ואלה שמות בני ישראל הבאים מצרימה (שמות א:א)

A chassid was struggling with parnassah and came to Maran Reb Yehoshua of Belz zt״l to request a bracha for livelihood. Maran advised him to go to America, assuring him that he would be very successful. However, Maran made one condition: that the chassid write and report on his situation, both in ruchniyus and gashmiyus—his spiritual and material standing.

The chassid moved to America, and in his early letters, he described how difficult life was. Spiritually, he struggled with kashrus, Shabbos, and the chinuch of his children, and materially, he was still far from secure. In one letter, he asked, “Should I remain in America, or should I return home?”

Maran continued to respond with chizuk, encouraging him to remain in America and assuring him that better days lay ahead. Over time, the chassid began to write that his business was prospering and that his ruchniyus was improving as well, as he had grown accustomed to his surroundings, neighbors, and friends.

Shortly thereafter, the chassid received an unexpected letter from Maran instructing him to leave America, abandon his business, and return to Galicia.

The chassid obeyed and, upon arriving in Belz, asked the Rebbe to explain: “When I wrote of my hardships, the Rebbe encouraged me to stay. Now that things were becoming easier and more comfortable, why did the Rebbe tell me to come home?”

Maran replied: “As long as you felt like a stranger in America, as long as you were not heimish in your surroundings, I wished you hatzlachah and told you to remain there. I knew that while you felt like an outsider, the American lifestyle would not draw you in. But the moment you began writing about your success and your comfort, about your new friends and sense of belonging, I told you to return home. I did not want you to become absorbed into the ‘American melting pot’ and lose yourself within it.”

This is the idea alluded to in the pasuk: “ואלה שמות בני ישראל הבאים מצרימה.” Why does the Torah say הבאים—in the present tense—instead of “אשר באו”, in the past tense? Because throughout the 210 years that the Yidden were in Mitzrayim, they felt like strangers, as though they had just arrived. They did not change their names, their language, or their dress. Every day felt like a new arrival in Mitzrayim, and therefore the Torah describes them as הבאים—those who are constantly “coming.”