(2 Essays from my forthcoming volume on Shemot)

The Exile in Egypt:
Rav Aharon Levine is among the many writers who theorized about the ultimate goal of our exile in Egypt. A common idea in many seforim is that we would learn about the abominations we must avoid as G-d�s chosen people. However, Rav Levine finds a different ethical message. After out prolonged period of suffering and persecution, we would learn human decency for all G-d�s creatures, doing to others what we have longed for our ourselves, for, as he explains, one who has never hungered cannot understand fully a cry for bread. The Haftarah for this Sidra begins (Yeshayahu, 27:6) as follows: �In years� (understood) to come, �Jacob will strike roots, Israel will sprout and flower.� The opening verb, however, rings of the first verb in our Chumash: �.... the children of Israel who are coming to Egypt� � a strange verb usage itself). Rav Levine�s ingenious and interpretive idea is: the arrival of the Israelites to Egypt - had a Divine purpose � that Jacob should strike deep roots for Israel to flower beautifully as a moral nation.

Rav Aharon Levine
 

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The following alternative interpretation of the question might be called a 20th Century response:

Many volumes state that the Egyptian exile-and-redemption is a model and precursor of the final redemption in the end of times. That is why only these two (past and future) events are referred to by the special term �Geulah� G-d wished at this early stage in Jewish history to show us a model to carry us through a long and bitter exile of centuries with hope and faith. Our exile in Egypt would demonstrate that no matter how seemingly impossible our situation, G-d is the master and ultimate power. Every step of the way He controlled � exile, persecution, gradual steps leading to redemption, and the final exodus. So, too, will the final ultimate one proceed.

Just as before that exodus, we gained favor in the eyes of Egyptians who gave us silver and gold vessels to make up for the years of slavery, the modern day �Egyptians� (world powers who had persecuted us for centuries) tried to make up for their cruelty, and for looking the other way as six million Jews were slaughtered, by voting in the United Nations for a Jewish State, to soothe their consciences.

But just at the Egyptians had a change of heart and pursued us to the Sea of Reeds with intentions of annihilation (as spelled out in the great Shirah sung by our people), the world has also had a change of heart, and Israel finds itself pictured in the international press, and by so many political spokesmen, as the mighty Goliath persecuting the poor Davids. Just as the Egyptian confrontation ended with Israel triumphant, declaring: �G-d shall rule for ever and ever,� the day will soon come that this will be repeated in our times, and G-d and His people will have the unltimate victory.

Rabbi Meir Dovid Kahane

Problems of Galut Life � Ancient and Modern:
(Shemot 1:7) And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased greatly, and multiplied, and waxed very mightily � and the land was full of them.

The combination-phrase of �fruitful and multiply� is so common that it is found (in various grammatical forms) no less than nine times in Chumash Berashit alone. The fact that in this verse it is broken apart by an inserted verb (�increased greatly,� based on a root which means insect) demands attention. Among commentators who discuss this fact was R� Azaryah Figo in his masterpiece "Binah L'itim". He feels that this is meant to show that this increase was not for the fulfillment of the Mitzvah, but represents the carnal pursuit of animal lust, hence the root "insect". (This point is already noted and emphasized by the Sfomo.) So too the phrase immediately afterward ( "waxed very mightily"] deals with financial success, and the doubling of "very" indicates that they became very substantial people. This leads to the final phrase already analyzed by our Chazal, that they began to spread about the country (the suburbs), visiting the theatres and other such pursuits, all of which help explain the jealousy of the local Egyptian community, leading to servitude.

In the up-to-now very rare volume "Givat Shaul" by Rav Shaul HaLevi Mortira, the head of the Sephardic Jewish community of Amsterdam in the 17th century (Gevuos Shaul - reprinted in 1991, Brooklyn, NY], the author goes through great lengths in castigating Jewish communities in Golus for their excessive indulgence in luxuries, large homes, and expensive clothing, all of which directly create jealousy and hatred and are a major cause of our history of exile from land to land. Had we not behaved thus in Egypt, our servitude there would have been light and bearable, since our major purpose in Egypt was to observe the abominable life and moral decadence of this "advanced" civilization before we received the Torah, so as to leam how not to behave. The severe extent of our suffering was caused by our new Golus life-style. [His essay picturing life in Amsterdam in his days is so relevant to our time, and so powerful, that it truly deserves a complete translation / for modern Jews to reflect upon.] He notes that after the start of some tax-type servitude, verse 12 records: "And as they afflicted them, so they multiplied and so they spread" - what does this verse tell us? Instead of learning from the error of their luxurious life-style and seeking to remove the cause of the jealousy, they continued their ways and "spread out"- looking for other neighborhoods and suburbs that might treat them better. Thus indeed [conclusion of that verse) the Egyptians became disgusted with the Jewish people. The next verse indicates an increase in their servitude to "back-breaking" labor.

He concludes his essay with a sad lament that this is an old Jewish problem, which cannot be solved by individuals but must gain the attention and united action of the entire Jewish community, but he knows alas that this is "very difficult". [to this very day!]

Rav Shaul HaLevi Mortira