In the beginning of this week’s Sedra the Torah tells us וחמושים עלו בני ישראל מארץ מצרים. Rashi offers two interpretations of the word Vechamushim. 1) That Bnei Yisroel left Egypt in arms (with weapons). 2) That only one fifth of Klal-Yisroel was redeemed from Egypt because the other four fifths died in Egypt during Maccas Choshech (because they were Reshaim – see Medrash Tanchuma).

This week someone approached me and asked me: “how could Rashi’s second possibly be true? How could it be that 80% of Klal-Yisroel died in a mass plague and there is no mention of the tragedy in the Torah? There isn’t even any mention that 80% of Klal-Yisroel were real Reshaim!”

We live in a world in which there is a concept of being a Jew. Someone who is born a Jew always will remain a Jew. No matter how far a Jew will wander from the Torah a Jew will always be a Jew. A Jew can try to assimilate, but no matter how hard he will try he will stay a Jew. A Jew may even succeed in having gentile children, but he will remain Jewish. Nowadays it is an X chromosome-linked gene – if someone’s mother is Jewish that person is as well.

While Klal-Yisroel was in Egypt there wasn’t any such idea. Just because people were descendants of the Shivtei-Kah didn’t mean that they saw themselves as “Jews”. The entire Egyptian people had sold itself as slaves to Paroh during the famine on Yosef’s time. The only thing that separated a Jew from the Egyptians was their Jewish identity. While perhaps the Jews were perhaps persecuted far more than the Egyptian population-turned-slaves, they were in essence all slaves – Jews and Egyptians.

Thus it would be reasonable to assume that a Jew who did not view himself as a Jew wasn’t viewed as a Jew by the rest of Klal-Yisroel or the Torah either. Theses descendants of Yaakov wouldn’t have left Egypt with Klal-Yisroel because they thought that they were Egyptians. They wouldn’t have partaken in the Korban Pesach and therefore their Bechoros would have been killed in Maccas Bechoros (as they wouldn’t have smeared their doorways with the blood of the Korban Pesach).

The Avos were promised that their descendants would be in slavery and eventually redeemed, but 80% of these descendants possibly never came out. Had they have lived through the 10 Maccos they would have stayed in Egypt and Hashem’s promise to the Avos would not have been met. Once they died, however, they no longer existed.

The Torah didn’t feel it necessary to mention the death of these people who had nothing to do with the Jewish Nation.

While we have to appreciate every Jew just because he is a Jew – nonetheless a Jew must have a Jewish identity.

It is important that every Jew should observe the entire Torah. However, even having just a Jewish identity is something. A Jewish identity is the basis and foundation of the Jewish nation.

This “Jewish identity” has developed over the thousands of years of Exile and suffering through the stubborn adherence of a small portion of the People to Torah UMitzos – to such an extent that even when those Jews who, unfortunately, no longer observe anything still have managed to retain some sort of Jewish identity, however vague.

May we see the Geula Asida very soon, but let us do our best to insure that all Jews will identify themselves as part of Am-Yisroel. This time, may the entire Am-Yisroel be Zoche to the Geula.

A very warm Good Shabbos, Rabbi Y. Dov Krakowski