to ensure the continuation of our tradition and legacy. The GREATEST tragedy would therefore be if our children and grandchildren would be stuck in Mitzraim under the rule of Paroh.
